Before diving into dangerous situations, Robbie Prendergrast (Tom Pelphrey) performs a personal ritual. He closes his eyes, takes a deep breath and touches the forefinger and middle finger of his right hand to his lips. Then he reaches across to the opposite shoulder and draws a small circle, doing the same with the other, as if he’s crossing himself.
Robbie is not a religious man. As he stands in the dark with his partners Cliff (Raúl Castillo) and Peaches (Owen Teague), he explains that when he and his brother were kids and went swimming in icy weather, they’d rub cold water on their shoulders. That way, their bodies acclimated to the temperature, he claimed, so their hearts didn’t explode.
A bewildered Peaches counters that they’re not jumping into freezing water. They’re about to rob a trap house. “It’s calming, Peach Boy,” Robbie whispers, pulling his pistol from his waistband before nodding at Cliff and striding toward the place they’re going to knock over.
There are crime stories propelled by tragic anti-heroes, and then there’s “Task,” a story that beckons us to understand and sympathize with Robbie as a man floating between grace and the unerring gravity of reality. We’re introduced to him not as a thief, but as a doting father who wakes at the crack of dawn, tenderly lays his son in bed next to his sister, and heads off to work.
Robbie and Cliff are municipal garbagemen in their Philadelphia suburb, using their route to scope out targets. Between the two of them, Robbie is the visionary, yet his desires are simple: He wants someone to share his life with and stability for his kids. He imagines kicking back on an island somewhere, but first, he’d need to leave Delaware County. Unfinished business keeps him anchored there. Unforeseen troubles ensnare him more tightly.
Robbie, Cliff and Peaches rob criminals tied to an outlaw biker gang called the Dark Hearts, and their heists have been successful enough to draw the FBI’s attention. But when a seemingly straightforward rip-off goes sideways, old wounds reopen, placing the law and a band of murderous thugs on their trail.
(Peter Kramer/HBO) Tom Pelphrey and Raúl Castillo in “Task”
There are crime stories propelled by tragic anti-heroes, and then there’s “Task,” a story that beckons us to understand and sympathize with Robbie as a man floating between grace and the unerring gravity of reality.
Trapped with him, and by no fault of their own, are Robbie’s children and his niece Maeve (Emilia Jones), who cooks, keeps house, and holds down a job while yearning to enjoy the freedom other 21-year-olds take for granted. She’s still reeling from her father’s death while also resenting having to parent Robbie’s kids after his wife abandoned them.
“Task,” the latest from “Mare of Easttown” creator Brad Ingelsby, is simultaneously more disciplined and haphazard than its 2021 predecessor. The heist piece is straightforward, but at times the fallout distractingly jumbles the puzzle. Even so, the cast’s superb performances easily overcome those flaws to produce a story that’s more emotionally resonant and fulfilling.
There are no clear-cut villains and heroes here; every character bears cavernous flaws, each playing a role in Ingelsby’s construction of the main trespass. Like “Mare,” the main crime begets others, on and on through the finish. This time, though, we know who the lawbreakers are, but at least initially, not their very human, messy motivations. Ingelsby reveals his characters and their histories as if “Task” were a novel as opposed to a seven-episode limited series. The effect is to both tear and balance our allegiance between wanting Robbie to get away clean and rooting for the man chasing him, FBI agent Tom Brandis (Mark Ruffalo).
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Other thrillers would make Tom Robbie’s sharpest adversary. “Task” casts Ruffalo’s law enforcement official as a parallel figure. Tom has his own daily rituals. He starts each morning by folding his hands in prayer, dunking his face in a sink full of ice water afterward. One gets the sense he receives more comfort from that daily cold shock than from his one-sided conversations with God.
Small asides like these root this character-driven mystery in a spiritual loam, a reflection of Inglesby’s narrative contemplation of day-to-day living as an exercise in faith. Loyalty, vengeance and forgiveness are recurring themes — those, and plenty of guilt, as one would expect of a story featuring a man who spent eight years as a Catholic priest before joining the FBI.
