[Editor’s note: The following interview contains spoilers for “Task,” especially Season 1, Episodes 6 and 7.]
The crime drama of “Task” all led up to a devastating penultimate episode that included the manhunt for missing 6-year-old Sam (Ben Doherty) coming to an end, a chaotic gun fight in the woods, and the death of Robbie (Tom Pelphrey). While on this week’s episode of the Filmmaker Toolkit podcast, creator Brad Ingelsby admitted he was nervous about how audience’s would react to last night’s far less action-pack finale.
“There’s a negative in some way to having such a big explosion [in Episode 6] — that’s the high point of action in the show, you’re never going be able to replicate that or do anything close to that, and it’s still one episode left,” said Ingelsby. “So it did worry me that at the end of that sequence: What are the mysteries? What are the things that people are still trying to solve?”
Ingelsby was conscious that, in his previous HBO series, “Mare of Easttown,” the crime investigation wasn’t resolved until the dramatic last 10 minutes of the finale. But the “Task” creator was quick to point out “Mare” was a whodunnit being led by a cop (Kate Winslett) avoiding facing her son’s suicide.
“Task,” in addition to being more “Heat” than mystery, was led by an investigator Tom Brandis (Mark Ruffalo), who comes out of the near-death experience of the investigation ready to confront the family tragedy he had been avoiding. It’s an arc thats emotional resolution required the time and space of last night’s tear-jerking finale.
“I’m sure there’s going to be people who watch the show and go, ‘Man, Episode 6, that was it for me,’” said Ingelsby. “But I hope they do stick around, because the emotional payoffs are quite high.”
A Loss of Faith
When Ingelsby started to develop “Task,” he didn’t have even the basic plot points of the cat-and-mouse criminal investigation, what he did know was the beginning and end of Tom’s emotional arc, which pivoted on the story of man who lost his faith.
“It’s always between A and B, and because if it’s a guy who’s lost his faith and then has to let his son come home, I know that the story has to take place within those two edges,” Ingelsby said describing how his writing process was shaped by knowing Tom’s arc centering on his loss of faith. “If I know where it ends, I know I can’t go too far this way or too far this way.”
That’s right, Ingelsby went into writing “Task” not knowing the FBI would clash with the Dark Hearts biker gang in Episode 6, but he did know Tom would end up giving that courtroom speech in Episode 7. Ingelsby explained that he wrote Episode 1 very early in the process, establishing how Tom had completely lost his way in the year following the death of wife Susan (Mireille Enos) at the hands of their adopted son Ethan (Andrew Russel).
He then went into writing Episodes 2 through 7, knowing he needed to create an emotional journey in which Tom believably goes from burying his anger in alcohol, to a climatic courtroom scene in which he finally looks Ethan in the eye.
The Priest Who Inspired Ruffalo’s Character
While on the podcast, Ingelsby talked about how Tom was inspired by one of his many Delaware County relatives.
“Some of Ruffalo’s character is inspired by my uncle, who was an Augustinian priest for years and years, and he left the priesthood and married a woman. He’s not an FBI agent, but my uncle would give last rites in the hospital,” said Ingelsby.
The “Task” creator liked the idea of how being a former priest better equips Tom to receive Robbie at a moment of crisis (the car ride in Episode 5), and comfort him at his moment of death (the car ride in Episode 6) based on having given last rites and his experience dealing people’s fear of death at the end. Tom being a former priest also gave his loss of faith, and the subsequent leap of faith he takes in Episode 7, that much more dramatic impact.
Giving Up Sam
Ingelsby is well-aware that audiences are not going to like Tom’s decision to allow Sam to be adopted by another family at the end of the series. But that emotional dissonance is part of the point.
“I know audiences might struggle with [not keeping Sam], but that was really important to me because when I was writing the story, it’s not about keeping Sam, it’s about embracing his son and getting the house ready for his son to come home. If Sam’s there, it muddies it,” said Ingelsby. “He’s really cute and he’s a charming kid and he’s a great actor, but that’s not what the arc is about.”
