HBO’s Task begins with an episode that’s equal parts moody, meandering, and maddening.
At 66 minutes, the premiere feels like it desperately wants to be taken seriously, but instead of pulling us into the heart of its story, it circles around the same point again and again: Tom and Robbie are alike. Very alike. Practically the same man.
Did you get that? No? Don’t worry — the show will underline it for you.
The parallels are hammered home from the jump.
FBI agent Tom (Mark Ruffalo) and house-robbing trash man Robbie (Tom Pelphrey) wake up in their separate homes, listen to the radio, and go about their day in syncopated edits.
One’s sipping a Slurpee glass of vodka, the other is casing houses with his crew. The message is clear: these men are two sides of the same coin. And while the point is important, the execution is a little insulting.
Viewers don’t need a neon sign blinking “SEE? THEY’RE SIMILAR!” to catch on. Ruffalo and Pelphrey are capable enough actors to sell it without the gimmick.
That’s the first bummer about the premiere: the overindulgence. Did we really need 66 minutes of table-setting when 40 would have sufficed? Probably not.
This is the Mare of Easttown team, so you can almost sense the creative hand-wringing.
Do they trim scenes they love, or do they keep every morsel in hopes of striking prestige lightning twice? They chose the latter, and the result is a slow start that risks losing impatient viewers before the good stuff lands.
And there is good stuff. When the show finally cuts loose, it absolutely sings. Robbie’s botched robbery, with Poison’s “Fallen Angel” blaring as chaos erupts, is gripping television.
The sequence escalates from tense to catastrophic, with one crew member dead, another possibly shot, and a child wandering into the aftermath. It’s dangerous yet suddenly alive — everything the rest of the episode promises but doesn’t quite deliver.
The Duh Factor
Let’s talk about the elephant in the room — or rather, the duh in the editing bay. Did anyone actually think we wouldn’t notice that Tom and Robbie share common ground without the constant visual parallels?
Tom may be an FBI agent, but he’s also a lonely man numbing himself with alcohol, birdwatching, and Phillies stats. Robbie may be a criminal, but he’s also a grieving father figure raising kids and looking for companionship.
Both men are trying to fill holes in their lives, stumbling through their days with desperation disguised as routine.
We didn’t need to see Tom and Robbie both eating, both drinking, both staring blankly at their families, both gearing up for their respective nights, over and over again. Once or twice? Clever. Ten times? Clunky.
It’s the kind of storytelling choice that assumes viewers are dense when, in reality, we’re already ahead of the game. HBO audiences don’t need things spoon-fed, especially not with Ruffalo and Pelphrey at the helm.
Family Matters — or Doesn’t
Here’s where Task actually surprises us: the roles are flipped. Ordinarily, we’d expect the FBI agent to be the family man and the criminal to be estranged, but Task scrambles that expectation.
Tom may be the man with a badge, but his home life is in shambles.
One child barely speaks to him, and the other is awaiting trial. His attempts at connection — whether it’s small talk in the garden or leaning on his daughter for a family impact statement — are awkward at best, heartbreaking at worst.
Tom numbs himself with booze and meaningless distractions, a man who seems more comfortable chasing birds with binoculars than building bridges with his kids.
Robbie, on the other hand, is the one who thrives at home. His kids adore him and his trash-crew buddies, running into their arms with laughter.
He spins stories about his late brother Billy that paint him as equal parts hero and fool, and his children hang on every word. Even his niece Maeve, though resentful of her burden, knows he’s present and loving in a way that Tom simply isn’t.
That inversion makes Robbie both compelling and tragic. His kindness is his weakness.
When the robbery spirals out of control, the coldly pragmatic choice would have been to eliminate the witness — the child who sees too much. But Robbie can’t do it. He comforts the boy, reassures him about the “fireworks,” and carries him away.
In that moment, we know exactly who Robbie is: a man who wants to live with his family, not against them. And ironically, that choice is likely to be his undoing.
Leaders of the Pack
Another mirrored detail — both Tom and Robbie are running teams, though the execution is wildly different.
Robbie’s crew may be small, but they’re present. Cliff and Peaches aren’t just partners in crime; they’re family fixtures, trash-truck covers, and dinner guests.
