‘Task’ Star Breaks Down Robbie & Tom’s Tense Car Ride in Episode 5

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Task, Season 1 Episode 5, “Vagrants.”]

Task‘s latest episode put Robbie Prendergast (Tom Pelphrey) on a collision course, careening with the FBI’s Tom Brandis (Mark Ruffalo) and the Dark Hearts, as a path of escape for his criminal pursuits closed in, “Vagrants.”

The installment found Robbie frantic as he tried locating Cliff (Raúl Castillo) following his run-in with the Dark Hearts, and after a meet-up with Erin (Margarita Levieva), it was clear to him that Jayson (Sam Keeley) was the culprit responsible for Cliff’s absence and apparent demise. Robbie also sought out a way to sell the drugs he’d stolen from the gang, opting to team with Shelley (Mickey Sumner) to offload the goods in exchange for cash.

Putting himself in danger, Robbie met with dealer Freddie Frias (Elvis Nolasco) to come to a deal. Eventually, Robbie went home to find Maeve (Emilia Jones) had taken Sam (Ben Doherty), and we learn she’s turned him into the FBI, cooperating with the feds. But that wasn’t before Dark Hearts boss Perry (Jamie McShane) showed up to look around the property, claiming he needed to grab some items that belonged to her dad.

Peter Kramer / HBO

With the walls essentially closing in, Robbie prepared to leave the house, but was met by Tom Brandis in the driveway, who claimed he was there to seek out Maeve in regards to her father Billy’s cold case. He talks his way into the house and is communicating with task force member, Anthony Grasso (Fabien Frankel), unaware he’s a crooked agent, but their texts are interrupted when Tom is sent a sketch resembling Robbie as the suspect who kidnapped Sam.

Robbie holds a gun to Tom’s head and forces him into his car, taking him hostage, as they drive down the highway. Robbie and Tom’s discussion revolves around life after death and their views of the world. All the while, Robbie tells Tom about everything he knows, ranging from Jayson being responsible for Billy and Cliff’s deaths to him hitting houses in retaliation for his brother’s loss.

The candid conversation occurs while Robbie has a gun to Tom’s back, but as he directs the FBI agent down a dirt road, he instructs him towards a lake and asks that Tom make sure Maeve isn’t held responsible for his actions, freeing the agent and continuing on his own path. When Tom gets in touch with his team, they pick him up, and they track the car Robbie took through the satellite radio. Little do most of the agents know, apart from Grasso, that the Dark Hearts are also in pursuit of Robbie, and everything is about to converge.

As Tom calls out to Robbie from the edge of a river, the Dark Hearts have also closed in, but what’s next? Only time will tell. As for Robbie finally colliding with Tom, Pelphrey tells TV Insider, “it’s such a beautiful juxtaposition. One of the things I was struck by between Robbie and Tom is that here you have this ex-priest who’s, in a very real way, grappling with loss of faith, what faith means, and his own understanding of god. On the other hand, you have Robbie who, in a strange way, lives in faith.”

Viewers get a taste of this in the opening and closing moments, in which Robbie takes water and rubs it on his chest, a practice he and his brother took up before jumping into the cool waters of the quarry to swim in the winter months. While he claimed he did it to keep from having his heart explode, the action is more loaded in the final minutes as he seems to get ready for whatever action is ahead.

“Now, he says he doesn’t believe in God, so he’s not living in a sort of religious faith, but he’s constantly saying things happen for a reason, and he’s acting like things happen for a reason,” Pelphrey explains of Robbie’s approach. “I found that to be more of a subtle way that they’re kind of an interesting opposite side of the same coin, Tom and Robbie.”

For episode director and executive producer Jeremiah Zagar, things were a little trickier behind the scenes than they appear onscreen. “A hard scene was the scene in the car with Robbie and Tom just because it was like 99 degrees and they didn’t have any air conditioning and they were sweating bullets and the equipment was bumping around,” he reveals. “Sometimes the things that seem easy are often incredibly difficult.”

Despite external challenges with heat and cameras in small spaces, Zagar credits Pelphrey and Ruffalo with delivering emotionally during that key moment. “That scene is the core of the show. I think that’s what you’re waiting for the entire season, in some ways, and that scene has to pay off in its utter simplicity,” Zagar points out. “It’s a testament to Mark and to Tom. They’re such incredible actors, and they lived in those characters’ skin for so long.”

See what’s next for Tom and Robbie as Task continues on HBO, and let us know what you thought of the heart-pounding episode’s ending in the comments section.

Task, Sundays, 9/8c, HBO and HBO Max

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