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This post contains spoilers about the fifth episode of<\/em> Hacks season four.<\/em><\/p>\n In the latest season of Hacks<\/a>,<\/em> Jean Smart<\/strong>\u2019s Deborah Vance is warned that her late-night series won\u2019t survive unless it\u2019s a hit by the end of its first year. Head writer Ava Daniels<\/strong> (Hannah Einbinder<\/strong><\/a>) wonders if \u201chits\u201d even exist anymore. Of course, Hacks<\/em> itself proves they do. Amid a saturated entertainment landscape, Lucia Aniello<\/a>,<\/strong> Paul W. Downs<\/a>,<\/strong> and Jen Statsky<\/strong>\u2019s award-winning Max series is an unmitigated succcess\u2014earning Smart three best-actress Emmys<\/a> and finally capturing best comedy series<\/a> at the awards last September.<\/p>\n At 73, Smart is aware of the rarified air both she and her series occupy. \u201cI don\u2019t stop realizing and appreciating that I am on a show that I absolutely love, that is so brilliantly written and so smart, with such incredibly cool people\u2014and I\u2019m home every night,\u201d she tells Vanity Fair.<\/em> \u201cI don\u2019t have to be away from my family, in Atlanta or wherever. Well, I probably wouldn\u2019t have done the job if it had been set or shot in Atlanta.\u201d<\/p>\n Things aren\u2019t going as smoothly for Smart\u2019s character, who learns in this week\u2019s episode of Hacks<\/em> that she isn\u2019t testing well with women. \u201cI like when she\u2019s funny, but not when she\u2019s trying<\/em> to be funny,\u201d says one focus group participant. Others complain about her age and her hair. The criticism sends Deborah down a road of desperation, one that involves stealing demo-friendly guests like Kristen Bell<\/strong> out from under an irate Jimmy Kimmel<\/strong> (\u201cGo jam your dick up Fallon\u2019s ass! You fucked with the wrong Jimmy,\u201d he snarls) and welcoming Julianne Nicholson<\/strong><\/a> as \u201cDance Mom,\u201d a popular TikTok creator. \u201cBeing canceled is just absolutely not an option,\u201d Smart says of her character\u2019s perhaps ill-fated efforts. \u201cShe thinks she\u2019s getting her dream, and she\u2019s just not going to let anything or anybody screw it up.\u201d<\/p>\n Like Deborah, Smart isn\u2019t content to rest on her laurels. Later this month, she\u2019ll return to Broadway for the first time in 25 years with the one-woman show Call Me Izzy,<\/em> before returning for the presumed final season of Hacks.<\/em> Ahead of her busy spring, Smart speaks to VF<\/em> about the show\u2019s \u201cdown and dirty\u201d fourth season, one of the most important decisions of her career, and why women are still absent from late-night TV: \u201cDo you have a couple hours?\u201d<\/p>\n Vanity Fair:<\/em> This season of Hacks<\/em> airs amid the premiere of your one-woman Broadway show. How are you feeling in the lead-up?<\/strong><\/p>\n Jean Smart:<\/strong> I am gearing up. I have the first third of the play recorded on my phone, and I fall asleep listening to it every night, because it\u2019s about 75 to 80 pages of material that I need to learn. I have done a couple readings of the play in Los Angeles and New York, so I do have it in my bones a bit already. People say, \u201cHow can you possibly memorize that much?\u201d But it\u2019s sort of like when you have a fun anecdote or funny joke\u2014you don\u2019t usually forget any of the details because you can\u2019t wait to tell somebody. So that\u2019s how it feels, because I love this piece so much.<\/p>\n Ava blackmailing Deborah at the end of season three<\/a> is still looming large over their relationship. But how much does the act that led to the betrayal\u2014Deborah sleeping with Tony Goldwyn\u2019s media CEO, then getting a show on his network\u2014alter Deborah\u2019s confidence?<\/strong><\/p>\n Well, I think she has a lot of guilt about that. She knows that Ava\u2019s right about certain things, which makes her even more angry, because she doesn\u2019t want to admit that Ava was right. But at the same time she\u2019s thinking, Why doesn\u2019t she understand that this has been my dream my entire adult life? I am moments from getting and enjoying it. Why can\u2019t you understand that I have to make certain decisions? But she knows she\u2019s going to have to make some compromises, which she\u2019s not used to.<\/p>\n Does Deborah have imposter syndrome, or is her personal doubt tied to something else?<\/strong><\/p>\n I mean, she has a great deal of confidence in her ability. But at the same time, betrayal is the ultimate sin to her. So when she feels that Ava betrays her, all bets are off. I mean, the gloves are off big time\u2014because all that does is bring up all her personal demons and her past, and everything that has driven her and made her the person she is. She thrives on bitterness and resentment.<\/p>\n