{"id":49825,"date":"2025-09-29T09:45:07","date_gmt":"2025-09-29T09:45:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/49825\/"},"modified":"2025-09-29T09:45:07","modified_gmt":"2025-09-29T09:45:07","slug":"task-on-hbo-is-an-incredible-dark-and-gritty-series-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/49825\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Task&#8217; On HBO Is An Incredible Dark And Gritty Series | REVIEW"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;Task&#8221; is an unbelievably dark drama airing on HBO.<\/p>\n<p>PublishedSeptember 29, 2025 4:00 AM EDT\u2022UpdatedSeptember 28, 2025 10:17 PM EDT<\/p>\n<p>FacebookTwitterEmailCopy Link<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:left;\">HBO&#8217;s &#8220;Task&#8221; is an incredible TV series.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:left;\">Basic info:<\/p>\n<p>Network: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.outkick.com\/category\/hbo\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">HBO<\/a>\/MaxPlot: Set in the working-class suburbs of Philadelphia, an FBI agent (Mark Ruffalo) heads a Task Force to put an end to a string of violent robberies led by an unsuspecting family man (Tom Pelphrey).Cast: Mark Ruffalo, Tom Pelphrey, Emilia Jones, Jamie McShane, Sam Keeley, Thuso Mbedu, Fabien Frankel, Alison Oliver, Ra\u00fal Castillo, Silvia Dionicio, Phoebe Fox, and Martha Plimpton.Multiple episodes currently out.&#8221;Task&#8221; is television gold.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:left;\">I was interested in &#8220;Task&#8221; as soon <a href=\"https:\/\/www.outkick.com\/culture\/hbo-task-show-preview\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">as I saw the first preview and took a look at the cast<\/a>. Tom Pelphrey is criminally underrated. He was amazing in &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.outkick.com\/category\/outer-range\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Outer Range<\/a>&#8221; and &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.outkick.com\/category\/ozark\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Ozark<\/a>.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:left;\">The show premiered a couple of weeks ago on HBO, and it follows a band of criminals pulling off heists being hunted by an FBI agent (Mark Ruffalo &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.outkick.com\/analysis\/mark-ruffalo-thinks-its-racist-and-sexist-to-not-like-she-hulk-series\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">a man with some wacky views<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:left;\">I had the opportunity to finally catch the first episode (full disclosure: I&#8217;m still not entirely caught up), and I was blown away.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:left;\">This show is absurdly dark. Pelphrey leads the way as Robbie Prendergrast &#8211; a criminal who robs drug houses. He brings it every single moment he&#8217;s on-screen. It&#8217;s hard to imagine he&#8217;ll still be under-appreciated once all of &#8220;Task&#8221; airs.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:left;\">The man is outrageously talented, and he makes the show.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"668\" height=\"376\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/tom-pelphrey-raul-castillo.jpg\" alt=\"&quot;Task&quot; (Credit: HBO)\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"title\">&#8220;Task&#8221; is a new crime thriller on HBO. (Credit: HBO)<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:left;\">Without spoiling the entire series and the setup with the premiere, the first episode focuses on a specific robbery that goes terribly wrong.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:left;\">It&#8217;s brutal, bloody and fans are hit with an absolutely unexpected twist in the closing moments that lays the groundwork for all hell to break loose.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:left;\">In terms of a show that is comparable, I got a lot of similar vibes to the first season of &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.outkick.com\/category\/true-detective\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">True Detective<\/a>.&#8221; There&#8217;s nothing to smile or laugh about throughout the premiere.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:left;\">It&#8217;s all dark and conflicted characters, violence, pain, carnage and shocking.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"668\" height=\"376\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/tom-pelphrey-1.jpg\" alt=\"Task (Credit: HBO)\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"title\">&#8220;Task&#8221; is HBO&#8217;s new crime thriller. (Credit: HBO)<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:left;\">If you&#8217;re interested in content like &#8220;True Detective&#8221; and other gritty crime stories, then you&#8217;re going to love &#8220;Task.&#8221; Already watching? Let me know at David.Hookstead@outkick.com, but no spoilers! Let&#8217;s be honorable men and women.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"&#8220;Task&#8221; is an unbelievably dark drama airing on HBO. PublishedSeptember 29, 2025 4:00 AM EDT\u2022UpdatedSeptember 28, 2025 10:17&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":49826,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[156,111,139,69,437],"class_list":["post-49825","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-entertainment","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49825","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49825"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49825\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49826"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49825"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49825"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49825"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}