Earlier this season on Hacks , when Deborah Vance’s trusty CEO Marcus (Carl Clemons-Hopkins) scoped out a derelict casino for sale, the possibilities for what he could create there were endless. A stylish man with a modern home, he could have opted for an unprecedentedly sleek design for his new boutique operation. A Las Vegas native, he could have leaned into his home city’s rich history of over-the-top kitsch and camp. A few episodes ago, when Ava (Hannah Einbinder) coerced Deborah’s old antique shop owner nemesis to make her a counterfeit set of salt and pepper shakers by promising that Marcus would buy an abundance of his wares, I envisioned giant porcelain urns and other fine items among the slot machines.

The scene where Marcus first scouts The Diva was filmed at Whiskey Pete’s, a defunct casino in Primm, Nevada.

Courtesy of HBO Max

Many of the casinos in Primm, located close to the California border, have closed, putting it in danger of becoming a ghost town.

Courtesy of HBO Max

Tonight, Hacks…