I wasn’t sure if I was going to even watch HBO’s Task at first. It seemed dreary and perhaps unrelentingly grim. And I figured maybe I was good on Delco/Philly collar county crime drama for a bit after the excellent Mare of Easttown (also created by Brad Ingelsby).
I was wrong, and very happily so.
The best shows always come down to great writing and great performances, and Task thrives in its messy and relatable humanity. Every character is three-dimensional – cops and criminals and innocents alike.
In the wrong hands, the combination of all major characters having heavy baggage to carry around and The Departed/Infernal Affairs-style “there’s a mole on both sides of the story” would becomes a boggy mess, but Task carries it off elegantly and compellingly. In fact, this is the first 2025 TV show since The White Lotus where I’ve greatly anticipated watching a new episode each week.
The performances
There are many standout performances on Task. On the FBI side of the story, we’ve got Mark Ruffalo as Tom Brandis, Alison Oliver as hot mess Lizzie Stover (and man, I love that her fellow cops refer to her as Stove Top), Fabien Frankel a.k.a. Ser Criston Cole from House of the Dragon as Anthony Grasso, and Martha Plimpton as Kathleen McGinty (the boss who has to be shady but we’re not quite sure how or why yet).
And then on the motorcycle gang and associates side of the story, we’ve got Tom Pelphrey giving a hell of a performance as Robbie Prendergast, same for Emilia Jones as Maeve, Raul Castillo as Cliff Broward, Silvia Dionicio as Emily, Sam Keeley as Jayson, and Jamie McShane (who I always think of as that burnout guy from Bloodline) as Perry. Oh, and let’s not forget Margarita Levieva as Eryn, who has been in a ton of things but whom I will forever think of as Lisa P from the brilliant movie, Adventureland.
HBO FTW
That strikes as a huge win for both HBO (or Max… I think we’re calling it just Max now) and for the resilience of the one-episode-a-week release schedule. Oh, and a third thing: HBO having strong programming on Sunday nights is an extremely rare asset for any network or streaming service to have in its arsenal these days.
Black Rabbit and The Girlfriend… do not meet the same high standards
Where Task thrillingly succeeds, Black Rabbit and The Girlfriend sadly do not. The two latter recent shows both lean into style and sensationalism over substance. And interestingly both attempt a Rashomon-ish multiple viewpoints version of storytelling that quickly becomes tiresome as well.
Task juggles many plot elements but stays grounded via superior writing and by focusing on character moments and performances.
There’s deeper stuff at play, too
Really interesting stuff from Helena Hunt on The Ringer:
Ringer editor in chief Ben Glicksman pointed out to me a possible connection between Task and the work of Richard Rohr, a priest and writer who got a passing mention in Episode 1. Rohr talks about the two “tasks” of life in his book Falling Upward: The first task involves “establishing an identity, a home, relationships, friends, community.” That’s like the home Tom is pushing Robbie to go back to. The second task is what you do when the first one falls apart and you have to figure out who you are, and how you’re going to move forward, with what’s left.
Also see: Task is great, but what’s with all The Sopranos crossover vibes?
Which is to say: Task has multiple layers to it, and there are still two episodes left in the season as of this writing.
I know I’ll be on deck the next two Sunday nights to see if Robbie, Tom, and others make it back home.