How Task Episode 4 Brutally Raises the Stakes of the HBO Crime Drama | They Don’t Make TV Like …

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How Task Episode 4 Brutally Raises the Stakes of the HBO Crime Drama

As this week's episode of Task came to an upsetting close, there was no denying the walls seemed to be closing in on Robbie (Tom Pelphrey). But, given there are still three installments of the HBO crime drama to go, we have to assume things won't pan out exactly like they currently seem they might.

Following a bait and switch that resulted in Cliff (Raúl Castillo) being captured and tortured to death by Jayson (Sam Keeley) and his Dark Hearts crew, Perry (Jamie McShane) went to work trying to identify the original owner of the gun they found in Cliff's car after Jayson drove him off the side of the road while he was waiting to make the drug deal. Since finding out the gun that killed Dark Hearts member Warren Clarke (Joshua Dye) at the trap house robbery gone wrong once belonged to one of their own, Perry has been on a mission to figure out who inside the biker gang was feeding information to the thieves. And his research paid off, as the episode's closing moments showed him matching the gun's holster to an old photo of Robby's dead brother Billy (Jack Kesy) wearing the same one. Unfortunately, his focus then switched to the other person in the picture: Billy's daughter Maeve (Emilia Jones).

They Don’t Make TV Like ‘Task’ Anymore

If there’s a type of TV I love, it’s the hard-boiled detective drama: stories about morally complex, oft washed-up cops who battle personal demons while they work the beat, confronted with grim cases that reinforce their cynical outlook on the world. HBO’s Task, the latest series from Brad Ingelsby, the creator of Mare of Easttown, is an absorbing new take on the genre, centering on a string of drug den robberies in blue-collar Pennsylvania with tragic ripple effects.

In the 2010s, these shows were a dime a dozen: True Detective, Hannibal, Mindhunter; Luther and Broadchurch over in the UK. Nowadays, save for the aforementioned Mare, such comparably successful examples of what was once a staple TV genre are harder to come by. (Last year’s True Detective: Night Country is as close as we’ve come.) Task feels like the first one in a while.

Task Recap: Suspicious Minds

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I am beginning to have my doubts. There’s a lot of sparkling promise in this show, but it’s buried under a lot of red herrings, false starts, and broken promises. Great performances are shrouded by the sheer number of characters vying for our attention. There’s no way not to compare this show to Mare of Easttown, so here goes: Mare had a clear theme and executed its vision with startling and brutal audacity; Task is muddled, pulling the viewer in a million different directions without enough time spent on any one character. This is often my problem with ensemble shows: I get bored. I’ll admit my first watch through Mare did not fully grab me until episode five, so I’ll hold out hope a little longer, but I feel confident in saying this is not the Zeitgeisty show that Brad Ingelsby’s previous juggernaut was. It’s a delicate character balancing act that isn’t always paying off. Luckily, it’s not all bad. It’s a nice entry into the fall weather, replete with the typical high amount of empty prop coffee cups appearing at stakeouts, study sessions, and police debriefings.

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