It’s Fall and the weather is changing. The days are getting shorter, the air is crisp, and you just want to go home, curl up with a mug of hot chocolate, and watch a bunch of FBI agents hunt down a masked syndicate who are going around robbing the good, clean folks of Philadelphia.
Enter Task, starring our beloved Hulk, Mark Ruffalo, as Tom Brandis, the disenchanted lead for the task force set to take down these villains in the new seven-episode crime drama series airing on HBO in September. The series was written by the same genius hands that produced the Mare of Easttown, Brad Ingelsby, and with HBO arguably being in its crime drama renaissance, this series is sure to pack all the emotional punch and give all the gritty insight into the world of criminal activity that we could ever need.
An All-Star Cast
When you have a huge name like Mark Ruffalo on the bill, it might seem hard to bring in co-stars that won’t be overshadowed, but with Brad Ingelsby’s expertly crafted characters and HBO’s brilliant casting, it seems as though they might be onto something incredible.
Alongside Mark Ruffalo are such names as Tom Pelphrey, Martha Plimpton, Emilia Jones (CODA), Fabien Frankel (House of the Dragon), Phoebe Fox, Raul Castillo, and more. The trailer shows off more than just Ruffalo’s stellar acting as well, giving plenty of cast members little moments to shine, and they all pull you right into the story as if you’re living on those blue-collar streets of Philadelphia yourself.
The performances of these marvellous actors are only enhanced by the authenticity that Ingelsby insists on for his story. He allegedly brought in a large team of technical advisors, including an ex-priest turned FBI agent, like Bradis, the chief of police for the Easttown Township in Chester County, and a biker, so that he could make sure everything seemed as organic as possible. It’s going to be really exciting watching these episodes, knowing how much work has gone into it to make it something that feels so real.
One Man’s Trash…
In an interview with Vanity Fair, Ingelsby confirmed that Mark Ruffalo’s character was inspired by an uncle of his who happened to be a former priest. Ingelsby was inspired to create a character who was both logical and spiritual when he learnt that priests sometimes helped the FBI at mass casualty events. The character grew from there, becoming an ex-priest like Ingelsby’s uncle, an active FBI agent, and someone who was grappling with an event set to shake the foundations of his faith.
Ingelsby also spoke about the creation of Tom Pelphrey’s character, the ringleader of the robbers breaking into the various drug-addled houses around his neighbourhood, as he deals with trying to manage his own broken home. Ingelsby says:
Mail carriers and trashmen are two people that know a lot about your life, but you kind of ignore them. They’re invisible, but they get your bills and your mail and they go through your trash.
As the story progresses, Mark Ruffalo and Pelphrey are inextricably brought together to engage in a final clash that will pit the brokenness of their lives against each other. Ingelsby explained that he wants the audience to love both characters, to root for both characters as they spiral towards this final conflict and the emotional pique of the narrative. It’s a philosophy very much inspired by Heat, the 1995 thriller starring Al Pacino and Robert De Niro.
…Another Man’s Treasure
With Fall right around the corner, Task really does look like it’s going to be the perfect crime drama to sip on that hot chocolate to. You just can’t go wrong with a cast list as stacked as this and Mark Ruffalo leading the charge. The story is as solid as you might expect from the writer who produced The Mare of Easttown, and the promised clash between Mark Ruffalo and Tom Pelphrey sounds like it’s going to be one of those memorable inevitabilities that brings endless satisfaction.
As Brad Ingelsby himself says, ‘they cannot co-exist,’ so let’s see what the seven-episode series has in store for us when it airs in September.
