HBO’s the most creatively successful premium television network because of the partnerships formed with established showrunners. In the early-21st century, there was the “Davids;” Milch (Deadwood), Chase (The Sopranos), and Simon (The Wire) may have asked for significant resources and little-to-no studio interference, but produced captivating works of storytelling that solidified the HBO brand. Game of Thrones creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss signed a deal with Netflix in the aftermath of their show’s divisive final season, and The Night Of showrunner Steve Zaillian also found more success on Netflix with his new miniseries Ripley.
HBO’s current lineup is centered on the intellectual property that is important to their parent company, Warner Brothers, because CEO David Zazlav has proven he’s no friend to original storytellers. Although the upcoming run of It: Welcome to Derry, the Game of Thrones spinoff A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, DC’s Lanterns, and a Harry Potter reboot might seem bleak for the streamer that once produced Six Feet Under and The Leftovers, HBO may have found their next long term collaborator in Brad Ingelsby, the Philadelphia-born writer who created the masterful crime miniseries Mare of Easttown.
HBO cornered the market on stylized neo-noir thrillers with True Detective, but Mare of Easttown offered a different perspective on the “whodunit” formula. Rather than a meticulous recitation of clues, Mare of Easttown questioned how a single crime could touch various subcultures within a community, and revealed the arrested state of grief that has prevented it from moving forward. With Task, Ingelsby’s latest seven-part miniseries, the mystery component is almost entirely absent. All the cards are placed immediately on the table in Task, and the only question is how many losses the game will result in. While it could be loosely described as “Philly’s Heat,” the swanky charisma of Michael Mann’s cops and robbers is replaced by broken people on both sides of the law.
Even if HBO has avoided the “star obsession” of streamers like Prime Video or Netflix, a show with the ambition of Task was always going to require a familiar face to hook in audiences. Mark Ruffalo previously earned an Emmy for his role as identical twins in the miniseries I Know This Much Is True, but Task has subjected his character to a different type of emotional punishment. Ruffalo’s Task protagonist, Tom Brandis, is a former priest turned FBI agent, and has taken time away from his duty after his wife was killed by his mentally unstable adopted son. The crisis has caused Tom to question his faith and professional obligations, but he’s still called to investigate a fatal robbery at a drug stash house.
Tom isn’t given a tragic backstory so he’d seem more sympathetic, and Task isn’t interested in giving him a break. Maybe it’s unfair to criticize the behavior of a character who’s been given no escape from the immediacy of his trauma, especially since he’s been forced to settle feuds between his older biological daughter Sara (Phoebe Fox) and his adopted daughter Emily (Silvia Dionicio), whose brother Ethan (Andrew Russel) killed their mother Susan (Mireille Enos). That said, Tom’s alcoholism and refusal to meet with his adopted son would suggest that he’s reached the end of a long line of failures; without spiritual support, professional success, or the presence of a loving family, Tom’s only instinct is to self-destruct.
This nuanced character development is present on both sides of the equation because Tom’s new investigation will eventually lead him to Robbie Prendergast (Tom Pelphrey), a stash house robber who’s operated a closely-knit crew. Like Tom, Robbie’s in the midst of an uncomfortable family situation. Robbie agreed to take care of his niece, Maeve (Emilia Jones), after the death of her father, but the headstrong 21-year-old has been forced to take over her uncle’s parental responsibilities. Maeve and her uncle are drawn together by a shared loss, but their temporary bond is shaken by Robbie’s inability to take bold steps forward. Robbie’s first novel decision is the dawn of an even more ethically obtuse situation; a failed robbery was turned into a massacre when Robbie lost a member of his crew and was forced to abduct Sam (Ben Doherty), the 10-year-old child of a biker gang leader.
At times, it’d seem like Task had the goal to encapsulate every subgenre of pulpy crime entertainment; there’re home invasions, robberies, chases, and a brutal brawl at a local eatery. Yet, every criminal action taken in Task has exposed some sort of fallibility in the community that’s poised to destruct. Even if Robbie hadn’t accidentally taken in a shipment of fentanyl, he wouldn’t have been able to keep his operations low-profile for much longer. Tom was always going to face a fissure between his two sets of children, Maeve was never going to fully escape her domestic challenges, and Sam’s kidnapping ironically placed him in a safer environment. It’s obvious that a confrontation between Tom and Robbie is in the cards, but there’s still suspense about who will be able to walk away with the least blood on their hands.
The slickness of the crime procedural are absent in Task; Tom’s base of operations is a run-down confiscated stash house in the middle of the woods, Sam’s only escape from her family is a dull job at a children’s amusement center, and Robbie’s forced to hide his weapons in a depleted family cottage caked in blood, dust, and pancake batter. The dramatic creativity of Task is exhilarating.