Ingelsby reveals his characters and their histories as if “Task” were a novel as opposed to a seven-episode limited series. The effect is to both tear and balance our allegiance between wanting Robbie to get away clean and rooting for the man chasing him.
Ruffalo proved in “I Know This Much Is True” that he can wear sadness like a second skin. But the grief he tailors for Tom, mourning the recent death of his wife, Susan (Mireille Enos), bends him into a slouch. The FBI has assigned him to man a table at recruitment fairs, but he’s an inept salesman and not much more effective as a father. His adopted daughter Emily (Silvia Dionicio) shares Tom’s sorrow but can’t be a full partner in it, for reasons explained as the season goes on. But the emotional distance yawning between them is palpable.
(Peter Kramer/HBO) Mark Ruffalo, Silvia Dionicio and Phoebe Fox in “Task”
Only when Tom’s FBI boss Kathleen McGinty (Martha Plimpton) pulls him back into the field does he reclaim some of his spark. His task force is comprised of inexperienced cops from several local agencies. Local detective Anthony Grasso (Fabien Frankel) is a confident extrovert, while Chester officer Aleah Clinton (Thuso Mbedu) says little but is more demonstrably skilled than her peers. Somewhere between the two is state trooper Lizzie Stover (Alison Oliver), who enters this mission as a wreck and pretty much stays that way.
Tom marshals their effectiveness to the best of his ability, but never fully surfaces from his despairing funk. Still, the case gives him purpose, and once his path converges with Robbie’s, he recognizes him as a fellow blind driver on a crash course, grasping for direction.
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“Task” is steeped in the specificity of DelCo — and yes, its signature accent co-stars once again. This time, though, Ingelsby and directors Jeremiah Zagar and Salli Richardson-Whitfield capture more of the place’s natural beauty. Instead of taking us inside ramshackle houses and down cold streets, we swim with Robbie and Maeve at the local quarry, their small piece of paradise, and walk through its woods.
Pelphrey delivers the area’s signature elocution with absolute assurance, although his heartrending concoction of Robbie’s kindness and despair leaves a deeper impression than the way he speaks. Ruffalo is excellent in the usual ways, same as Plimpton, but Pelphrey is the series’ true revelation, topping his Emmy-nominated “Ozark” performance. He seizes our attention in every scene, naturalistically conveying Robbie’s touching decency as the walls close in on him.
(Peter Kramer/HBO) Mark Ruffalo and Alison Oliver in “Task”
Still, the “Task” ensemble’s expansive size means some roles receive more extensive narrative shading than others. The quiet power that Mbedu (who starred in “The Underground Railroad”) invests in Aleah stuns enough to wish the script gave her more to do. Or maybe that reflects an urge to see her in more roles that show off her impressive range. On the criminal underbelly side of town, Jamie McShane’s Perry Dorazo, a senior advisor to the Dark Hearts’ hotheaded president Jayson Wilkes (Sam Keeley), made my skin crawl. But even he receives a mote of benediction, especially when he commits sins he can’t undo.
Overall, though, “Task” belongs as much to Jones as it does to Pelphrey. Maeve is a canvas Jones fills with the bleak resignation of a young woman forced into adult responsibilities too quickly, but she lifts those colors with the lightness of understanding. A ragged anger dominates Jones’ energy, but it’s tempered with loving determination.
All these elements simmer and boil as “Task” barrels to the inevitable collision of forces, culminating in tense standoffs, a lengthy, adrenalized action sequence and a few shudder-inducing surprises. The most significant missing piece is the prevalent wry humor that leavened “Mare” in its darkest moments. There’s no comedy equivalent of Jean Smart’s hilariously blunt mom in this story; instead, Ingelsby trades that tart energy for a transcendent joy accentuating the disheveled humanity of people who could be any of us. “Task” asks us to swim in deep waters that get murky in spots, but safely brings us to the opposite shore, satisfied to have enjoyed the experience.
“Task” premieres at 9 p.m. Sunday, September 7 on HBO and streams on HBO Max.
