Ever get to episode five of an eight-part streaming series only to discover that you’re on a fool’s errand? Welcome to the first installment of MWG’s BingeSeeker’s Guide, your very own canary in the television coal mine. My goal is to help you determine what series are worth binging and dedicating hours of your life to.
First up: “Task”
As the fall television season gets into full swing, it’s time to keep an eye out for Emmy Award bait. HBO Max’s limited series “Task,” the seventh and last episode of which aired this past Sunday, has some encouraging things going for it: a proven writer/creator (Brad Ingelsby, “Mare of Easttown” creator); an A-list movie star lead (Mark Ruffalo); and a grimy, true-crime vibe.
Set in the blue collar outskirts of Philadelphia, “Task” is a family drama folded into a crime thriller. Tom Brandis (a reliably rumpled Ruffalo) is an FBI officer who, after suffering a devastating blow to his family life, is reluctantly placed back on active duty and put in charge of a task force of young law enforcement agents. Tom and his crew are assigned to investigate a string of trap house invasions in which Robbie Prendergast (Tom Pelphrey) and his associates are pillaging the drug enterprise of a motorcycle gang, the Dark Heart. What emerges is a haunting symmetry between Tom and Robbie — two single fathers whose personal and professional lives are marked by family trauma, intra-squad tensions, and snitches. And what the heck — let’s toss in a child abduction for good measure.
The first few episodes of “Task” are an original, gripping, and multi-layered character study of Tom, Robbie, and their tribes on both sides of the law. Tom, who was a Catholic priest before becoming an agent, suffers from a savior complex and is crippled with guilt by his inability to protect and adequately care for the ones he loves. In particular, Tom has complicated and fractured relationships with each of his three children, but it’s his strained connection to his adolescent daughter Emily (Silvia Dionicio) that most poignantly represents all the ways he has emotionally abandoned all of them.
Robbie, a sanitation worker, is stalked by some of these same demons, but from the other side of the tracks. He deals the cards that life has dealt him — violence and crime — with stunningly misguided attempts to settle old scores and provide for his family. Despite committing acts that there’s no coming back from, Robbie displays an unlikely humanity that grants him complexity and makes him, in discreet moments, a sympathetic character.
Robbie’s relationship with his young adult niece, Maeve (Emilia Jones), is deeply troubled, mostly because Robbie has burdened her with safeguarding his two young children, keeping their shared household intact, and cleaning up his epic messes. Robbie and Maeve’s dynamic is the beating heart of the series, and Pelphrey’s and Jones’ performances are the most accomplished.
As the later episodes unfold, however, the writing grows increasingly uneven. “Task” is one of those prestige-level series in which strong performances mask its plot shagginess. For all its Pennsylvanian-specific authenticity, the action doesn’t always come across as fully plausible. By the end of the series, we’re left with a more conventional cops and robbers storyline with some predictable consequences. Even the child abduction subplot eventually loses its way.
At its best, “Task” interrogates thorny themes like loyalty to chosen family, and what it takes to be a true head-of-household. It sensitively travels the faultlines of interracial adoption without referencing race; masculinity and patriarchy without calling out gender; and privilege without being explicit about any social hierarchy. While Tom and Robbie seldom rise adequately to the crises they face, their respective class upbringings pre-determine their divergent fates. The fault is both in our stars and ourselves.
MWG Binge-O-Meter Rating:
Break out the popcorn and cancel your weekend plans
✓ Worth a few hours a week of your time
Meh. If you’ve got nothing better to do, OK.
If someone else in your house is watching it, maybe keep one eye open. Maybe.
Just … no. Find a good book to read.