While watching last night’s episode of Hacks for the third time (I have a problem!), I found myself thinking: This is the best season of the series so far.

And it has achieved this against all odds. I’ve been writing about this all season, but it shouldn’t work so well when the series basically repeats the same arc for Deborah/Ava in a loop over and over again. And yet, it does. It shouldn’t be so laugh-out-loud funny when so many of its humorous setups don’t really follow the structure of jokes. And yet, it is. I’ve never laughed so hard at a show for the simple reason of line delivery before. But sitting inside that reaction is the core of what makes Hacks so effective on both its humor and emotional fronts: The writing, direction, and performances are so perfectly in-sync, the series helmed by a trio of showrunners (Lucia Aniello, Paul W. Downs, and Jen Statsky, my freaky-funny Holy Trinity) who deeply understand the strengths of their actors. It’s one thing to have a talented cast; plenty of shows do. But like coaches who know exactly what configuration to place their players in in a game of basketball, the creative team behind the cast here knows exactly how to best use those talents.

This penultimate episode of the season — “A Slippery Slope”, written by the holy trinity and directed by Lucia Aniello — would not stick the landing on its final plot twist if that were not the case. It’s one of the best executed plot twists I’ve seen on television in a while, especially because it feels so earned. Yes, the episode overtly manipulates viewers’ expectations, but not in a way that feels like we’re being talked down to. Because ultimately, we believe the episode is going to go a different way because Ava believes it and has every reason to.

Ava accidentally puts herself in hot water when she slips to her former coworker at On the Contrary that the network — Deborah’s sometimes-lover Bob Lipka, to be precise — forced the show to cut a joke Deborah made at sex pest Ethan Summers’ expense. Ava was already critical of Ethan coming on the show, but Deborah pushed for it because she was pressured by Bob, and she knows how the game works. If a studio head tells you to do something, you do it. Plus, she just used her personal sway with Bob to get Winnie fired. She was perfectly content using her power to hurt someone else when it worked in her favor; when Bob turns the tables on her, it’s a reminder that none of these power moves happen in a vacuum. Deborah’s complicit in the harm this industry actively encourages.

Ava tries to get the story buried, but it doesn’t work, and Bob tells Deborah outright she has to fire Ava. Here’s where Hacks plays its sleight of hand trick. Deborah sends Ava to cover the Oscars red carpet, but when Ava gets there she and her crew aren’t on the list. She runs into Winnie, who reveals Deborah got her fired. When Ava gets stuck in traffic on the way back to the studio and realizes she might miss the taping, the gears start turning. She thinks she’s next. She thinks Deborah has done to her what she did to Winnie. When her badge doesn’t work at the lot entrance, it only solidifies this outcome in her mind.

But then, Deborah walks out onto stage. She thanks her writers, her crew, her plastic surgeon. And then she says none of this would be possible without Ava, without her head writer who she has been asked to fire by the studio head. In front of a live studio audience and on national television, Deborah declares Ava is not only her creative partner but someone who she loves. She criticizes the industry, even while acknowledging she knows it’s a business, knows her place in it, knows her complicity. It’s a tricky balance to pull off; Deborah is never going to be a full-on hero, but she doesn’t have to be in order to land a big emotional moment like this and have it still feel earned and realistic. She was willing to compromise and make sacrifices to an extent, but she sees the slippery slope, and she knows none of this dream is possible without Ava.

Their reunion at episode’s end feels every bit as high-stakes emotionally as a rom-com reunion. Deborah confesses she had to lock her off the lot in order to stop her from stopping her. If Ava had known her plan, she would have talked her out of it. On a lesser show, this would all feel like explaining the magic trick so to speak, exposition for the sake of justifying the misdirect. But since it’s rooted so strongly in believable character motivation and relationship dynamics, it avoids feeling cheap. This is just simply a super well executed misdirect and plot twist.

Jimmy and Kayla’s arc in the episode actually maps pretty well onto this central storyline, too, even if it’s markedly tonally different. Shit finally hits the fan for real with Dance Mom, and Jimmy has to go above and beyond to show just how good of a manager he is, all the while still dismissed by everyone around him, which finally prompts Kayla to advocate for him and admonish Deborah and Ava for their mistreatment in a monologue Meg Stalter delivers so hilariously. Again, it’s catered to her strengths. Like Deborah and Ava, Kayla and Jimmy keep choosing each other over and over again, even as they so often don’t see eye to eye. Hacks is about complicated partnership. It’s about doing great work with someone you sometimes want to push off a cliff.

This season starts with Ava making a huge power play against Deborah. Now, Deborah makes a huge power play to save her, giving up the show. That’s a huge turn for a show to pull off in the span of eight half-ish hour episodes, but Hacks does it well, with big emotional swings along the way. Deborah’s monologue doesn’t just coast by on the talents of Jean Smart alone. Everything from the sound cues to the direction and writing makes it shine and situates it within the emotional arc of the entire season.

Deborah is going to have to pay a steep price for this huge risk she took, as Bob reminds her of her non-compete clause. Even if she’s not doing the show, the studio owns her. She quite literally has burned it all down. But she has Ava to walk through the ashes with. It wouldn’t be the first time either of them has had to start completely over. The creative life and a career in an industry as unstable as Hollywood is full of restarts. With that embedded into its premise, Hacks gets away with restarting the story again and again.

Before you go! Autostraddle runs on the reader support of our AF+ Members. If this article meant something to you today — if it informed you or made you smile or feel seen, will you consider joining AF and supporting the people who make this queer media site possible?

Join AF+!