In Season 3 of 'Hacks,' Jean Smart will make you love to laugh again: Review

Doesn't it feel good just to feel good?

There is a time and a place for serious, intense, important television that makes you think. But there is also a time and place just to kick back, relax and let the funny people entertain you. And Jean Smart? Yeah, she's pretty funny.

Just in time to cheer us all up, Max's "Hacks" (streaming Thursdays, ★★★½ out of four) returns with Season 3 with Smart, Hannah Einbinder and welcome addition Helen Hunt for a smart, hollering good time of comedy about comedy. After a slightly lackluster second season in 2022, which seemed to tie up the story in a bow too soon, creators Paul W. Downs, Lucia Aniello and Jen Statsky found the right way to continue the series about an aging comedienne and her young writer. And while so many other shows go dark and depressing, "Hacks" has delightfully chosen joy, and (of course) some insult comedy from Smart's Deborah Vance.

We meet our fair hacks a year after Season 2 concluded, and all seems to be the tops for both Deborah and her former writer Ava (Einbinder). Fresh off an acclaimed comedy special, Deb is on the Time 100 list, hosting awards shows and generally living the lush life of the country's top funny woman. Ava is writing for a "Last Week Tonight" -style topical comedy series, back together with ex-girlfriend Ruby (Lorenza Izzo) and making her own awkward mark on Hollywood.

After firing Ava for her own good at the end of Season 2, Deb has cut her former protege out of her life entirely, leaving Ava emotionally wrecked. A chance meeting at a comedy festival reunites them as friends, after some forgiveness. Then, when Deb learns the late-night talk show she almost hosted in her younger years is looking for a new emcee, she cajoles Ava into joining her mission to land the gig. All Deb's hurdles − her age, her history, her gender − mean nothing to the woman when she sees something she wants.

It takes a little time (but not perhaps as much as you might expect) to get Ava and Deb back together again so "Hacks" can resume their banter and intense relationship. And to the writers' credit, their reunion doesn't come without cost. As Ruby reminds Ava, their relationship was often very toxic. Season 3 is all about new boundaries and beginnings, but also about the very real love between Deb and Ava, the unshakeable foundation on which the show is built.

But the superb cast of supporting characters doesn't disappoint. Downs and Meg Stalter are the best slapstick duo on the side as Deb's managers, taking unhealthy relationships and cluelessness to the next level. Carl Clemons-Hopkins' Marcus has his own life together this year, and is on an upward trajectory, for a change. But the most exciting character is Hunt as a network TV president holding the keys to the job Deb so desperately wants. Caustic and powerful, Hunt walks into the room (or pickleball court) with enough gravitas to knock anyone over. She's full of cynical one-liners and Big (Wo)Man on Campus energy. It's like she's let loose after years of playing pinned-down characters.

Other guest stars, including Christina Hendricks, Tony Goldwyn and Patton Oswalt, are welcome additions. The episodes are bursting with energy, and it feels like the "Hacks" set was a genuinely fun place to be. You can always tell when the people making art love what they're doing.

If Season 2 sometimes felt like it was being dragged along from plot A to plot B in a desperate search for the funny, it was still good, just not as effortless as Season 1. But the new episodes have that easy-breezy style back, without sacrificing substance. The jokes are funny, but the life isn't. Kaitlin Olson returns as Deb's daughter DJ, with more hard truths for her mother to hear. Ava's obsession with Deb may ruin her own relationships. And Deb may never be satisfied with her level of success, no matter how much she gets.

But when they turn that pain into humor, well, thank goodness it's gold.