The last time we heard from creator Brad Ingelsby was Mare of Easttown, his unspeakably grim HBO series about crime in Delaware County, Pennsylvania (and the pleasures of Wawa). Ingelsby returned on Sunday night with Task … an unspeakably grim HBO series about crime in Delaware County, Pennsylvania. There are some distinctions, of course. Where Kate Winslet’s detective was at the center of a sprawling, brawling cast of characters in Easttown, there are two leads in Task: the sad, bird-loving FBI agent Tom Brandis (Mark Ruffalo) and the world’s most soulful trashman-slash-trap-house-robber Robbie Prendergrast (Tom Pelphrey). But if there’s a third lead in Task—beating out tattooed gangsters, waif-like children, and “wooder ice”—it’s got to be unrelenting misery. “Crossings,” the first episode of Task, interweaves the lives and despair of Tom and Robbie as they go about their daily routines. Both of them are plagued by personal and professional trials that almost defy imagination. By episode’s end, we’re left to ponder: How could so much bad shit be happening to two such gentle-eyed men? The pair might be in a cat-and-mouse game of investigation and evasion, but there is also a different competition afoot: Which woebegone man is worse off?
There’s only one way to measure these sad lives: by giving Tom and Robbie 0 to 5 Misery Points in several noteworthy categories. These tallies will certainly change as Tom’s investigation gains steam and Robbie goes to desperate measures to evade the FBI’s motley and probably underqualified task force. But as we begin our journey into the dark heart of Delco, let’s decide who, for now, wears the crown of Task’s saddest boy.
Wake-Up Routine
Like Ashton Hall, Tom and Robbie each have a morning ritual that offers a glimpse into their troubled psychology. Tom takes a page out of Ashton’s book by dunking his face in ice every morning—although one gets the sense that this is probably a flagellation ritual/hangover cure rather than a tool of vanity. Otherwise, both he and Robbie mostly just shuffle around their houses in the dark and fumble around for the coffee maker—kind of like most normal people do, because most people are pretty depressed in the early hours of the morning. But Robbie does seem slightly less miserable in these scenes: We see him share a sweet moment with his son, Wyatt, moving him into his own bed and stroking his nose Lady Gaga–style. Tom seems more devastatingly alone. His only morning conversation is a silent, one-sided talk with God.
Misery Points: Tom 3, Robbie 1
The Family Home
Robbie’s house—actually his niece Maeve’s (Emilia Jones) house—has that musty, lived-in quality of Ingelsby’s shows. It seems like the kind of house that really has been in the family for decades, accumulating detritus, falling apart and not quite coming back together, but awfully cozy because of it.
Tom’s house probably has a higher Zillow Zestimate, but it also has an airless, haunted quality. There are ghosts in both houses, but at least Robbie acknowledges them—he tells tall tales about his dead brother, Billy, to his son and talks openly about the absence of his ex. Tom seems to prefer to keep those ghosts buried underneath a Philadelphia Phillies cup full of vodka, which is a good way of making sure they come right back to haunt you.
Misery Points: Tom 4, Robbie 3
Morning Commute
Task cuts between Tom and Robbie as they each make their lonely drive to work. They’re both tuned in to the local radio; one gets the sense that they’re too caught up in their woes to make any effort to find an AUX cord. Tom pops some pills, probably to treat the back problems caused by his perpetual hunch (and the headache caused by the aforementioned Phillies cup), while a toxically sunny weatherman gives the forecast. Meanwhile, Robbie’s eye twinkles when an ad for the dating site CupidsPlan.com tells him, “Thousands of people are searching for someone just like you.” Even though Robbie’s experienced grief (which we’re reminded of by an in memoriam medallion for his brother dangling from the rearview mirror), he’s angling for his next life companion and really seems to be looking forward to the lovely 72-degree day ahead of him. Tom seems like he might not even make it to lunch.
Misery Points: Tom 3, Robbie 1
Day Jobs
Sure, Robbie’s job seems a lot less glamorous than an FBI agent’s—he picks up trash for a living, and it doesn’t seem like his route is in a nice neighborhood where he can pick up some secondhand West Elm furniture along the way. But he gets to shoot the shit all day with his best buddy, Cliff, a.k.a. “Uncle Trash” (Raúl Castillo), and do recon for his more lucrative side hustle: robbing drug houses.
Tom’s job, at least when the episode starts, is more solitary. He’s supposed to be passing out flyers for the FBI at job fairs, but he’s mostly using the time to test out his new bird-watching binoculars. Tom’s retreat into air-conditioned bliss is short-lived, though: He’s soon charged with heading up a task force to track down Robbie and his band of merry men. Now Tom, a little like Robbie, is spending his time in a stash house (this one taken over by the FBI and requisitioned for the task force) that has a suspicious mildewy smell and appears to be located at the dead end of Bumfuck Avenue. Worst of all, now he’s got some hapless direct reports who’ll probably end up standing in for/replacing his own kids—and then they’ll probably get killed, giving him even more people to grieve.
