September 07, 2025
Provided image/Peter Kramer/HBO
Tom Pelphrey, pictured above, plays dad and small-time criminal Robbie in the new HBO series 'Task.' Like 'Mare of Easttown,' it takes places in the suburbs of Philadelphia.
HBO has returned to the suburbs of Philadelphia for another crime show with Delco accents and difficult family drama. And at first glance, "Task" might be even bleaker than "Mare of Easttown.
The latest miniseries from creator Brad Ingelsby, the Brewyn, Chester County native responsible for both, premiered Sunday night to generally positive reviews. In its hour-long season opener, "Task" drops viewers into two distinct worlds, anchored by an FBI agent and a small-time criminal. While the men are both struggling to show up for their families, they're leading separate, parallel lives – until the final moments of the episode, when a botched robbery brings them together.
We'll be recapping each installment of "Task," and taking notes on its many shout-outs to the Philly region. (Expect recognizable locations like Wissahickon Valley Park and Ralph's to appear in later episodes.) Here's what stood out in the series opener:
As the premiere makes clear, things are not great at home for either of our main characters. Tom (Mark Ruffalo) starts his day with a DIY ice bath in his kitchen sink before driving out to a career fair, where he mans the FBI table, until he can return home to his evening slug of Tito's. His teenage daughter Emily (Silvia Dionicio) avoids him, while the rest of his family is absent. We know where at least one other member is: His son Ethan is in jail awaiting sentencing. His crime is a mystery for now. Tom also wears a wedding ring, but it's unclear where his wife is. The mood is decidedly somber in this household.
Robbie (Tom Pelphrey) rides around in a garbage truck with his friend Cliff (Raúl Castillo), rooting through strangers' trash for signs of drug dealing. The pair has been ripping off stash houses in Montgomery and Delaware counties in their spare time, occasionally with the help of their friend Peaches (Owen Teague). Robbie's adult niece Maeve (Emilia Jones) is not exactly thrilled by their hours; since Robbie's wife ran off, she's been more or less raising his kids. They all live together in Maeve's father's house. He has died, also under mysterious circumstances.
Tom is pulled off the career fair circuit and onto a task force convened to find Robbie and Cliff, whose identities are unknown but whose crimes have been antagonizing a biker gang called the Dark Hearts. (Per Tom's boss, a delightfully abrasive Martha Plimpton, most of the robbed homes belong to members of the gang.) Before he can really get to know his randomly assigned coworkers, however, the task force is called onto the scene of a triple homicide. Robbie and Cliff's latest hit went horribly awry, and they brought a kid back with them.
Tom's first lines of the show are basically a Mad Libs prompt of regional references. In quick succession, he offers Emily a breakfast of scrambled eggs and scrapple, asks if she wants anything from the Acme and says he might stop by her work for a water ice later that night. Where does she work? Rita's, of course. Tom orders an extra-large black cherry when he visits.
"Task" keeps up the broad gestures to the five counties throughout the episode. Tom chats up a recent Widener grad at the job fair, and eventually gets assigned a task force headquarters (read: a rundown former stash house) near Kennett Square. His priest pal brings over pork sandwiches for dinner, during which they discuss Allen Iverson and Ryan Howard. Father Danny, who grew up in Africa, can't name the player with the Phillies single-season home run record so he takes a wild guess with Iverson.
"Come on Danny, Iverson plays basketball," Tom says.
"Iverson could do anything!" his friend retorts.
The sports legends come up because of the vessel for Tom's nightly pours of vodka: a plastic souvenir Phillies cup. Father Danny prefers Yuengling.
Meanwhile, over in Robbie's world, he takes Cliff and Peaches to a quarry to swim and sun in between their stick-ups. That spot is none other than the old Bangor Union Quarry in Northhampton County, near Allentown, according to the episode's director Jeremiah Zagar. He himself is a bit of a Philly institution; he's the son of Isaiah and Julia Zagar, the artists behind Magic Gardens and Eye's Gallery. He also helmed the Adam Sandler basketball drama "Hustle," which filmed in the area in 2021.
Speaking of that quarry, Zagar said the crew "searched forever" for that location before settling in Bangor.
"That was very important in episode one, that the brutality of the environment was matched by the beauty of the environment, and we needed to create epic, beautiful landscapes," he said. "... It was a joy to shoot, and I think it brings a sense of color in life to the first episode that's very much needed. "
Before Robbie's grift spins out of control, the show also spends some quieter moments at his home. About midway through the episode, Maeve chats with her younger cousin Harper (Kennedy Moyer) as she preps for a date. While it later devolves into disaster – Robbie bursts out of her closet when she brings the young man home – it is a significant moment for the character, per the actress who plays her.
"That scene with Harper in the bedroom, you can tell she's really excited to just talk to someone about something other than the family or kids' stuff," Jones said. "Which I think is reminding the audience that yeah, she doesn't really have a lot of that. She doesn't get to escape from being a mother figure to these kids."
Fans of "Mare of Easttown" have been speculating about whether "Task" exists in the same universe ever since some coy comments from Ruffalo. In early 2024, the actor teased that Tom and Mare "might run into each other in the future, that’s what they’re saying," while acknowledging that "nothing's set."
Mare Sheehan does not make an appearance in the season premiere – nor does anyone make any obvious reference to her or the show's central characters – but that doesn't mean she's not vaping outside a Wawa offscreen. We'll check back next week to see if she's surfaced.
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