So I've been watching Hacks in 4 episode chunks, which means that I saw 3x07–4x01 in one sitting, and man does that make palpable the mixture of shock and hurt Ava's hit with from Deborah's betrayal.
Ava's so chill in 3x07. Yeah, she's heading back to LA in a couple of weeks since Deborah didn't get the job. Yeah, her mom is here and making deranged comments like saying her new roommate is the daughter she's never had. Yeah, fricking Kathy Vance is around and ain't that something.
Yet Ava's remarkably accepting of it all.
She's able to deal with Nina's Nina-ness with amusement over hurt, and appreciate her mom's efforts in understanding her work. She's truly okay with this stint of working with Deborah coming to an end, more okay than she is in 2x09 and 3x01. She's going yeah, we're friends, I can leave her with a VR headset for Christmas and feel good about it. She has a tiny conversation with Kathy but doesn't feel the need to stick her head in.
In 3x08 they're back on the Late Night trail and Deborah's being well, Deborah about it, but Ava is still as steady. She doesn't slip with the New Yorker reporter, and she repeatedly pushes back on Deborah while making it clear she's on her team.
She feels really confident about her place in Deborah's life! She tells the reporter "Deborah can be tough, for sure. But that's 'cause she has really high standards for herself and everyone else. But if you can meet those standards, she'll take care of you."
Except 3x09 happens and it turns out Deborah won't take care of her. Is in fact still scared and reactive enough to lie to Ava's face and pretend she doesn't give a shit about her. Of course Ava realizes that at a certain point, pretending not to give a shit about someone is the same as actually not giving a shit about them.
Deborah's too important to Ava - see her inability to work on her own stuff despite that being one of Deborah's requests - for her to walk away like Marcus is finally going to. But Deborah doesn't get to be the only one determining the fundamentals of their relationship.
Ava no longer trusts her with that. Time to flip the script.