Editor’s note: The below recap contains spoilers for Task Episode 3.Three weeks into Brad Ingelsby‘s new HBO series Task, the pressure is only continuing to mount for the crime drama’s titular investigative team, but they’re not the only ones in hot pursuit of garbage collector-turned-masked criminal Robbie Prendergrast (Tom Pelphrey), either. Now, the stakes are even higher with the infamous Dark Hearts motorcycle gang in play, and as Detective Anthony Grasso (Fabien Frankel) warned the rest of the task force last week, that group has their own way of both getting answers and tying up loose ends. Their involvement points to the recent rash of robberies having a somewhat more personal origin story for Robbie, though — because we also learned, as of Episode 2, that his brother was a member of the Dark Hearts before his death, and that Maeve (Emilia Jones) still believes the gang had something to do with it.
The biggest revelation of all, though, came from FBI agent Tom Brandis’ (Mark Ruffalo) side of the investigation, when the dark secret hovering like a storm cloud over his family finally broke with the truth behind his wife Susan’s (Mireille Enos) death. Now, we know why his son Ethan (Andrew Russel) has been in prison, as well as why Tom has refused to lay eyes on his son since he was incarcerated. Death, ironically, seems to be what both of Task‘s main characters share, and both men are choosing to deal with their grief in very different ways. This week’s episode, “Nobody’s Stronger Than Forgiveness,” written by Ingelsby and directed by Salli Richardson Whitfield, crafts an even more tangled web around the show’s ensemble, making a collision course feel all but inevitable.
‘Task’ Episode 3 Exposes the Truth Behind Robbie’s Motives
Episode 3 picks up right where the previous hour left off, as Maeve finally gets answers to the truth that Robbie has only barely been able to keep a lid on. This is about avenging Billy Prendergrast’s death, plain and simple — and not just holding the Dark Hearts accountable, but a particular member of the gang. For Robbie, there’s no worse insult than the Dark Hearts showing up at Billy’s memorial service, where local chapter president Jayson (Sam Keeley) shook Robbie’s hand with the same hand he used to beat Billy to death. Taking their enemies’ money in service of giving the family a better future is the least of what Robbie wants to do, but Maeve warns her uncle against becoming a martyr just to prove a point. He may not even make it to prison if the Dark Hearts find out the truth first. There’s also the matter of young Sam (Ben Doherty) to deal with, but Robbie insists he only needs a few more days to successfully fence the fentanyl he swiped from the Nances’ house. Once they have money in hand and Robbie can ensure his kids will be taken care of, they’ll turn Sam in — or so he says. Judging by the way Maeve refuses to meet Robbie’s eyes, it’s clear she doesn’t believe him.
The sheer amount of drugs that Robbie needs to find a way to sell is no joke, either — at the FBI task force’s latest huddle with bureau chief Kathleen McGinty (Martha Plimpton), Detective Sergeant Aleah Clinton (Thuso Mbedu) estimates that the amount of fentanyl Robbie’s crew stole would go for somewhere in the neighborhood of $1.5 million. No wonder the Dark Hearts, including Jayson and Perry (Jamie McShane), are already sniffing around potential buyers, including Freddy Frias (Elvis Nolasco), a local kingpin. The Dark Hearts square their own deal with Freddy: if he catches wind of whoever’s trying to move that much fentanyl and tips the gang off, they’ll cut him in on the profit made from selling it.
Meanwhile, as Brandis’ task force has already deduced, the Dark Hearts have an informant inside their own ranks: Eryn (Margarita Levieva), Jayson’s wife, who finally meets with Robbie and Cliff (Raúl Castillo) at the quarry in the aftermath of the Nance robbery. Cliff is still too heated about everything that went wrong, but Eryn warns Robbie against moving the drugs while the Dark Hearts are paying close attention. Turns out these two have been working together from the beginning, wanting to strike back at the gang ever since Jayson killed Billy with a particular motive — because he discovered Billy and Eryn were sleeping together, although, to hear Eryn tell it, they were in love. “Don’t do anything until you hear from me,” she warns Robbie, before departing. Neither man heeds said warning, since Cliff’s first move after their rendezvous is to reach out to a contact who might be able to help them. Ray Driscoll (Patrick Patrikios) has only just gotten out of prison, though, so his wife Shelley (Mickey Sumner) isn’t thrilled about Robbie and Cliff’s attempts to rope him back into less-than-legal activities. Freddy Frias is out for obvious reasons, but someone in league with the Colombians might be interested.
