This article contains spoilers for Hacks Season 5 Episode 7.
As with Season 5 Episode 3, it rarely works when fandom hopes and theories are taken, often by the press, and projected onto a series alongside its cast and crew. Creators Lucia Aniello, Paul W. Downs, and Jen Statsky have always remained certain about where Hacks is heading, having pitched the ending from the outset. Even so, the connection between Deborah (Jean Smart) and Ava (Hannah Einbinder), dubbed Avorah online, has grown increasingly difficult to ignore. “Montecito” does not make the pairing canon, but it leans into the tension with such glee that it feels like the show meeting its audience halfway without ever surrendering its long game.
The episode opens with Deborah mid-nightmare. She stands naked onstage at MSG, faces a sea of Kathys (J. Smith-Cameron), and knocks her teeth out on the microphone. Ava reads it as an anxiety dream, a sign they must keep working on the material, while Deborah fixates on her inability to find the right outfit for the show. A visit from psychic Diana (Polly Draper) sends her in pursuit of a specific white jumpsuit once worn by Carol Burnett, though designer Bob Mackie has already auctioned it to fellow stand-up comic Kelly Kilpatrick (Cherry Jones).
Unsurprisingly, Deborah and Kelly clash. Deborah hardly helped matters, having insulted Kelly after she came out at the VMAs and once described her daytime show as if “the L-word stood for lame.” Still, watching Smart and Jones trade barbs is a masterclass in comic timing, with neither missing a beat.
Ava then interrupts their conversation, returning Deborah’s phone after she leaves it in the car – again. The scene plays like a domestic squabble, with Ava fussing over Deborah’s caffeine intake and sleep schedule, which affects her own. Kelly notices the dynamic instantly, and frankly, so do we. The dynamic rings true, especially as Deborah hides something more serious and lies to Ava about her whereabouts.
For a series that has largely avoided explicit confirmation of anything romantic between Deborah and Ava – though Smart and Einbinder’s chemistry speaks for itself – the series has still toyed with the idea, from Ava’s Season 1 dream to the lesbian cruise in Season 2, which “Montecito” almost feels like an apology for.
If anything, the episode feels almost mischievous in how it directly engages with that romantic subtext. Deborah needs the jumpsuit for her MSG show, and the only way to secure it is to play along with Kelly’s assumption that she is, in fact, a closeted lesbian. If invoking Burnett is not gay enough, the episode doubles down by placing Ava in the role of Deborah’s girlfriend after Kelly invites them to her Montecito home, which she shares with Monica (Leslie Bibb), for the weekend.
“Montecito” is easily the boldest and funniest episode of the season. Like Episode 4 before it, Episode 7 feels like it could – and should – stand alone, given the confidence of its premise and execution. Ava initially resists pretending to be Deborah’s girlfriend, though the arrangement quickly becomes entertaining for reasons beyond the jumpsuit itself, particularly once Monica begins flirting with her openly. Einbinder thrives in the episode’s increasingly absurd escalation, matching Smart beat for beat as Deborah grows more committed to maintaining the illusion.
The longer Deborah and Ava maintain the façade, the more elaborate – and intimate – it becomes. Smart plays Deborah’s escalating discomfort perfectly, balancing embarrassment with Deborah’s refusal to back down once challenged. She offers Ava a quick peck, only to be dragged into a full make-out session after Ava calls out her sudden shyness, despite her confidence on the car ride up. A later scene pushes things even further, with Monica asking Deborah if she “straps”– a line delivery that should firmly place Bibb in the Guest Actress conversation. When Ava casually adds that Deborah eats her ass, Deborah chokes on her water, but recovers just enough to sell the relationship further.
While Smart, Jones, and Bibb shine, Einbinder’s presence proves invaluable. Almost every line she delivers lands – a reference to Friends is both as quintessentially Ava as it is cringeworthy – particularly as Ava becomes increasingly comfortable sharing details about their supposed relationship. Her claim that she and Deborah have been experimenting with shibari, describing how Deborah ties her up and hangs her from the ceiling like a chandelier, elicits the episode’s biggest laugh.
Perhaps the most gut-wrenching moment arrives when Hacks circles back to one of Season 4’s standout moments. Deborah insists Ava is her voice to sell the relationship, and it works – even as Kelly and Monica begin to suspect Deborah caused Ava’s injury. Ava was hit by a self-driving car in the episode’s early scenes, something that becomes a promising running bit, especially when the group find themselves naked in a hot tub, sans Ava and her cast, which is covered in plastic.
The episode may divide viewers – some will understandably be disappointed by the lack of canon confirmation – but it never plays as caricature or mockery. Instead, writers Guy Branum, Andrew Law, and Bridget Parker respect fans’ investment in the show’s central love story while maintaining their own boundaries. The result is a delight that firmly ranks not only among the top 10 episodes of Hacks, but among the funniest episodes of television, full stop.
From here, the episode takes an emotional turn. Ava wishes Deborah would lower her walls after all this time, while Kelly observes that the people we love are often fundamentally different from us. For Deborah, vulnerability brings the opposite of safety. Once Ava accepts that, Kelly suggests they might finally reach something deeper (and, in true Hacks fashion, experience “much more intense orgasms together”). The scene is a showcase for Jones and Einbinder, whose chemistry gives the conversation both its emotional weight and comedic bite.
In a moment that signals how close we are to the endgame, Deborah finally explains her secrecy. She recently underwent a medical procedure to remove a mass and chose not to tell Ava because she knew she would worry. Deborah admits she does not like talking about everything the way Ava does, while Ava acknowledges she tends to overshare. That tension defines them, and the episode wisely refuses to resolve it neatly, even if they leave Montecito on good terms.
Deborah eventually confesses the truth to Kelly and Monica, though she also admits she embarked on the entire charade because her psychic told her to. Kelly and Monica assume Deborah and Ava are genuinely together, but they find it sad that Deborah cannot live openly in that truth. Deborah gets the jumpsuit, but Kelly refuses to indulge the illusion any further. Jones and Bibb’s chemistry alone makes a strong case for a spin-off.
Ava ultimately tells Deborah they would never work as a couple – both insisting the other is out of their league. Still, “Montecito” makes a convincing argument for why the idea remains so compelling, even if it never becomes reality.
