The following article has heavy spoilers for Task.HBO miniseries Task comes to an end next Sunday with Episode 7. The remaining members of the task force trying to catch The Dark Hearts now face the horrific truth that one of them is actually working for the bad guys. When the credits rolled last Sunday, Tom Brandis and Aleah Clinton silently swore revenge after they found out that Anthony Grasso is an informant for the drug-dealing gang, and he may have had something to do with Lizzie’s death. It is a pivotal shift in the plot that will see the series’ final episode turn into a revenge story.
Brad Ingelsby, creator and writer of the series, spoke to Entertainment Weekly ahead of the conclusion, and said out loud what we didn’t want to believe about Grasso: It was because of his decision to let go of the criminals that they escaped in a truck and ended up killing Lizzie. Regardless of the “guilt and shame” that the character is facing, Grasso didn’t show much remorse for being an accomplice to The Dark Hearts when he talked to Brandis in last Sunday’s episode. Ingelsby says:
“The impact Lizzie leaves on the group is a profound one. What her death does is it adds a tremendous amount of guilt, in terms of Grasso’s storyline. He thought he was able to manage all these things, he had this house of cards he constantly tended to, and now the house of cards has fallen down, and he’s left with the guilt and shame.
“He’s the cause of her death. He literally lets Jayson and Perry go, and because he lets them go, they run into Lizzie. In addition, it makes Aleah and Tom determined to get to the truth.”
‘Task’ Episode 6 Had Not One But Two Shocking Deaths
Although the death of trooper Lizzie Stover in Episode 6 was extremely upsetting, she wasn’t the only loss. Robbie Prendergrast, the series’ co-lead alongside Mark Ruffalo’s Tom Brandis, unexpectedly passed away from a stabbing wound. He died in Brandis’ arms while on the ride to the hospital.
Played by Tom Pelphrey in the series’ best performance, Robbie was the counterpart to Brandis’ journey. He was a morally flawed man who only tried to do his best in the end. While on a desperate road to redemption, he finds comfort in the law enforcement agent who can actually understand what he’s going through. Ruffalo also talked to EW about Robbie’s death:
“It’s very moving because Tom, in the little time he actually has with Robbie, he understands him, and he understands why he’s doing what he does. It’s what makes Tom a really great agent: his empathy. It’s his superpower, because he knows how to get under the skin of the people he’s looking for, and it makes it more difficult, but it also makes him a much more canny agent. The time he spends with Robbie, he’s surprised by his level of humanity, and he understands the need for revenge, loss, justice, and retribution.
“[Tom] sees Robbie as a good man who made bad choices in bad circumstances. I don’t think he sees himself as that different, really. That’s empathy. He’s moved, and it propels him into forgiveness for his son, who murdered his wife.”
- Release Date
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2025 – 2025-00-00
- Network
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HBO
- Directors
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Jeremiah Zagar