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THE<\/strong> PERFORMER<\/strong> | Tom Pelphrey<\/p>\n THE<\/strong> SHOW<\/strong> | HBO\u2019s Task<\/em><\/p>\n More from TVLine<\/strong><\/p>\n THE<\/strong> EPISODE<\/strong> | \u201cNobody\u2019s Stronger Than Forgiveness\u201d\u00a0(Sept. 21, 2025)<\/p>\n THE PERFORMANCE<\/strong> | As we learned with Mare of Easttown<\/em>, creator Brad Ingelsby isn\u2019t interested in writing cookie-cutter good guys and bad guys. His good guys have plenty of flaws, and his bad guys have their redeeming qualities, too. In Task<\/em>, Tom Pelphrey\u2019s Robbie may be a thief and a killer, but he also tugs on our heartstrings, thanks to Pelphrey\u2019s deeply felt performance. This week, he commanded our attention as Robbie dropped the tough-guy persona and opened up about what\u2019s driving his latest crime spree.<\/p>\n Pelphrey wasted no time in laying Robbie\u2019s emotions bare. In a powerful scene that opened the episode, with Robbie in the car with his niece Maeve, he plainly laid out why he targeted the Dark Hearts: to get revenge for them killing his brother Billy. Pelphrey\u2019s eyes watered and his voice quaked as Robbie recalled the men responsible for Billy\u2019s death daring to show up for his funeral: \u201cJayson shook my hand with the same hand he used to beat your father\u2019s brains in.\u201d Robbie saw the stolen drugs as a just (if insufficient) payment for his brother\u2019s life, and he exploded with rage when Maeve suggested Jayson would come after him next, with Pelphrey tapping into a primal energy, pounding on his chest and bellowing, \u201cLet that motherf\u2013ker come and shake my hand!\u201d But when Maeve reminded him he still had a life worth living, Robbie visibly softened, Pelphrey\u2019s eyebrows arching in surrender as Robbie confessed how exhausting his existence had become: \u201cI\u2019m f\u2014king tired of that life.\u201d<\/p>\n Later, Robbie worked hard to unload the drugs he suddenly had on his hands, and Pelphrey let us see the absolute mountain of pressure weighing down on Robbie\u2019s shoulders. Then his eyes got wide and dreamy as Robbie opened up to Cliff about his dreams of escaping to Canada. But we keep coming back to that scene in the car, which just underlined how fascinating a character Pelphrey has created in Robbie \u2014 and how damn riveting Task<\/em> has become each week.<\/p>\n Scroll down to see who got Honorable Mention shout-outs this week<\/strong>\u2026<\/p>\nHONORABLE MENTION: David Giuntoli<\/h2>\n