Though slightly behind, it doesn’t surprise me at all that things on TASK are escalating and escalating quickly for several characters. At the end of episode two, we saw a difficult conversation starting between Robbie (Tom Pelphrey) and Maeve (Emilia Jones) after she narrowly escapes police surveillance with Sam (Ben Lewis Doherty). With everyone on the hunt, it will only be a matter of time before things go south and by all accounts, it’s going to go south quite fast.
Episode # 3: “Nobody’s Stronger Than Forgiveness”
“I’m fucking tired of that life.”
As Robbie and Maeve continue their conversation in the car, we realize that Robbie is quite aware of what he’s doing and how he’s hitting Dark Hearts drug houses. At first, it was random drug houses and eventually ended up including the gang’s spots. We watch Robbie break down as he recalls shaking the hand of the man who murdered his brother. The acting in this short scene is breathtaking. He’s angry. He wants justice. He wants revenge. But Maeve wants to move forward. She wants to heal and she’s not going to let him take her down with him. You might want to implode your life, Robbie. But she’s not going to let you implode hers, nor the kids.
Meanwhile, Jayson (Sam Keeley) and Perry (Jamie McShane, both pictured) meet with the other big drug mover in the city, Freddy Frias (Elvis Nolasco). They want his help and he cannot help but laugh at them. When he got to the city all those years ago as an immigrant, bikers attacked him purely because of who he was and the color of his skin. At that point, he wasn’t even a major supplier in the drug trade. But they attacked him because he was black and he’s not about to throw in with bikers again unless they make it worth it. And frankly, that’s quite valid.
But the bikers are trying to track down the leak. Who in the gang is feeding information out? After Brandis (Mark Ruffalo) and Grasso (Fabien Frankel) visit the biker bar, the rough boys know a certain gun was used. It’s only a matter of time before it gets traced back. Meanwhile, the director lets us in on the secret: the leak is Jayson’s girl Eryn (Margarita Levieva). Because it turns out she was in love with Robbie’s brother and wanted to leave Jayson and take the kids. Oh boy, that’ll do it.
Maeve(pictured above with Jayson) is still trying to manage the hostage situation and takes Sam to the quarry to swim. He doesn’t know how, so she teaches him. The tension in this scene was palpable and utterly brilliant writing and directing. Because you wonder what she could do. Would she kill him? It would be pretty easy to drown him right now and let the body wash away. Water is great at degrading evidence. But in a beautiful twist, Maeve chooses to be better than her father. She helps Sam learn to swim and shows how much she truly wants to do right by this kid. The way people never did right by her. Utterly amazing scene!
“It’s all my fault, ya know?”
Then we can’t forget poor Emily (Silvia Dionicio) who is going through it. She goes to see her brother Ethan (Andrew Russel) and it’s clear he’s struggling. It seems he’s on a good medical regimen and very clearly grappling with his guilt. And my heart breaks for him. I cannot imagine being so unwell that you harm and end up killing your adoptive mother and then once you are well, you have to live with that forever. And Emily is scared. She wants him to stay on his meds and be safe and the reality is that might not be possible on the outs. But he’s her brother and to some extent, it’s them against the world. So what’s a girl to do?
Then there’s Cliff (Raúl Castillo) who incidentally knows someone fresh out that could help them move that much Fentanyl outside normal channels. Here’s the issue: druggies can’t really be trusted. Granted, I doubt Cliff trusts the guy with his life the way he does with Robbie, but this guy served for years, of course he’s gonna try and rob you. Of course, he’s gonna get apprehended. Of course, your place is going to be crawling with cops. These lights and sirens are starting to get a little too close to home, boys. You better move these drugs fast. Because not only are the feds watching, so are the Dark Hearts…but how did they know?
Once the friend and his wife are apprehended, it’s game on to get information. While Stover (Alison Oliver) might be proving herself possibly the weakest link on the team, Aleah (Thuso Mbedu) is clearly the powerhouse, delivering an utterly devastating commentary on domestic violence. It is not a matter of if, it is a matter of when they finally kill you. The woman opens up and the trap begins to be set. But Stover is frustrated over her lack of action and confides in Grasso (Fabien Frankel). The two have a rapport and it’s clear there’s some respect but also attraction but also both being kind of the weirdos of their department. Stover, it’s not surprising. Women often face harassment and judgment in these positions. But Grasso seems like he’d be one of the pack, but more on that later… In the end, he respects her and she’s annoyed, appreciative, and amused. We’ll definitely be seeing more of this connection later, I’m betting.
We end the episode with Emily hearing her father admit to her sister Sara (Phoebe Fox) that he doesn’t want his son home and he can’t forgive him for it. So Emily continues to be caught in the crossfire. We get a flashback of their adoption after being fostered and it’s clear how excited they are to be parents again and even how excited Sara is too. It twists the knife even further into our hearts. And then to find out Brandis has to play it carefully because there’s a leak in the Task Force. “Suspect everyone.”
