When it debuted on HBO four years ago, Brad Ingelsby’s “Mare of Easttown” stood out as a procedural drama rooted both in its characters and small-town setting. Its mix of working-class detail and slow-burn suspense made it feel alive in a crowded field. His follow-up series “Task,” premiering Sept. 7 on HBO, returns to Delaware County on a bigger canvas. This time, the story is more expansive, the stakes more intense. The result is a crime thriller that often impresses with ambition but just as often trips over too-familiar genre tropes.
The “task” of the title refers to an FBI task force led by Mark Ruffalo’s Tom Brandis, a former parish priest turned FBI agent. Reeling from his wife’s sudden, tragic death, Brandis’s bond with his daughters is fraying, his faith is all but gone and he’s drinking too much to cope. Ruffalo, who excels at portraying men who wear their pain like armor, gives one of his richest TV performances. His Tom is empathetic, weary and sometimes maddeningly opaque, but always believable.
On the opposite end of the moral divide is Robbie Prendergrast (Tom Pelphrey), a garbage collector whose side hustle — born of desperation and revenge — is stealing drug money from local bikers’ homes. Pelphrey, fresh from his breakout role in “Ozark,” is both endearing and intimidating in equal measure as Robbie. Ruffalo and Pelphrey are ultimately what keep “Task” grounded, and one wishes the series spent more of its seven episodes exploring their dynamic.
But “Task” casts its gaze wider. Brandis’s FBI task force (filled out by actors Alison Oliver, Fabien Frankel and Thuso Mbedu) all bring their own individual angst and heartache. Meanwhile, Robbie’s makeshift family, including his niece Maeve (Emilia Jones), who carries more responsibility than her years suggest, rounds out a cast virtually overflowing with grit and authenticity.
Another standout in the ensemble is Martha Plimpton as Kathleen McGinty, Tom’s no-nonsense FBI superior. The “Goonies” star clearly relishes her role and it shows, providing Ruffalo with a foil who cuts through his brooding intensity while reminding us this story lives in a messy, sometimes darkly humorous world.
Yet for all its texture, “Task” often feels like it’s checking boxes instead of building momentum. Where “Mare of Easttown” felt tightly controlled, “Task” often drifts. While it attempts to position itself as a suspense thriller, the pacing lurches between procedural wheel-spinning one moment and bursts of action the next. An extended chase sequence in Episode 6 — although impressively staged by director Salli Richardson-Whitfield — feels more like a flex than a story-driven payoff.
The unevenness is frustrating, given the richness of Ingelsby’s material. Delaware County’s working-class feel — with its accents, family bonds, Catholic undercurrents and the soft edges shaped by duty and love — remains vivid. Small details like dinner-table squabbles and cops trading weary after hours banter land with lived-in verisimilitude.
Still, “Task” has its rewards. Foremost among them is star Ruffalo, with the four-time Oscar nominee delivering his best TV performance since 2020’s “I Know This Much Is True.” The show’s ongoing juxtaposition of Tom’s grief with Robbie’s struggle reminds us what Ingelsby can do at his best, and the finale, while not shocking, closes things out with bittersweet grace that feels earned.
Even so, the series rarely escapes the sense of déjà vu. Unlike “Mare of Easttown,” which felt urgent and alive, “Task” is dutiful, well-acted and handsomely mounted, but overly familiar. Ingelsby’s love for Delaware County is evident, but the story around it doesn’t justify the length or the self-importance.
In the end, “Task” is neither disaster nor triumph. It’s a competent crime drama elevated by its lead performances, but one that rarely rises above its formula. HBO has built its reputation on redefining the genre; here, it’s content to simply reheat it.
“Task” premieres Sunday, Sept. 7, on HBO and HBO Max.
