'Task' Premiere Has Me Hooked

A New Crime Drama from the Heart of Delaware County

As someone who grew up in the Greater Philadelphia Area, I often joked during the peak of Mare of Easttown’s popularity that the Delco accent sounded completely normal to me. Every “what are youse dern over there?” seemed like proper English to my wooter-ice-soaked brain. So when Mare creator Brad Ingelsby launched his new HBO drama, Task, with Mark Ruffalo’s character asking his daughter if she wanted to meet for Rita’s after school, I knew it was our time to shine once again.

Task stars Ruffalo as Tom Brandis, a semi-retired FBI agent who spends his days recruiting at local career fairs. Thanks to a string of violent robberies in the area, he’s pulled back into fieldwork and tasked with leading a task force to find and arrest the culprits. Tom is the central figure of Task, embodying a Columbo-esque detective. Much of the debut episode is spent building out his complicated backstory, including mysterious family drama, an adopted son awaiting sentencing, and a past life as a priest following the death of his wife.

Faith and forgiveness will likely define many of the characters’ arcs. The premiere balances serious subject matters with characters who sound like they’re gargling marbles. While Ruffalo's performance is compelling, it’s Tom Pelphrey’s character, Robbie Pendergrast, that truly steals the show.

Tom Pelphrey: The Real Star of Task

To me, Tom Pelphrey’s character is the main character of Task. His portrayal of Robbie Pendergrast is so accurate that it sent chills down my spine. When he points at a travel ad for Canada and says, “Look at that, you can ern yer ern island,” it felt like a spell transporting me back to South Street. His lines, like yelling for “Whiz Wit!” at a deli, are spot-on.

Robbie is the man Ruffalo is after. A garbage collector by day, he robs local drug dealers in a smash-and-grab scheme similar to Bryan Tyree Henry's plan in Dope Thief. The drug dealers won’t report missing money because it was obtained illegally. Plus, who would suspect the trash collectors?

Though Robbie is the antagonist, he’s not cruel. He’s just a guy trying to provide for his two kids through dangerous means. He’s saving up to buy a private island in Canada—a Candy Mountain paradise. However, it seems unlikely he’ll ever get there.

Family Trauma and Grief

Like Tom, Robbie’s family life is filled with grief. His wife walked out on their family a year ago, and his young niece Maeve (Emilia Jones from CODA) now watches over his two kids. Life’s hard on her as well; her father, Robbie’s brother, is no longer in the picture. “Uncle Billy” was murdered, and the kids don’t know why or by whose hand. “I’m miserable,” Maeve tells Robbie. “What’s the definition of insanity?” she asks. “Staying at the freak farm and thinking something’s going to change?”

It’s not until Tom starts investigating the case that we learn more about how Robbie’s family got this way. Turns out, seven out of the nine houses they’ve hit belong to members of a violent motorcycle club called the Dark Hearts. It more than likely isn’t a coincidence.

The Task Force Assembles

Alongside Ruffalo, Task stars Fabien Frankel as Anthony Grasso from the organized crime division, Allison Oliver as State Trooper Elizabeth Stover, and Thuso Mbedu as Sergeant Detective Aleah Clinton. They form the small investigative unit tasked with bringing these home invaders down from their new headquarters in an abandoned stash house.

Elizabeth, or “Lizzie” as everyone calls her, is a bit ditzy. She complains about the smell and didn’t receive the brief on their investigation. Her email address? Snickerdoodle223@yahoo.com. Maybe it went to spam! Anthony and Aleah seem more like straight shooters, or at the very least, they don’t spend their off time getting plastered off vodka from a plastic cup while bird-watching like ol’ Tom.

Robbie, We’ve Got a Problem

It was bound to happen. Robbie and Cliff’s operation goes sideways as they hit their tenth house. They bring along a third for this hit, a young man played by Owen Teague. But the homeowners are combative, Robbie can’t find the money, and then an armed visitor enters with what looks like the moneybag. In the chaos, the stranger shoots and kills Teague’s character, resulting in a gunfight that only Robbie and Cliff walk away from. This seems like the first time they’ve left some dead bodies behind.

That’s not all. As Robbie takes the bag and prepares to leave, they spot a young boy who walks out from the basement. “Are you my dad’s friends?” he asks them. “Yeah,” Robbie responds. This father of two couldn’t hurt a kid, right?

No, of course not. As Tom and his task force investigate the crime scene, Robbie brings the boy back to his home. Even if he’s technically doing the right thing here, this is still kidnapping. And if you thought it was a bit strange that the FBI was putting so many resources into an investigation into stolen drug money, well, a missing child is certainly something that the whole town might be invested in when we see episode 2 next week.

A Crime Drama with Depth

If you’ve seen a fair share of crime dramas before Task, I can’t promise you that we’re headed into completely new territory for the genre here. What I can tell you is that Task’s first hour features some of the most well-rounded and realistically human leads I’ve seen in a long time.

Tom is on the right path morally, but he's spiritually troubled—and Robbie is the complete opposite. He wants peace for his family more than anything, and he’s not afraid to achieve it by taking it away from others. But there’s a reason why Robbie isn’t hitting the richest homes he can find in Delaware County and pilfering their luxury watches. From what Task shows of Robbie’s life so far, it’s clear that he's a good guy at heart. That shouldn’t just make him a better antagonist as Task goes on; it should also make for a better story.

I’m already rooting for Robbie to figure out this terrible situation out before Ruffalo finds him. And if I get to keep watching Tom Pelphrey's performance every Sunday, then I couldn’t think of a better place to be this fall.