It is three oclock in the morning at a blackjack table inside Las Vegass sprawling Caesars Palace casino.
I swear I barely know how to play, she tells them.
But I do know the most important thing is to leave the table before your luck runs out.
Jean SmartJessica Chou
She deserves another for her barely know how to play nonsense.
Later, Ill watch Smart whack golf balls at a driving range in sight of the Las Vegas Sphere.
But my first encounter with Deborah Vance is preceded by the glint of a hundred thousand pink sequins.
TheHacksteam is gathered outside a gaudy recreation of Romes Trevi fountain, right on the edge of the Strip.
In Rome, the fountain spills out of the gorgeous 16thCentury Palazzo Poli.
At the center of all this chaos, Aniello, Statsky, and Downs seem remarkably relaxed.
Megan Stalter, as Jimmys assistant-cum-special project Kayla, readies a parasol for Vance.
She rolls her eyes and determines to press ahead regardless.
Then, Statsky has an idea for the scene.
It has taken a long time for the cast and crew to reach this moment.
c’mon listen to your body and talk to your doctor, Smart wrote.
Im very glad I did.
At this point, I feel like weve been 16-months pregnant, laughs Aniello.
The babys baked and ready to go.
Further complicating matters forHacksSeason 3 were the two industry strikes of last year.
We [made the decision] on day one, says Statsky.
We write as we go, and we couldnt do our jobs as showrunners unless we were writing.
We couldnt write, so we had to stop.
We wouldnt want to make the show that way, says Aniello.
Downs says bosses were supportive of their decision.
I dont think every show had that luxury.
Some people faced a lot of pressure.
It was a line in the sand, says Statsky.
It does make me sad, because I wish this was my job forever, a little bit.
I do prefer to be doing it than not doing it.
But when Smart sweeps in, its like an injection of fresh energy.
Later, Downs will tell me that Smart brings this same energy to the set every day.
She works so hard.
She never phones it in.
Smart means it when she describes this cast and crew as her family.
I was talking to a young man who just worked on the show for a day.
He might have been one of the caddies when we play golf this season.
If they hadnt created that environment, I just couldnt imagine being able to do it.
I would shrivel up.
Smart remembers theFrasierset having a similar energy.
But shes also the only one who wont credit herself for fostering it.
Everyone always talks about building chemistry, says Einbinder now.
How did you build the chemistry between you?
But we didnt build anything.
It was there from day one.
They narrowed so many actresses down to the three I read with, says Smart.
By the end, there was no doubt in my mind that it had to be Hannah.
She was just such a natural.
I hate to use an acting term, but she is in the moment at all times.
Theres nothing before, nothing after; shes just prepared.
We leaned on each other pretty early on.
Shes been through so much, and Ive been through so much.
She has allowed me to be there for her, and that has felt like an honor.
This show has made every other opportunity in my life possible, she says.
I told her I want 5%, cackles Smart with a devilish glint.
Shes the only one who doesnt know how it ends, laughs Statsky.
But neither do Smart and Einbinder, who both say they dont want to know just yet.
Well, then it was five… it might be different now.
Thats still our plan, says Aniello.
The shows third season picks up the action about a year after we last saw Deborah and Ava.
So, I read this last script and I just started crying.
I called Jen, Paul, and Lucia, and I said, Am I fired?!
Are you writing me off the show?
Of course, they quickly reassured her that wasnt the case.
They didnt know just how low my self-esteem was, chuckles Einbinder, as Smart gives her a hug.
She says she has since learned more about the shows trajectory.
In Season 3, late-night comes back.
It has been a lynchpin of the whole series in a way, says Downs.
I dont know that late-night is doing well for [the networks].
Deborahs victories have been hard-fought.
For Ava, too, this pressure is ever-present.
Watching the ruthlessness with which Deborah fights for her place on the stage revolts Ava.
But though she couches her own fight in self-righteousness, the two are not so dissimilar.
Both are forced, constantly, to become ever more wicked versions of themselves to keep afloat.
Deborah is just years further down the road of making her peace with that.
Weve always said this show is a redemption story for them both, says Aniello.
Season 3, then, will end on a higher note than the two that preceded it.
Finally, adds Aniello, weve given Deborah her white whale.
Its giving her what she wanted for so long, but at what cost?
What were setting up is that Deborah is now on the biggest stage of her career, says Statsky.
In perhaps the most electric of the seasons many charged scenes, Ava will punch back.
Much to Deborahs dismay, notes Smart, Ava has learned the lessons she taught her a littletoowell.
Its a mixture of rage with some admiration; almost pride.
And then, at the very last moment, its like, Oh, this will be fun.
Even that Las Vegas mainstay Carrot Top graces the set with his presence.
When Im coming to work and Im opposite Jean, Im always coming to play, says Einbinder.
But I definitely feel like I gotta have nerves when the big dogs come to play.
Everybody slots right into the environment that Paul, Jen, and Lucia built.
Ive admired her for so long, says Smart.
We have a similar approach to our work, and we had a great time together.
Were already conspiring to do a play together.
That has always been the first intent of this creative team.
The moment of catharsis for Jimmy and Kayla is somehow both hilarious and touching in equal measure.
Its such strong comedy from Paul and Meg, says Statsky.
But its also so sweet.
Its a testament to them as actors, that theyre able to do both in a single scene.
The hardest thing to do in comedy is to elicit true empathy while being so funny.
Its a high-wire act that they both perform beautifully.
Take after take, this creative team finds new veins to mine.
Theres an egolessness to them, says Einbinder.
The best idea wins.
They walk around and do bits; everybodys always laughing.
Our DP is funny.
Our grips are funny.
Our boom operators are funny.
It really is a charmed experience.
There isnt a huge amount of improvising, to be honest with you, because we move so quickly.
We shoot a lot of pages in a day.
You have to be disciplined about how you change things and be really, really prepared.
But having such a great scene partner like Meg, were able to bounce off of each other.
Downs is right; improvisation is not the right word for it.
OnHacks, alt lines are written into the script multiple times an episode.
This feels almost like an invitation on the day of the shoot, to keep things open to possibility.
Changes must be more precise; and they must be earned instead of indulged.
In the scene outside Caesars, I witness how this is realized.
They roll a take on her, she yells, Shopping!, holding her designer bags aloft.
And then the director calls cut and the same first AD announces, Thats a wrap on Deborah Vance.
Were left to wonder just how sizable the check was that brought Deborah to this set.
All of a sudden, the scene has the punch it needs.
It doesnt feel quite right.
And so, well huddle together and figure out a solve.
We live for the tiny things, adds Downs.
Its just like, How can I tickle it a little more?
It was so perfect that we were wrapping up that long, long season in Vegas, she says.
It was 5 a.m. before she called it a night.
Months later, I discover my six dollars worth of chips buried at the bottom of my luggage.
Level with me, I ask Smart when we reconnect.
You hustled me at that blackjack table, didnt you?
There is that cackle again; Smarts riotous laugh that she has gifted to Deborah Vance.
At once wicked and delightful, it deserves its own place in televisions hall of fame.
Oh, I wouldnt saythat, she demurs.
I was only trying to help.
The trouble is, I believe her.
She really has earned every single one of those Emmys.