Misery Points: Tom 3, Robbie 2
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Diet
Is it better to eat like shit, or not to eat at all? That is the question posed by Task. Robbie sups on Maeve’s Rorschach test of a Ree Drummond recipe: Is that black beans with marshmallows, or burned-to-a-crisp corn with balls of mozzarella? One can only hope that the dollop of M&M ice cream he scooped onto his finger and promptly spit into the sink will linger on his palate, covering whatever unholy marriage of flavors Maeve has summoned out of Pawhuska.
Tom’s also got some weird finger habits (a character detail that Ruffalo says drew him to the role). He always stirs his Tito’s and Schweppes together with one finger—as if it isn’t just 95 percent vodka—and samples a taste from his dampened digit. What is Ingelsby saying about these men? That they don’t have the executive function to grab a spoon? Or that they enjoy life’s simple pleasures, finger straight to mouth?
Misery Points: Tom 4, Robbie 4
Love Lives
One thing about Robbie is that he’s a future-oriented thinker, while Tom seems to be living, dejectedly, in the past. They’ve both lost their partners: Robbie’s ex, Karen, ran off a year ago for unknown but easy to imagine reasons, and though we don’t know yet exactly what happened to Tom’s—we just glimpse her in a family photo—it is very clear that some sort of tragedy struck. Love seems to be important for both Tom and Robbie (did Tom, perhaps, leave the priesthood for the woman in that photo?), but only Robbie is making strides to find it again, albeit on CupidsPlan.com, but still. He knows he’s supposed to have a life companion, and if he has to start with a fuck buddy named DarbyDollface, so be it—he’s embracing the unexpected with open arms.
Misery Points: Tom 4, Robbie 2
Friendships
Robbie may have lost his brother, but it’s clear he’s gained two new ones in Cliff and Peach Boy (Owen Teague). Until, uh-oh, he manages to lose sweet Peaches by the end of the episode, in a robbery gone very wrong. (We can only hope that Cliff manages to survive this friendship, but that also doesn’t seem likely.)
Tom seems to lead a much more monk-like existence, befitting his former calling as a priest. When a former colleague, Father Daniel Georges (Isaach De Bankolé), visits him at home, it’s clear that there’s real warmth between them, but the priest is taken aback by Tom’s drinking habits and the fact that the only thing he’s reading these days is trivia off that Phillies cup. He doesn’t even offer any useful divine counsel, just giving his daughter Emily (Silvia Dionicio) empty reassurances that things will get better. Maybe Tom was right to leave the priesthood if this is all the good father has to offer.
Misery Points: Robbie 5, Tom 3
Family Lives
Like Mare of Easttown, Task shows us that the worst crimes start at home, and they’re often committed by desperate people who are just trying to keep their family together. Robbie is, we can assume, robbing these trap houses to support his family, despite the trouble it might eventually cause them. But his misplaced priorities are only going to fracture what family he has left, as Maeve resents him for his frequent absences (and tries to kick him out) and his kids are inevitably put in the line of fire. And after that botched robbery, now they have a brand-new brother—and one more mouth for Maeve to feed.
Somehow, though, Tom’s grasp on his family unit seems even shakier. That family photo showed him with three kids and (presumably) his wife; now he just seems to have Emily, who’s understandably put off by his lukewarm attempts to parent her. His son, Ethan, is awaiting sentencing for a crime committed “within the family unit,” and it doesn’t seem like Tom has forgiven Ethan (or himself). (If you look closely at the documents Tom is reading in his lawyer’s office, it appears that Ethan assaulted Tom’s wife and is being charged with manslaughter.)
Misery Points: Tom 5, Robbie 4
Hobbies and Side Hustles
Tom escapes from his countless traumas into nature, watching birds until he falls asleep on the porch and puttering around in his garden instead of spending time with his daughter. But his other, more passionately pursued hobby is slamming Tito’s and listening to baseball on the radio (you can tell he’s depressed because he won’t even indulge in a TV to watch the game).
At first, Robbie’s hobbies have a wholesome air about them: He dreams about Canadian island real estate on his lunch break, and he enjoys “transportative music” and refreshing swims in the local quarry. Robbie’s main pastime, though, is robbing drug houses in a freaky-looking Halloween mask and bringing his besties along for the ride.
Both Tom and Robbie have some self-destructive tendencies, but Robbie’s the only one (so far) who’s getting his friends killed in the pursuit of those passions.
Misery Points: Robbie 5, Tom 3.5
Final Count
Tom: 32.5
Robbie: 27
Frankly, this race ended up closer than I thought it would. Robbie, despite his troubles, mostly maintains a cheerful demeanor and has a friendly word for anyone he’s not threatening with a gun. Tom, meanwhile, is clearly in a funk, disconnecting from his loved ones and looking for peace at the bottom of a commemorative plastic Phillies cup. But the end of “Crossings” spells real trouble for Robbie, proving that maybe it is better to wallow in your problems rather than take action to solve them, at least if that action involves robbing a motorcycle gang called the Dark Hearts. I expect Tom and Robbie to ride a seesaw of misery throughout the season; I’m a little (a lot) scared to find out who comes out on top, but I for one can’t wait for the rest of this dark ride through Delaware County’s trash routes and ganglands.
