I’m so grateful I didn’t sleep on this show because, wow, things are heating up, and I am here for it! Now that we’re halfway through Task, we get a moment we’ve been waiting for, and it does not disappoint. Let’s dive in and dissect the latest episode!
“Where the fuck is Cliff?”
Robbie (Tom Pelphrey) is spiraling, and it’s not hard to see why. Cliff (Raúl Castillo) and Ray, the drug buddy (Peter Patrikios), are MIA, and Robbie’s got some questions. Ray’s wife (Mickey Sumner) confirms the FBI had Ray’s phone and set the meet-up. But Robbie knows the FBI wasn’t there; something else went wrong… She offers to help him move the drugs anyway. This is her only chance to get out. She wants to run. And after her conversation with Aleah (Thuso Mbedu), I’m not surprised. She’s scared, and she doesn’t want to die there. But Robbie has another plan: Freddy Frias (Elvis Nolasco). The question is, what is Freddy going to do?
“Remember, we’re still your family.”
Meanwhile, the FBI is working on a sketch of the man who was encountered at the truck rest stop with Sam (Ben Lewis Doherty). So it’s not long before there’ll be a visual ID for sure. And then there’s Cliff, who likely won’t ever be found. Perry (Jamie McShane) and Jayson (Sam Keeley) return from their errand, and while Jayson goes to change his bloody shirt, Perry plants a tracker. But who is it for? We’ll see soon, but for now, it’s time for him to go visit Maeve (Emilia Jones). The tension between these two was palpable and so brilliantly done. They both know too much, and it’s a fantastic tightrope walk for both of them. But unfortunately, family photos on the fridge give Perry the information he needs. And yet, it won’t matter because Maeve told Robbie she’d take Sam to the cops, and that’s exactly what she does.
But Perry has his own plans. Remember that tracker? Well, it turns out it was for Eryn’s (Margarita Levieva) car, and he follows her to the quarry. He sees Robbie leave, and you have to know what is coming. She tries to get attention or help of some kind, but the kids have music and are too far away to see or hear anything. Even if all he wanted was to scare her, things happen when you keep someone underwater for a while… Uh-oh, Perry, what are you going to tell Jayson?
Previously, we had a bit of a bombshell: Tom’s (Mark Ruffalo) boss was likely the leak, leading to the disastrous drop and eventual killing of Cliff. But either that was a great red herring or we have two leaks. Because suddenly, we’re seeing that there is, in fact, someone on the team who is a big old snake. Grasso (Fabien Frankel) is seen meeting with Jayson. I actually yelled some very loud cuss words, enough for my husband to yell back, “Are you ok?” from across the house. No, honey, I’m decidedly not okay because what?!? Is Frankel getting typecast as snakey douches now after The House of the Dragon? In any case, he and Jayson clearly go way back, and you have to wonder how deep in it Grasso really is.
Back on the FBI front, we see a nice bonding moment between Aleah and Lizzie (Alison Oliver). It’s been very clear that Lizzie is trying to connect with her other task force buddies. She obviously connected with Grasso quite well, but Aleah is more distant. We see a touching moment where Aleah allows herself to open up, and we see Lizzie handle that moment with grace and kindness. I love seeing well-written and nuanced female characters. But Tom is making some headway connecting all the dots, and to the point, he heads out to the Prendergrast house to connect with Maeve. She’s not there because she went to the cops, but someone else has arrived home… And now they finally meet! The moment we’ve been waiting for has finally arrived. Even though Tom’s been around the block, it doesn’t take Robbie long to clock his bullshit. And now they are off on a ride to the new meet-up, where Robbie believes he’ll be dealing with Freddy, but that’s not exactly the case…
“You could still go home.” “Even if I wanted to go home, I don’t know the way no more.”
I want to give massive props to everyone involved in creating these car scenes. From the dialogue to the shot framing to the acting and directing, it was taught with tension, but also two men who are, in their own ways, fighting for their lives. They’re trying to just live, and both of them have this weight bearing down on them. And for a moment, you think, could Robbie end this? Are we about to see this thing escalate in an even larger way? And the first thing Tom says is that he just wants a message to get to his son. And that broke me. We’ve seen Tom maneuver his way around his son all season so far. But the first thing he says, when he thinks he could be heading to his death, is for someone to send a message to his son. And while we ultimately don’t know what he was going to say, I think it speaks to the conflict of his character, and Ruffalo plays it brilliantly. And then there’s Pelphrey, who provides the most beautiful nuance to this pained character. He’s a good man. He really is. But he’s drowning in his grief, knowing the man who murdered his brother walks free. He can’t abide that, even if it could cost him everything.
“It’s over.”
Everything comes to a head in the woods, with Robbie at his brother’s old cabin, believing Freddy’s on the way. The FBI is closing in, under the knowledge they are close to finding him and wrapping this whole thing up. But between Freddy’s intel and the leaks, the Dark Hearts are on the way too. We end the episode at a standoff between Robbie and Tom, and you have to wonder what hellscape is going to break loose next? I cannot wait to see!
