When he made his debut on HBO four years ago, “Mare of Easttown” by Brad Ingelsby stood out as a procedural drama rooted both in his characters and his setting in the small town. His mixture of working class details and slow combustion suspense made him feel alive in a crowded field. His “Task” follow -up series, first on September 7 on HBO, returns to the county of Delaware on a larger canvas. This time, the story is larger, the challenges more intense. The result is a criminal thriller which often impresses by ambition but which is also triggered on too familiar genre tropes.
The “task” of the title refers to an FBI working group led by Tom Brandis by Mark Ruffalo, a former parish priest who became an agent of the FBI. The sudden and tragic death of his wife, the bond of Brandis with his daughters, is effiled, his faith is almost gone and he drinks too much to face. Ruffalo, who excels in representing men who carry their pain as armor, gives one of his richest television performances. His Tom is empathetic, tired and sometimes exasperating opaque, but always credible.
At the opposite end of the moral fracture is Robbie Prendergrast (Tom Pelphrey), a waste collector whose lateral agitation – born from despair and revenge – steals drug money to local biker houses. Pelphrey, fresh of his escape role in “Ozark”, is both endearing and intimidating to an equal measure as Robbie. Ruffalo and Pelphrey are finally what maintains the anchored “task”, and we want the series to have spent more of its seven episodes to explore their dynamics.
But “task” casts his wider look. The Brandi FBI working group (filled with actors Alison Oliver, Fabien Frankel and Aino Mbedu) all bring their own anxiety and individual sorrow. Meanwhile, Robbie’s fortune family, including his niece Maeve (Emilia Jones), which has more responsibilities than what its years suggest, completed a practically overflowing distribution of grain and authenticity.
Martha Plpton is another star overall, the FBI without Fooritures de Tom, the FBI of Tom. The star of “Goonies” clearly savor his role and that shows, offering Ruffalo a leaf that cuts his brooding intensity while reminding us that this story lives in a disorderly, sometimes dark and humorous world.
However, despite all its texture, the “task” often gives the impression of checking the boxes instead of taking momentum. Where “Mare of Easttown” felt closely controlled, the “task” often drifts. As he tries to position himself as a suspense thriller, the pace flows between the procedural wheel procedure for a moment and the action bursts. A sequence of prosecution extended in episode 6 – although staged impressively by director Salli Richardson -Whitfield – is more like a flexion than a win -based gain.
The inequality is frustrating, given the richness of Ingelsby’s material. The feeling of the business class of the county of Delaware – with its accents, its family ties, its Catholic currents and its gentle edges shaped by duty and love – remains alive. Small details such as table quarrels and cops exchanging weary jokes with jokes with lived likelihood.
However, the “task” has its awards. The most important of them is the Star of Ruffalo, with the quadruple nominated from the Oscars delivering its best television performance since “I Know this is true” of 2020. The continuous juxtaposition of Tom’s Chagrin’s show with Robbie’s struggle reminds us of what Igelsby can do to her best, and the final, although it is not shocking, fits things with a soft-bitter grace won.
Even thus, the series rarely escapes the feeling of deja vu. Unlike “Mare of Easttown”, which felt urgent and lively, the “task” is conscientious, well accomplished and beautifully mounted, but too familiar. Ingelsby’s love for the county of Delaware is obvious, but the story that surrounds it does not justify the length or the importance of oneself.
In the end, the “task” is neither a disaster nor a triumph. It is a competent criminal drama raised by its main performance, but which rarely exceeds its formula. HBO has built its reputation on gender redefinition; Here he just reheats him.
“Task” will be presented on Sunday September 7 on HBO and HBO Max.