Episode # 4: “All Roads”
We open with Brandis replaying the conversation in his head, “Suspect everyone.” So now he has to deal with this case but also the fact that someone on his team cannot be trusted. But who? Luckily for us the viewers, we’ll get the scoop soon. Task Force meets with local jurisdiction for the upcoming drug meet. It’s clear Grasso is the whipping boy of his unit. He gets mocked the same way Stover does, making sense of their connection with each other. Meanwhile, Aleah mean-mugs the shits and it’s beautiful. I’m not saying I’d follow her anywhere, but if she’s in charge, I’m behind her.
Maeve reminds Robbie about the father-daughter dance tomorrow. I said before that I didn’t think he was gonna make it and it’s becoming more and more likely. And really, his poor kids deserve so much more. We get a great flashback this episode that gives some insight into what they’ve been through and it’s just heart-wrenching to see.
Emily is still reeling over hearing her father say he doesn’t want Ethan back, while she’s trying to figure out her statement to the court. The reality is she has no one but her therapist to confide in. It’s clear she doesn’t have a ton of friends and her relationship with her family is completely strained. She’s exhausted from 
having to be grateful. And I really appreciated this conversation about adoption. My aunt adopted two little girls from China after trying for years to get pregnant and we have loved them since the moment they came home. But there’s a lot of feelings around adoption, most especially for the children who realistically didn’t have a say in any of it, which is a lot of them. So it makes sense that Emily is upset. She’s supposed to be grateful, she’s supposed to always be happy that this is her life. But is it better than what could have been? She’ll never know. All she does know is that the woman who helped raise her is dead at the hands of her brother with mental issues and her adopted sister and dad are pushing her away to an extent because they believe she wants her brother out when in reality she’s scared out of her mind. But she cannot express that to anyone! It’s not surprising she followed in her father’s footsteps and used alcohol when she got the chance. I grieve for this girl and the horrible mess she’s stuck in where she has no recourse except to be grateful they wanted her then, but do they even want her now?
And then the director was like, “Hey, y’all want a plot twist?” DUM DUM DUM…We know who the leak is now. And wouldn’t you know, it’s not even someone on Task. It’s someone overseeing Task…Brandis has a couple quick conversations with his boss (Martha Plimpton) and wouldn’t you know, the Dark Hearts own a Fed. It’ll be interesting to see how this shakes out. Was she a Dark Heart before getting the job? Or did they get to her? Curiouser and curiouser.
“She’s already gone.”
The tension truly bursts when Perry finds out why Jayson killed Billy (Jack Kesy). Now Jayson told Perry that Billy had been skimming off the top and stealing, hence the need for harsh retribution. But one of the crew is acting squirrelly and Perry wants to know why. Turns out Jayson found out about Billy and Eryn. Uh-oh. Perry knows the truth and he’s not too kind when he confronts Jayson about it. We get a lovely flashback of life before Billy was gone, but everything is certainly not sunny. Robbie’s wife is clearly already emotionally gone and we see Harper (Kennedy Moyer) clinging to her. Billy gives his brother some good advice and we see Eryn make an appearance. Maeve sees and I mourn for these girls who are caught in the crossfire of the adults in their lives.
“”You’re not going to ruin their lives, just cause you ruined yours.”
Meanwhile, Sam’s ready to go home and now Robbie’s gotta figure out a plan. Everything almost goes down the hole when Sam goes to release his fish. A guy spots him, Robbie punches him, and everything’s off to the races. Robbie wants to smuggle into Canada and Maeve’s not having it. She refuses to play into this. She gives Robbie an ultimatum: give Sam up or she will. And the clock is ticking…
The intensity continues ramping up as Perry interrogates Eryn. The Disney password bit killed me but ultimately the question helps her slip out of his grasp. Robbie dances with Harper in preparation for the dance only for her to admit she didn’t think it would happen so she didn’t buy tickets and put the money back in his wallet. She feels the same way as before her mom left and you can feel this little girl’s pain so palpably.
But now it’s sting time. Cops are laying in wait, ready to go. But will they show? Stover tries to give Aleah a nickname, absolutely cracking me up. They are so different and it is absolutely hilarious. But it turns out to be a false alarm, meaning the informant gave them a heads up. The meet takes place somewhere else and it doesn’t take much for Dark Hearts to grab Cliff. Oh buddy, I’m so sorry. But he stays true until the end and never rats on Robbie. But sadly, Perry is studying photos and he figures out exactly who is behind all this. Will Brandis find his mole? What will happen next? I’m eagerly awaiting every single moment of tension I’m sure this season will continue to deliver.
