Relentlessly grim yet ultimately redemptive, befitting a crime drama whose hangdog hero used to be a priest, HBO’s harrowingly suspenseful Task (which I kept thinking of as “Tsk”) tells the parallel stories of two men with deep sorrows.
FBI agent and former chaplain Tom Brandis (a rumpled and melancholy Mark Ruffalo), returning to fieldwork in Philadelphia after a devastating family tragedy, is put in charge of a hastily assembled task force to find the culprit who’s been burglarizing gangland drug houses. His target: Robbie Prendergrast (Ozark‘s soulful Tom Pelphrey), a working-class family man raising his two kids with his long-suffering 21-year-old niece (CODA‘s Emilia Jones) while pursuing a mission of retribution against a violent motorcycle gang.
They’re both in mourning: Tom for his late wife, also for his mentally unstable adopted son, for whom he can’t bring himself to testify on the boy’s behalf in an upcoming sentencing hearing. (Forgiveness is a recurring theme in this often bleak series.) Robbie grieves for his murdered brother, also for a broken family life after his wife abandoned their kids and him a year ago.
When during their one fateful meeting, Robbie calls Tom “the world’s most depressing human,” he’s not lying. And yet, with Mare of Easttown creator Brad Ingelsby returning to a rural Pennsylvania setting (replete with thick accents) to tell his violent and bloody fable of flawed men on a collision course, there are moments of aching tenderness and grace amid the brutal mayhem. (Not just because of the motorcycle-gang subplot will viewers be reminded of Sons of Anarchy and its fatalistic humanism.)
There’s a strong sense of place and purpose, and memorable characterizations, as Tom assembles his motley team, including Aleah (The Underground Railroad‘s Thuso Mbedu), a taciturn sharpshooter, cocky organized-crime vet Grosso (the charismatic Fabien Frankel), and a green state trooper, Lizzie (Alison Oliver), who has a bad habit of freezing at inopportune times. Their FBI boss, who aptly describes herself as an “unrefined old bitch,” is played by the invaluable Martha Plimpton, bringing acerbic humor to a show that could really use it.
Using his garbage-truck route as cover for his burglaries, Robbie and his buddy Cliff (Raúl Castillo) put their and others’ lives in jeopardy when, in a twist reminiscent of the recent Apple TV+ drama Dope Thief, one of their heists goes chaotically sideways, leaving Robbie harboring a lethal amount of fentanyl as well as an unexpected witness who complicates everyone’s life.
“I’m a million miles past good ideas,” Robbie confesses as the situation becomes increasingly dire and the body count rises, exposing corruption on both sides of the law. Though it can sometimes feel like a task to keep returning to this downbeat world, Task rewards the viewer with emotional payoffs that are as likely to lift as break the heart.
If it’s still too much for you, we understand. You’re forgiven.
Task, Series Premiere,Sunday, September 7, 9/8c, HBO
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