Hacks season 5, episode 8 recap: "The Cube"

If it seems like Hacks has set up a fairly frictionless denouement for its two leading ladies in the final season, perhaps that’s because their managers/mirrors, Jimmy and Kayla, are fighting enough uphill battles for the four of them. Their client roster is extremely limited, and currently includes a legendary performer who cannot perform without being arrested (that would be Deborah) and a missing dog actor who is costing them virtually all of their incoming revenue—and is also the reason Jimmy can’t participate in the short shorts trend. (His despair is palpable.)

Things were rough between Kayla and Jimmy even before the launch of the now-defunct Schaefer & Lusaque: In the early seasons, she seemed like a clueless nepo baby and walking lawsuit settlement, and he was struggling to maintain his integrity while carving out a niche in a cutthroat business. Their journey has often paralleled that of Ava and Deborah, friction and frustration giving way to partnership and mutual respect. Like their counterparts, Jimmy and Kayla are closer than ever in “The Cube,” but unlike Ava and Deborah, that bond is costing them a chance at success. Kayla and especially Jimmy shoulder more of the dramatic burden than ever before in the antepenultimate episode of the series, making their way to the heart of Hacks‘ exploration of what it costs to pursue your passion.

The magician-related fiasco, complete with a urine-soaked shoe, on the Las Vegas Strip is obviously the big draw of “The Cube,” but I’m going to work my way backwards and start at the end. Just last week in “QuikScribbl,” Michael Schaefer (W. Earl Brown) cut Kayla off and seized her car. This week, Schaefer & Lusaque & Randi make some tough decisions to cut costs, but even giving up their fancy office space might not be enough to keep them afloat. What will it take for them to keep going? Canceling their pickleball court membership, for sure (although, given all the hoops they have to jump through to terminate that agreement, they might be stuck running into the widows of comedians forever). Switching to an electric car and working from Jimmy’s home and eating his food for the week are also cost-effective ideas, but not enough to counter Michael’s latest move: a huge lawsuit for lost commissions and emotional distress. Looks like the price of bringing closure to the family of Bruno Fox’s slain victim is $30 million. Michael says they can avoid a drawn-out legal battle by returning to the Latitude fold, though.

Lusaque & Schaefer have been blacklisted in the industry and the only legal counsel they can muster is Corbin Bernsen, who dated Jimmy’s mom Deidre Hall and thinks he remembers enough from his L.A. Law days to mount some kind of defense. Jimmy and Kayla are backed into a corner, and this time, there really is no way out—unless that Xena rewatch podcast does numbers or Corbin developed his own high-perception skills from his time on Psych. Kayla wants to keep fighting, in part because her dad has kept her under his thumb. She can’t stand to lose to him, but Jimmy sees it as a win for their clients, who will have real backing again. Not to mention, the L&S team will have health insurance and reliable paychecks again. Late in the episode, as they’re stranded on a dark highway en route to Deborah’s unofficial publicity stunt, Jimmy opens up about why he got into the industry in the first place. He realized he didn’t have the skills to make it as a creative; his talent is “helping talent.” “When they win, I feel like I’ve won,” he says. There’s no hint of resignation or disappointment in his voice; it’s pride, but not the kind that will keep him from accepting that his business venture is done. Jimmy knows what he’s good at, and he’s committed himself to it—how many people can truly say that?

There’s something almost ironic about Paul W. Downs giving a speech about embracing limitations. If anyone was going to be able to turn the B story into another A story in “The Cube,” it was the multihyphenate who co-created Hacks with his wife and fellow series director Lucia Aniello. (This week’s episode was written by Genevieve Aniello and Jess Dweck, making it even more of a family affair.) Meg Stalter matches his bittersweet mood as Kayla admits she got into the industry to hang out with Jimmy, her “best friend.” Stalter’s really grown as a performer throughout Hacks‘ run; remember how convincingly she squirmed around Kathryn Newton’s braggadocious A-lister in the season-three finale “Bulletproof“? It’s easy to see how that bullied girl and the inept assistant in seasons one and two and the present-day manager who owns a cattle prod are all contained in the same person. Kayla’s put a lot of herself (and her trust fund) into this work, a fact that Jimmy now readily recognizes. But she also sees just how Jimmy’s poured himself into managing talent while getting very little in return. “Is it really worth it?,” she asks Jimmy, exhausted after struggling for the last two years and pushing a car down the road for the last…hour, I’d guess, knowing he’ll have to forfeit the credit for Deborah’s resurgence to her dad. For Jimmy, there’s no question. “It was really fun while it lasted.”

