TASK

Streaming on: Sky/NOW

Episodes viewed: 2 of 7

Fans of Mare Of Easttown, rejoice! Creator Brad Ingelsby is back with handsome new detective drama Task — a dual-protagonist cat-and-mouse tale that starts off slow, but draws you in with its richly-drawn world, complex family dynamics, and an engaging ensemble of characters.

The show follows both FBI agent Tom Brandis (Mark Ruffalo) and garbage collector Robbie (Tom Pelphrey), simultaneously tracking the minutes and days of both of their lives as Robbie’s criminal exploits gradually draw them closer to colliding. These are two very different men — Tom is restrained, a man of faith, taken out of the field when we meet him and instead trying to recruit graduates to the Bureau. Robbie is livelier and more impulsive, making the most of the societal invisibility his job grants him to check out people’s rubbish and lead a crew that hits gang houses at just the right moment to score some cash. But they have similarities, too. Both are dealing with overwhelming grief and tension within their families, and facing extreme challenges with fatherhood. The constant juxtaposition of their experiences, with the audience’s perspective often quickly moving between the two, encourages empathy for both in equal measure.

The show does take a while to get going, but Ingelsby’s scripts uncover the traumas and motivations of the main players with care and deliberation...

Interesting as both Tom and Robbie are, it’s the people around them that make Task really sing. CODA’s Emilia Jones is mesmerising as Robbie’s spiky, frustrated niece Maeve, and House Of The Dragon’s Fabien Frankel shines as charming agent Anthony Grasso. But it’s Conversations With Friends’ Alison Oliver who stands out most as Lizzie Stover, who joins the task force in the midst of a divorce, and can be found yelling at her ex on the phone or singing along terribly to Gwen Stefani’s ‘Sweet Escape’. She’s a much-needed injection of humour in this otherwise quite dour show, sometimes feeling a bit out of place because of it, but convincing as the most chaotic member of the inexperienced task force Tom is forced to lead.

The show does take a while to get going, but Ingelsby’s scripts uncover the traumas and motivations of the main players with care and deliberation, gradually but effectively pulling you in by laying bare the vulnerabilities of people who all seem lost in their own way. The first two episodes build to excellent endings – a raid gone wrong, an attempt to do good that doesn’t work out – and overall, set up watching this series as one task you’ll be happy adding to your to-do list.