Ingelsby went on to explain why giving up Sam was key to Tom’s arc. “What I liked about that was it was an act of faith, ‘I love this kid. I love being with him. I have to give him up and I have to believe that the family that takes him is going to take care of him,’” said Ingelsby. “Here’s a guy that doesn’t have any faith in the beginning of the show, and giving up the kid is an act of faith. It’s not going to the altar and kneeling, sitting in the pew or going back to the church, it’s not that, but it’s an act of faith that the kid’s going to be okay.”
The Courtroom Speech
As discussed above, one of the few things Ingelsby did know about the finale going into writing “Task” was the broad strokes of the Tom’s courtroom speech. That said, the scene terrified Ingelsby. “There is a danger that it can be very hokey,” said Ingelsby of the courtoom speech. “I think that I went into it quite nervous, it’s a lot of pressure on that speech.”
So, what was the key to it not being hokey? Not surprisingly, Ingelsby, a research junkie, found the answer working with “Task” mental health consultant Ariel Stern and reading testimonials of parents and care-givers about the difficulty of caring for a child, like Ethan, with severe mental issues.
“One of the things that stood out to me when I was talking to Ariel, or reading an article, was ‘Weekends were the worst for me as a parent,’” said Ingelsby, quoting a line from Ruffalo’s courtroom speech, which came directly from reseach.
For Ingelsby who, like most parents, looks forward to the weekends as the time he gets to enjoy his kids, that line hit hard.
“It just broke my heart hearing that, because you go through life, you pick up your kid at school, you pass these parents, you have no idea what they’re going through and how hard it is. And I wanted Tom to not run from that. I wanted him to acknowledge that it was hard,” said Ingelsby. “I think once we got to acknowledging the hardness of that, then it felt we’d earned the right to [have] some [dialogue], that on its own could be hokey, like, ‘He called me Dad.’”
There is a confessional aspect to Tom’s courtroom statement — the theme of confession running throughout the series paying off in this moment. Ingelsby pointed to Tom admitting he didn’t wear a name tag to Parents Night, not wanting people to know he was Ethan’s father.
“He’s so honest at the front about saying these things that he did, and the shame he feels, it makes his confession of the joy that much more true, because he’s allowed the audience to get close to him,” said Ingelsby. “He showed how vulnerable he is, and then when he says, ‘There was so much joy,’ you go, ‘Oh my God, this is his truth.’ It allowed you to hold onto that moment. And Mark, he’s just so good in that scene.”
The decision for Tom to read from prepared remarks — rather off-the-cuff and from the heart as we’ve come to expect in these type of scenes — was important for two reasons. One is dramatically obvious: It sets up the powerful moment, where Tom puts down his typed statement to finally make eye contact with Ethan (“Ethan, look at me, son”). But for Ingelsby, the carefully crafted written words also spoke to where Tom is at the final moments of “Task.”
“Like a priest at the podium giving a homily, it just felt like he had taken the time and care,” said Ingelsby. “I always feel like ‘Mare’ was a show about a woman who avoided having to face the death of her son. Tom’s avoiding having to face what his son has done and his anger is preventing him. And so [it meant something] for him at the end to have been through the craziness of this case, to sit down and take the time to write his thoughts that he’s been avoiding, and also to take the burden off of [his daughter] Emily (Silvia Dionicio). That was the act of grace, ‘Emily, I don’t want this to be your choice. I’ve put you in a tough spot, and I’ve been avoiding this for a long time now, let me. I now have the strength to shoulder the burden of this.’”
That Last Shot
Ingelsby didn’t want to show us Ethan’s homecoming. The breakthrough moment in the courtroom of Tom welcoming him home was the emotional resolution. The idea of having cake and celebrating their reunification months later would be a false note.
Ingelsby did believe the audience needed a moment with Tom just prior to Ethan walking back through the door for the first time since he killed Susan. He liked the simplicity of Tom getting Ethan’s room ready and having a quiet moment looking out the window.
“What it meant for me was Tom cleaned, he got his son’s room ready, he’s readying for his son to return,” said Ingelsby of the last scene. “And he looks out the window and he hears the birds. And it’s not that he knows he’s going to be OK, it’s that he knows it’s going to be hard, and it’s going to be challenging, but there is a spirit in him that is ready to face what’s coming in a way that he was not ready at the beginning of the show.”
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