<\/p>\n
After the revelation that Anthony Grasso (Fabien Frankel) is the mole on last week\u2019s episode of Task<\/em>, the severity of his betrayal has now come to a head. During a tumultuous, action-packed series of events, Grasso is caught between his own FBI task force and the Dark Hearts motorcycle gang, to whom he has been feeding information. His decisions result in the death of his colleague and romantic interest, Lizzie Stover (Alison Oliver), and the suspicion of his boss, Tom Brandis (Mark Ruffalo), who has become like a father figure to Grasso. It\u2019s a devastating, and, for some, shocking turn of events \u2014 though the show\u2019s creator Brad Ingelsby says the seeds of Grasso\u2019s true allegiance have been planted all along.<\/p>\n \u201cYou want to be able to re-watch it and go, \u2018Oh, yeah, he was,\u2019\u201d Ingelsby says, speaking over Zoom. \u201cThere were things along the way so that when you get to the reveal it feels earned. One of the things we really wanted to lean into with Grasso was his loss of faith. He\u2019s really disillusioned, in a way that Tom is as well. I think when [the reveal] happens hopefully the audience can see how the institutions have failed him in some way. The things he held as truth in his life have failed him in some way. I was trying to lay it in pretty early so that when we get there it\u2019s not just a twist for the sake of having a twist.\u201d<\/p>\n More from Rolling Stone<\/strong><\/p>\n Frankel credits Ingelsby\u2019s writing for the authenticity of Grasso\u2019s circumstances, which will be further explored in the series\u2019 final two episodes.<\/p>\n \u201cHe writes incredibly intricately woven characters and enables an audience to discover them in real time without ever feeling like he\u2019s just laying in plot points,\u201d Frankel says, speaking over Zoom separately. \u201cHe does it in humane ways, like developing the relationship with Lizzie, or developing the father-son bond that Grasso has with Mark\u2019s character. All those things inform who he is. So when you find out he\u2019s the mole, you already have an understanding of him and it just re-informs your understanding.\u201d<\/p>\n The scope and ramifications of Grasso\u2019s actions come to light early on in Episode Six. After a call from Tom, the task force heads out in search of Robbie (Tom Pelphrey). A showdown among the FBI, Robbie, and the Dark Hearts ensues, with several character ending up dead. The most tragic loss is Lizzie, a conflicted member of Tom\u2019s task force who is nervous in high-intensity situations. She finally confronts her fears and is crushed to death by a speeding car driven by the Dark Hearts. Ingelsby calls the decision to kill the character \u201cheartbreaking\u201d and compares it to the unexpected loss of Evan Peters\u2019 Detective Colin Zabel midway through his prior series Mare of Easttown<\/em>.<\/p>\n \u201cI said to Fabien, \u2018Imagine you have a house of cards and you\u2019re carefully tending to it and someone\u2019s thrown all the windows open in your house and you\u2019re trying to protect it,\u2019\u201d Ingelsby says. \u201c[Grasso] needed consequences. He was able to very carefully handle this house of cards and steer the information this way. But eventually his decisions have to catch up with him. The consequence was that he was falling for this girl and he didn\u2019t save her.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt will blindside the audience, and it will be a real sad moment in the story,\u201d Frankel adds. \u201cThat\u2019s the culmination of a ton of things that have gone wrong all at once, and a vast majority of them are Grasso\u2019s fault, to a degree. Certainly he feels they\u2019re his fault. So for me [on set] it was allowing the weight of that to happen. But you<\/em> hold Alison Oliver in your arms after she\u2019s been run over by a car and try not to feel a great deal of sadness.\u201d<\/p>\n Shooting the elaborate sequence in the woods was physically challenging for the cast and logistically challenging for the crew. Ingelsby says they looked around Pennsylvania for the right bridge for months.<\/p>\n \u201cI got quite nervous because I felt like, in a way I didn\u2019t while writing it, that the whole show was leading to that moment,\u201d he says. \u201cThat became more and more palpable as we were moving into it. Like, if the whole show is leading to this big confrontation, we have to pay it off. Every character is there for a reason, doing something for a reason. Aleah is the sharpshooter. It\u2019s Lizzie\u2019s moment of courage. It\u2019s Grasso\u2019s house of cards crumbling. It\u2019s Tom finally coming out of his shell and beating up Perry. It\u2019s Robbie confronting his brother\u2019s killer, and ultimately dying at the hands of his brother\u2019s killer. All the arcs are hitting at that specific time. Emotionally, it had to work.\u201d<\/p>\n Unusually, Task<\/em> hits its big climatic moment with two more episodes yet to air. But Ingelsby wanted the story to play out without culminating in an action sequence. \u201cI felt like the show had to subvert expectations at times,\u201d he explains. \u201cAs as a viewer, if I saw these scenes, I would get excited because I would go, \u2018Oh, I thought those were going to be where the show was ending.\u2019 It braces you for something completely different. Why not do something that\u2019s unexpected and hopefully still emotional? Hopefully at the end of Episode Six, we still have enough investment from the audience to carry us through see what\u2019s going to happen in Seven.\u201d<\/p>\n Prior to Task<\/em>, Frankel was best known for his role as Ser Criston Cole on HBO\u2019s House of the Dragon<\/em>. The actor hails from London and has an extensive theater background, which may surprise some viewers of Task<\/em>. It certainly surprised Ingelsby, who says he was \u201cliterally blown away\u201d by the very particular Philadelphia accent Frankel learned for his audition.<\/p>\n \u201cI grew up a little west of Philly, but I spent a lot of time in the city, and South Philly was an area that I knew,\u201d Ingelsby says. \u201cAnd Jeremiah [Zager], our director, was actually raised in South Philly. So two of us had a very specific idea of what the character would look like and sound like. I didn\u2019t know [Fabien] is British. His audition felt like lightning, where you just go, \u2018Oh, my god. This guy he looks the part, he sounds the part, I believe him as this character.\u2019 He was the perfect choice.