It is easier to dissect the parts of Task that don’t work than the ones that do. When the show’s chemistry is just right, it’s easy watching. Enjoyable even. When the show is clunking along, however … Luckily, we finally get to see the incredible sparks in an extended scene between Mark Ruffalo (Tom) and Tom Pelphrey (Robbie) as the two family men struggling to lead ethical lives. The problem is that the show has far too many other threads to tie together and never quite knows how to dole out its many secrets, visions, and lies. I want to like this show! It has all the right components in the wrong order! This week’s episode is bottom-heavy. The first half feels strained by the sheer number of characters it has to weed through in order to set up the show’s final act. We’re due for more action and less preamble. It seems like I may be in the critical minority here, but just because we want a good watering-hole show does not automatically mean Task is a good watering-hole show. It’s a stopgap. Like the third lukewarm coffee of an afternoon — the taste is just there, just beyond reach.
We’re clearing the deck. Perry, the Dark Hearts leader, finally fingers Eryn as the mole and ends up drowning her — something even he did not seem to see coming. Robbie finds out from Ray’s wife that Cliff is dead, and she offers him a new way to try to sell the dope through Freddie Freyes, who, of course, alerts the Dark Hearts to his whereabouts for their rendezvous. Maeve ends up turning Sam into the police, exhausted, dejected, and utterly defeated. It’s oddly paced for what isn’t even the show’s penultimate episode. Everyone is zeroing in on each other. We also discover that the task force does indeed have a mole, and it’s Grasso, with his mole in the Dark Hearts actually being Jayson. The villains in this show keep switching places. The mini-alliances keep shifting. Of course, if Grasso and Jayson are in league against the others, it’s only going to go up in flames; that much is clear. It’s unclear who else knows about their secret pact, and the shock quickly wears off since the reveal is dashed off in all of five seconds. The show breezes past this big reveal without letting it truly take hold. Of course, due to all of these developments, everyone finally knows that the man who kidnapped Sam and stole the dope is Robbie Pendergrast. His days are numbered.
The rest of the episode finally adapts the directorial tunnel vision that often made Mare of Easttown so successful. The beat of the agent’s drum, the rhythm of the red-hot afternoon in rural Pennsylvania. Yes, at long last, Tom and Robbie meet. After discovering who Robbie is, Tom races over to his house only to intercept the novice thief as he discovers Maeve is gone. While Grasso is en route, he storms in and demands to use the bathroom, posing as a bumbling hick officer who just wants to know where Maeve is. He tries to manipulate Robbie by acting as if he is trying to solve his brother’s cold case. But Robbie, ever the scrappy guy, already sees through the naïve guise and holds the FBI Task Force agent at gun point. He puts him in the car and holds the gun behind Tom’s head as they drive off. Curiously, these moments feel luxurious rather than tense. Exhilarating, sure, but as a viewer, I wasn’t nervous. This was what we’d been waiting for.
The two are great scene partners. An argument could be made that the show could’ve used more confrontations between them. Slowly, Tom and Robbie unwind the plot points we’ve already been clubbed over the head with. Jayson beat Robbie’s brother and Cliff to death. “That’s what started this whole thing,” Robbie whispers. When he steals Tom’s wallet and the two begin bantering, it’s sweet, almost comradely, despite their circumstances. The two respect each other. Robbie quickly zeroes in on a photo of Tom’s family. “Two of these are not like the others,” he notes wryly. The two quickly turn toward God. Tom’s late wife was an atheist. “I’m Team Susan,” Robbie says. “I never once felt God in my life.” People just believe because it would be too depressing otherwise. More of this! The lapsed holy detective who has lost his faith is a gold mine, material-wise. The two discuss last rites and summer tanagers. Normally, such birds don’t flock to DelCo. When they do, Tom says, “they’re vagrants.” The parallel is painfully clear. Robbie, too, is trying to flee home. The symbolism here is hardly rising to the enigmatic level of True Detective or even Sharp Objects, but that doesn’t matter. It’s a sunnier show. There’s even a small moment of reconciliation between Emily and her adopted sister, Sarah, when they discover their father is missing.
Eventually, Robbie lets Tom go. “You’re a decent man,” he says. Tom walks off and calls his daughters to celebrate before immediately going back into the flow. It feels a bit like the show doesn’t quite know how to divide its beats. The episodes feel choppy, hardly letting anything land, yet still feeling slow. The cops and Dark Hearts both arrive at the drug drop in the deep woods. Everyone is looking for Robbie now. Of course, Tom finds him first and inanely yells his name across the ravine. Little does he know the Dark Hearts hear him and triangulate Robbie’s position. As Tom tells Robbie to put his gun down, the screen goes black.
“That’s a Lifer” Bird Sightings
• Sarah admits to her half-sister that she’s getting a divorce and then asks Emily how long she’s felt like she can only be grateful to her adopted family. “I wouldn’t want you to feel like that. Mom wouldn’t want you to feel like that,” she says before putting her cigarette out and walking away. It’s these small, hopeful, redemptive moments that Brad Inglesby is so adept at writing.
• One of the joys in watching Task may be its beautiful nature shots. Herons! Spiders! Tanagers! Oh my!
• Line reading award goes to Ray’s wife: “’Cause I’m a good person.” Heartbreaking to hear her talk about needing an escape from her abusive husband. Obviously, Robbie has many great moments, as I quoted above. Also, while Lizzie’s text about getting a marriage exorcism isn’t strictly spoken, it’s also a great moment.
