Review: Mrs. Table’s $70 Branzino Challenge on SpoilerTV
Decades – that’s how long Deborah has waited for her own Late Night Show. Now that it’s finally a reality, she should be over the moon, right? Instead, it has been one giant headache: guests are canceling at the last minute, Ava’s not giving her the jokes she wants, and worst of all, Deborah is about to receive an award the network basically bought for her just to drum up publicity. She’s finally living her dream, but it’s nothing like she pictured it, and she is certainly not happy.
And neither is Ava. In fact, the writer is downright miserable. After Cher cancels her appearance on the show, Deborah’s team scrambles to book actress Ruby Rojas…aka Ava’s ex. Things spiral from bad to worse when Deborah trashes Ava’s jokes. She even rejects the five pages of rewrites Ava and the writers crank out in just half an hour. She scraps Ava’s entire bit and instead gives Ruby even more airtime. Oh, and just to twist the knife further, Deborah has Ruby tell the humiliating story of how Ava once mistook a prop ring Ruby brought home from set for an actual engagement ring. And Ava is standing in the front row, forced to listen to it all. Brutal!
But wait, there’s more bad luck in store for the young woman! The married couple she is seeing breaks up with her because they believe her to be emotionally unavailable. Then she finds out the writers not only have a secret group chat without her, but they have also been quietly milking her lunch contributions. Since each writer only gets a few bucks a day for food, Ava’s been pitching in extra so they can all eat decently. But instead of just ordering proper meals, they’ve been splurging – adding “extras for the table,” like today’s $70 branzino…which nobody even bothers to eat. It just sits there, getting cold, while Ava foots the bill.
That’s it. She’s had enough. Ava finally snaps. Channeling her inner Deborah, she hurls the branzino at the window, yells “I quit,” and storms out, peeling through the parking lot gate like she’s auditioning for The Fast and the Furious while screaming her guts out.
With Ava gone and nowhere to be found, Deborah is somewhat rattled. She finds she does not like taping without her head writer in the wings. Poking around Ava’s office after the show, Deborah happens to stumble open THE photo: young Deborah on stage, the snapshot Ava once swiped off a comedy club wall. It’s a gut punch. A reminder of where they started and just how powerfully they click when they’re together. Their relationship is messy, sure, but it’s unique, and it somehow brings out the best in them both.
Reluctantly, Deborah drags herself to the awards ceremony to collect her fake trophy, which is presented to her, in a fantastic cameo by Rosie O’Donnell. And like all the best Hacks cameos, Rosie’s not only there for a laugh but also to give advice. When Deborah admits her show has been hit or miss, Rosie tells her, “Some days you wanna pull your hair out. But other days, you’re just sitting there laughing your ass off with some of your favorite people in the whole world. You gotta focus on that…because to tell you the truth…that’s what I miss most.” We all know who flashes through Deborah’s mind in that moment, right? Hint: ginger, chaotic, awkward, and currently MIA.
Back home, the night takes another sharp downturn when Barry, one of Deborah’s beloved corgis, slips outside and gets attacked by a coyote. She manages to save the puppy, but the breakdown that follows feels…bigger than it just being about the dog.
Meanwhile, Jimmy and Kayla are out searching for “the ginger lesbian,” and by this point, Deborah is worried enough to join in. She even shows Ava’s picture to people waiting in line at a comedy club, asking if they’ve seen her. And it’s not just any photo, not a headshot or a press still, but a goofy selfie Ava probably once texted her. To top it off, Deborah apparently left the house wearing just slippers, too worried about her friend to care about appearances.
When someone suggests the “Find My iPhone” app and helps the comedian use it, Deborah locates Ava somewhere by the ocean. She races there and panics when she sees someone wading into the waves. Believing Ava wants to drown herself, she chases after her. Dressed in expensive fur Deborah plunges into the freezing cold water to save Ava – only to realize it’s not Ava at all. Just some random swimmer. Ava, of course, was casually strolling along the beach the entire time.
Finally, they collide.