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHe is being very kind,\u201d Frankel says. \u201cI came in with a version of a New York accent that I did. I was just doing an impersonation of every New York cop\/gangster thing I\u2019d ever watched.\u201d<\/p>\n After his audition, Ingelsby and Frankel had a \u201clong, wine-fueled dinner\u201d together in Philadelphia. It was then Ingelsby revealed Grasso\u2019s arc to the actor. \u201cWe spoke at length about it,\u201d Frankel recalls. \u201cWe spoke in great detail about what it was going to be and who he was. Brad had such a clear idea of this person. The opening line of Brad\u2019s stage directions is something like, \u2018Grasso puts out his big paw and shakes Aleah\u2019s hand.\u2019 I knew exactly who he was from that point.\u201d<\/p>\n It was important to Ingelsby to establish Grasso as someone the audience likes. The creator gave the character several endearing moments, including when he defends Lizzie in the cop bar and the revelation that he previously performed at Catholic events as DJ Grassanova. Ingelsby hopes that despite Grasso\u2019s bad choices, the audience still likes him the end of the show \u2014 or, at least, they can understand him.<\/p>\n \u201cHis actions have caused awful things to happen to Lizzie,\u201d Ingelsby says. \u201cBut we tried to approach every character with that in mind, even Robbie. We don\u2019t agree with all the things Robbie is doing, but why is he doing them? I felt the same way about Mare of Easttown<\/em>. With Grasso, I want people to feel, \u2018I don\u2019t like what he\u2019s done and the pain he\u2019s caused and the devastation of his actions, but I can at least understand why he\u2019s done these things.\u2019 All the characters in this show, in some way, are trapped in trying to get out of circumstances they\u2019ve been both complicit in and not complicit in.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIf people hate Grasso by the end, then they hate Grasso,\u201d Frankel says. \u201cThat\u2019s what good television is, right? It\u2019s polarizing. So if people want to dislike him, then they should, and they\u2019d be in their right to. But if they want to feel the humanity in him, then they should. I don\u2019t feel the need to defend him because Brad\u2019s writing will do that on its own. When you watch Episode Seven, you\u2019ll have a much firmer understanding of what\u2019s behind the curtain.\u201d<\/p>\n At the end of Episode Six, Tom confronts Grasso, accusing him of being the mole. Grasso refuses to admit his guilt and encourages Tom to come after him. The scene wasn\u2019t in the original script; Ingelsby added it halfway through production.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s what Brad does,\u201d Frankel says. \u201cWho writes a scene of that caliber halfway through filming a show? He goes, \u2018I think we\u2019re missing a scene between Grasso and Tom, and I\u2019ve just written the scene.\u2019 It was the best piece of writing I\u2019ve ever gotten to deliver onscreen. In terms of the caliber of writing, I don\u2019t know that I\u2019ve ever gotten a scene like that. I can\u2019t really envision how the episode was prior to that scene existing.\u201d<\/p>\n For several episodes, Grasso has confided in Tom, a former priest, and clearly admires him. Ingelsby wanted there to be a scene where Grasso almost dared Tom take him down.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have to believe that Grasso has been at this for years,\u201d Ingelsby says. \u201cHe\u2019s not going to cave so easily, right? And there\u2019s a reason he\u2019s gotten away with this in the past. I wanted it to be a scene that was infused with betrayal and pain, but also Grasso digging in and saying, \u2018All right, well, let\u2019s see what you\u2019ve got, Tom.\u2019 I wanted to end the episode on a moment of tension. How is Tom going to go after Grasso, and how is Grasso going try to maintain his innocence or try to evade scrutiny? It\u2019s its own little cliffhanger.\u201d<\/p>\n Ultimately, Task<\/em> is about the power of forgiveness \u2014 a theme that carries through leading up to the finale. Tom needs to forgive his incarcerated son, and Grasso needs to forgive himself.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s such a freeing thing, the ability to forgive people,\u201d Ingelsby says. \u201cIf we could practice it in our everyday life more, I often think about how it would impact the people closest to us and and our interactions with our kids. It\u2019s such an important thing. It seems easy to talk about, but it\u2019s really, really hard for people to forgive. So why not make a show about that? If it inspires someone to be more willing to forgive, then maybe we\u2019ve done our job. To lead with compassion and kindness and to let go of the shame and the anger, then maybe we\u2019ve done something right.\u201d<\/p>\n Best of Rolling Stone<\/strong><\/p>\n Sign up for RollingStone’s Newsletter<\/a>. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook<\/a>, Twitter<\/a>, and Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.yahoo.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" After the revelation that Anthony Grasso (Fabien Frankel) is the mole on last week\u2019s episode of Task, the severity of his betrayal has now come to a head. During a tumultuous, action-packed series of events, Grasso is caught between his own FBI task force and the Dark Hearts motorcycle gang, to whom he has been […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2086830,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[382713,351336,368194,382714,357793,357792],"class_list":["post-2086829","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-anthony-grasso","tag-brad-ingelsby","tag-fabien-frankel","tag-lizzie-stover","tag-tom-brandis","tag-tom-pelphrey"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Brad-Ingelsby-and-Fabien-Frankel-on-Grassos-Tragic-Fall.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2086829","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2086829"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2086829\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2086831,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2086829\/revisions\/2086831"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2086830"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2086829"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2086829"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2086829"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}