Task Episode 2 Recap: Family Statements

HBO’s ‘Task’ follows the story of an FBI Agent named Tom Brandis and Robbie, the criminal he has been tasked to capture. The previous episode ended with Robbie and Cliff, his friend and partner-in-crime, ending up in a messed-up situation where a robbery goes terribly wrong. This episode opens with the cops searching for Sam while Robbie tucks him in bed at his house, as he and Cliff look back at the events of the day and wonder how they will get out of the bind they have landed themselves in. SPOILERS AHEAD.

The Task Force Follows a Crucial Lead

While the FBI tries to piece together the events of the previous night, the Dark Hearts also get wind of what has happened. Not only have they lost three of their people, but a kid has gone missing, and there is no doubt that they have been targeted by the same crew that has been robbing their places for a while now. Meanwhile, Robbie tries to console a panicking Cliff, who is devastated over the death of their friend Peaches, while also wondering if they might have to kill the kid they’ve kidnapped. To make matters worse, they discover that they didn’t even steal money. The bag they ran away with has drugs. While Cliff seems even more unsure of what to do next, Robbie tells him to get the product sampled and confirm whether it’s fentanyl.

At the same time, Sam wakes up, and Robbie attends to him. He makes the boy breakfast while explaining that his grandma fell ill, so his parents will be out of town for a couple of days. When Sam asks how Robbie knows his parents, the latter reveals that his brother used to work with them. With Peaches being the only lead, Tom and Anthony show up at his girlfriend’s house to find out about his work colleagues. It turns out that she was entirely clueless about his crimes and never met his friends, though she might know their names. As Tom and Anthony try to make her talk more, she breaks down, and her father asks them to leave. On their way back, Tom and Anthony’s conversation leads Tom to reveal that he used to be a priest before he became an FBI agent, which shocks Anthony.

It is also revealed that his daughter, Sara, is flying in from Chicago that evening, though he doesn’t reveal that it has to do with the sentencing of his son, Ethan. Meanwhile, Emily talks to her therapist about it, expressing her concern for her brother, who had been on meds for mental illness. While she knows that he will not receive the help he needs in prison and must be let out, she also worries that he will be let out and that won’t do anyone any good either. At the safe house, Tom calls for a status meeting, where the history of the Dark Hearts is discussed. The gang is known to have dealt in drugs, but more recently, they have turned their focus towards dealing fentanyl, becoming the second largest drug dealing organisation in the region.

While the whole gang is under scrutiny, there are two people in whom the authorities are particularly interested. The first one is Jayson, a senior leader in the gang whose rise has been pretty fast, all thanks to his mentor, Perry, who is a part of what’s called the Mother Club. Perry is the one who found Jayson when he was younger and directionless, and gave him a purpose by pushing him into leadership positions, paving the path for his future within the gang. The duo is dangerous and deadly, and what makes them and their gang so effective is that they don’t leave any loose ends. Whenever there is a problem, they solve it immediately.

If they suspect that one of their own might become a liability for them, they are not hesitant about cutting them out, which is what makes the robberies targeting them even more curious. The way the gang functions, it is clear that the robbers couldn’t have found out about their hideouts and their dealings without an insider feeding them information. Clearly, there is a mole within the gang, which is good for the cops if they can find the mole in time. Anthony’s concern is that if they have deduced the presence of a mole, then the Dark Hearts must have thought of it too, and they have their own means of finding and dealing with rats.

The Dark Hearts Begin Their Search for the Robbers

Anthony’s concerns are validated when Perry shows up at Jayson’s house and chides him about losing control of his territory and his operation. He wonders if he was wrong in backing Jayson, but his protege has not given up yet. He reveals that the deal with the fentanyl never went down. The other party was delayed, so the exchange didn’t take place, which means the robbers don’t have the money. They have the fentanyl, which they will need to move fast, given that the cops and the gang are after them. He also informs Perry about the task force, which is being led by Tom Brandis, though he doesn’t seem too concerned with it. While the Dark Hearts seem up to date on the task force, Tom calls in a friend from the force to know more about the gang.

The agent reveals that the authorities have been trying to get an in with the gang, and he once approached a gang member with the intent of recruiting him. The man told the officer about an incident with another gang member who was suspected of something, though the man didn’t specify what. The gang decided to deal with it, so they called that gang member to a secluded place, and when the member arrived, they all beat him to death. The man they killed was named Billy, and when the officer talked to her daughter, she didn’t have a shadow of doubt that Jayson had something to do with her father’s death.

Unaware of what has been unfolding behind her back, Maeve busies herself at work. She takes off when she realises she has to pick her cousins up from school, and when the three of them come home, they find Sam playing around with the chickens. Robbie explains that he is the son of a friend who went out of town to care for his mother, who is on her deathbed. Though Maeve is not entirely convinced, she gives him the benefit of the doubt. At the safe house, Tom gets tired of getting unvetted tips from people who claim to know where Sam is through their psychic powers. He gives over the responsibility of vetting the tips to Aleah while he leaves to attend to family things.

While talking to Sam, Maeve realises who his parents are, and a quick Google search reveals that the cops are looking for the boy her uncle has brought home. Instead of inviting more trouble, she takes Sam to the arcade where she works, leaves him there, and then anonymously places a call to the cops. She is shocked to discover how quickly the cops arrive. But what surprises her even more is that Sam has found his way back to the car and is hiding in the backseat. Meanwhile, the Dark Hearts assemble at a bar for the wake of their dead friends, and there is clearly tension between different members. Robbie and Cliff wait at a different bar where the person who has been feeding them information is supposed to meet them to discuss what to do with the fentanyl next. However, the person doesn’t show up, revealing that they have been caught up with their boss and cannot get out of it without arousing suspicion.

Tom and His Family Have a Tough Discussion About Ethan

Tensions run high at the Brandis household when Sara arrives with her infant. The family lawyer is there as well to talk about Ethan, who has been found guilty of murder in the third degree. When Emily expresses her desire to give the family statement, Sara becomes agitated because she knows it means that Ethan will be let out early. While Emily and Tom try to explain that Ethan had been off his meds due to Covid restrictions and had been struggling mentally, Sara points out that it doesn’t excuse his pushing her mother down the stairs, with the fall breaking her neck and killing her. It’s also clear that Sara has no soft spot for Emily and doesn’t care about hurting her feelings when it comes to pointing out that she is adopted and now their mother’s real daughter.

Sara’s words anger Tom, but the family meeting has clearly ended. He is called into work to look into the tip that has been called in from the Arcade. At the safe house, Anthony teases Lizzie about her snickerdoodle email ID, and to put her at ease, he reveals that he used to be a DJ back in the day. They have a good laugh about it until they, too, find out about the tip and head towards the arcade. With Sam in the back of her car and the cops checking every vehicle, Maeve tries to throw them off by telling a cop that she saw a kid looking like Sam inside the arcade. She thinks that it will lead them away from her, but instead, Tom shows up and asks her to come inside the arcade and identify the kid. With a lineup in front of her, Maeve chooses the boy who looks the most like Sam, making the cops think that she mistook some other kid for Sam.

She is let go, but not before her details are taken down for future reference. The episode ends with the Dark Hearts finding out about Peaches and showing up at his girlfriend’s house to assault her and her father. On his way back home, Tom has a hunch, and he goes to the dugout of the school stadium to find Emily sleeping in the same spot where her brother had hidden himself a couple of years back when he had an episode at school. Meanwhile, Robbie is worried about Sam, who is not at the house. He is relieved when Maeve walks in with the boy sleeping in her arms, but he must now face up to the truth that he has put their family in grave danger.

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