The FBI and Dark Hearts Have a Tense Standoff in ‘Task’ Episode 3
This week, Tom and Grasso are walking right into Dark Hearts territory after slugs recovered from the robbery crime scene match others on file from a previous incident between the gang and their rivals, the Vipers. The billiards hall is dark, smoky, and brimming with obvious tension, but only Jayson and Perry are willing to talk to FBI, and even then, they don’t say much, especially after Tom points out the obvious leak within their ranks. The most important detail in all of this is the little boy who’s still missing, and Tom tries to appeal to Perry’s better nature, but the Dark Hearts aren’t interested in cooperating, much less teaming up with the feds. Once Tom and Grasso leave, Jayson and Perry realize they have a different mystery to solve: whose member’s gun could have been used in both crimes?
Meanwhile, Aleah and Pennsylvania State Trooper Lizzie Stover (Alison Oliver) are occupied with pursuing any potential leads on the case. This week takes them to the job Peaches (Owen Teague) was working before his death, and while most of the men still there are thinly-written chauvinists, they end up with at least one employee who’s willing to talk about the ill-fated member of Robbie’s crew in return for the $25,000 reward money. Their diner conversation leads to a single name worth pursuing: Cliff Broward, whom Peaches had boasted about robbing drug houses with. Tom wants to hit Cliff’s house later that night on the off-chance that Sam is being held there, but he doesn’t want to wait for backup, either, and that choice proves costly. When the task force finds Cliff’s front door already open, they go inside, but Lizzie is already apprehensive about who they might encounter. In the mess and confusion of the trespassers trying to get away, Tom ends up taking a tumble down the stairs while Lizzie helplessly looks on before Aleah and Grasso apprehend both suspects: the Driscolls. Naturally, Cliff narrowly avoids being seen as he and Robbie drive past the house, surrounded by police lights, moments later.
As Tom is given the news that he’s earned a concussion, the Driscolls are split up for interrogation, where Tom and Grasso try to get answers from Ray, who swears up and down that he and his wife won’t spill anything. Yet Aleah is able to get through to Shelley by way of sheer honesty about her own past with domestic violence and the abuse she endured. It’s a stunning, heartwrenching monologue from Mbedu that doubles as a standout moment for her Task character. “Lord knows I opened that door to escape a million times,” Aleah admits, “and the reason I didn’t leave sooner was because when I did open that door and I looked outside, all I saw was darkness.” Just like that, Shelley starts talking. The plan had been for them to steal the fentanyl and sell it themselves, but what they didn’t know, and what we do, is where those drugs are being kept. Although Ray can’t identify Robbie by name, he is willing to cooperate by letting Grasso send a text to Cliff from his phone, setting up a meeting for tomorrow night, where the FBI will be waiting for them. But the more their investigation progresses, the more it seems that the Dark Hearts may have an insider of their own — someone inside Task itself.
After Aleah gives Tom a ride home, he’s subjected to his own interrogation from his daughter Sara (Phoebe Fox) about what happened, but it’s here where he admits to a much harsher truth: he doesn’t want Ethan to come home, because he still can’t forgive his son for what he did. It’s an admission that Emily (Silvia Dionicio) happens to overhear after coming home from visiting her brother in prison, but it also speaks to one of Task‘s deepest themes: when is forgiveness the best path to take over vengeance, and what will happen to both Robbie and Tom now that they’ve seemingly rejected the former?
- Release Date
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2025 – 2025-00-00
- Network
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HBO
- Directors
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Jeremiah Zagar
Pros & Cons
- Thuso Mbedu’s monologue is the standout moment of the episode.
- The opening scene between Robbie and Maeve immediately clues us into his true motives.
- Is anyone else picking up on the vibes between Lizzie and Grasso?