They’re in the trenches with Robbie from the first scene to the last, which makes Peaches’ death land harder and Cliff’s survival more uncertain. Robbie’s team feels lived-in and loyal, even if that loyalty is exactly what gets them killed.
Tom, on the other hand, is tasked with leading a brand-new FBI unit. The problem? They barely register.
Lizzie is more invested in berating her soon-to-be ex than in the home invasion case, and when she does arrive, she spends more time gagging about the smell of their stash-house HQ than contributing anything useful.
Aleah quietly tidies her space, clearly competent but barely introduced. Anthony at least shows promise — he’s the one who calls Tom about the latest hit, keeping the case moving while his teammates bicker or dust.
But even so, they don’t feel like a cohesive team yet, just a handful of mismatched rookies dropped into a haunted house.
The irony is striking: the polished FBI task force is the one that feels amateur, while Robbie’s ragtag group of criminals feels like the real deal.
The World They Live In
What Task nails from the start is atmosphere. Robbie’s Philadelphia doesn’t feel like a set — it feels lived-in, from the spot-on accents that make this feel more grounded than other recent attempts (The Pitt, looking at you) to the messy dinners and trash-truck cover stories.
The show lingers on those details — kids shouting “Uncle Trash!”, neighborhood banter, even the ridiculous “chicken butt” jokes — so Robbie’s life comes across as more than just “criminal subplot.”
It’s a community, flawed and funny, and it makes his choices sting more.
Tom’s world, in comparison, is stripped bare. His HQ is literally a reclaimed stash house, his career is stalled, and his best company is his trusty pair of binoculars and a Phillies Slurpee cup.
The stash-house setting says it all: his side of the story looks official, but it feels haunted, improvised, and fragile. Again, it’s a smart contrast. Robbie’s world may be criminal, but it’s alive. Tom’s is sanctioned, but it’s already rotting.
The Performances Save It
If all of this sounds frustrating, it is — but Ruffalo and Pelphrey keep it watchable.
Pelphrey is the standout here. He’s got a natural charisma that makes Robbie more than just a low-level crook. He’s a dad, an uncle, a screw-up, and a dreamer all rolled into one.
Pelphrey gives him warmth in the middle of the chaos, making it easy to see how his kids adore him and why his niece feels trapped by him. He’s reckless but human, and you can’t help rooting for him even as he spirals deeper into crime.
Ruffalo plays Tom as a man in denial, clinging to structure while drowning in loneliness. His scenes with his daughter are heartbreaking in their emptiness, while his drunken antics with an old priest friend are humiliating to watch.
Tom wants to believe he’s still capable, but he’s clearly teetering on the edge of collapse. Ruffalo nails the contradiction, making Tom compelling even when the show itself drags.
Together, these performances are the heart of Task. Without them, the premiere would collapse under its own weight.
The Potential
Despite the flaws, there’s an undeniable promise in Task.
The ending makes that clear, as Robbie drives away with the kidnapped child and Tom gets the call that a crew has struck again. The cat-and-mouse game is officially on, and with Ruffalo and Pelphrey as the players, it’s hard not to be intrigued.
The question is whether audiences will stick around long enough to see it through. Prestige slow burns can work (Mare of Easttown proved it), but they need momentum and confidence.
Task has the cast, the production value, and the story skeleton to pull it off. Now it just needs to trust its audience more and itself less.
In a Nutshell
Task isn’t an instant HBO classic, but it’s not a disaster either.
The premiere is bloated, repetitive, and occasionally condescending, but beneath that is a taut thriller waiting to break free.
If the series can shed the indulgence and focus on the escalating clash between Tom and Robbie, it could evolve into something truly compelling.
But seriously, HBO: trust us. We get it.
Now it’s your turn:
- Was the premiere too slow, or did you enjoy the slow-burn setup?
- Did the constant mirroring annoy you, or did you find it effective?
- And how long do you think Robbie can keep that kid hidden before Tom comes knocking?
Drop your thoughts about the limited series premiere below.
This may not have been the fireworks opening we hoped for, but Task Season 1 Episode 1 has set the stage for a battle worth watching.
Will you be sticking around to see how it all plays out?
We want to hear from you. And if you’re looking for other cat-and-mouse games, don’t miss out on Dexter: Resurrection, which just ended its first thrilling season. Dexter has been running for more years than we can count, and it never gets old.
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