Miles away, their clients/counterparts have also been grappling with the question of what it’s all been for, just in a much more public fashion. “The Cube” opens with Deborah setting the stage for her Madison Square Garden show, which involves a coffin, a Schiaparelli ballgag and strait-jacket, and a bunch of short brunettes (assuming there’s more than one among the Knicks’ dancers). Amanda Weinberg, unflinching as ever, is more concerned with Deborah’s announcement to drive ticket sales than she is Deborah’s safety. There’s still the little matter of the gag order (hence the designer ballgag, as the comedian notes), so Deborah hires Katya (Katya Zamolodchikova) to make the announcement while playing a drag version of herself (Deborah, that is). When Katya gets too into character—and the 1990s—Deborah has to come up with a plan B, which, delightfully enough for me, involves a magician. The Amazing Steven (Rhys Mitchell) will pick Deborah out of the Vegas crowd and put her into The Cube for a trick that will end with a Deborah Vance hologram wearing a T-shirt with the call to action. Nice and simple, just like Deborah likes things.

As I’ve already noted, the trick turns into a disaster—a blackout takes out part of the power grid, leaving Deborah suspended in the air and Ava on the ground, where she gives her boss pep talks via walkie-talkie (“You’re looking skinny, though, up there. Skinny bitch.”) Deborah and Ava have been in highly awkward situations before (not last week, though, that was kismet), but with this very public humiliation, they’ve almost traded roles with Jimmy and Kayla, who managed to keep the shame of pushing a dead electric car for miles private. It only adds to the feeling of synchronicity between their stories. Deborah’s flailing here—figuratively, not literally, thank god—as she despairs that, in her efforts to thwart attempts to paint her as the crazy, scorned woman again, she’s done her adversaries’ job for them. Ava tries to reassure her: “You’re crazy for your work, and you will do anything for it, and that is fucking cool. So fuck it if anyone sees you.”

You can easily imagine this scene playing out between Jimmy and Kayla, down to the peeing in a shoe (although without the legendary career and coordinated smear campaign details). Loving the work but not always having it love you back is one of the central themes of the show, but “The Cube” lets Deborah have it both ways. She realizes that the very real potential for danger can be harnessed into a media circus that will then drive people to her website, where they can buy tickets to her Garden show. And, because she’s already been through enough humiliation, that plan goes off without a hitch. Deborah’s show sells out in 10 minutes, and the Amazing Steven gets Ava to believe in the awesomeness of magic with the help of a Gatorade bottle. (I am probably happiest about that last development.)

There is still some humiliation left for Jimmy, though, as he returns to Latitude. Kayla and Randi will be set up for success—I don’t think anything can keep the world’s greatest assistant down—but it looks like Jimmy’s going to have to start from the bottom, assuming that’s where the mailroom is. He smiles as he hands out a copy of Variety with a cover proclaiming Deborah’s victory and his defeat, though, so it’ll still be worth it.

Stray observations

• This Vanity Fair piece on AI storylines in TV features a measured, very Jimmy Lusaque-type quote from Paul W. Downs and an amazing quote from Lucia Aniello.
• Now that she and Deborah are planning a real vacation, I wonder if Ava will propose a pit stop in Montecito.
• Exchange of the episode—
Katya: “You gonna hit a woman?
Deborah: “It’s the ’90s, it’s encouraged!”
• Mayor Jo Pezzimenti, in Lara Croft cosplay, bravely volunteers to shoot Deborah to death before she can hit the ground. What a way to repay her friend for giving her national airtime to scrub her reputation post-sex scandal!
• What am I thinking? This is the exchange of the week (and another great callback):
Deborah: “I went on a date with Saddam Hussein.”
Ava: “You told me you said no!”
Deborah: “Well, I lied. It was the ’80s! He was good then. You would’ve loved him. He was bisexual.”