Diksha Sundriyal
The second episode of HBO’s ‘Task’ leaves the characters on a tense note as Maeve comes to the brink of giving up Sam to the cops and dooming her uncle, Robbie, in the process. The third episode begins with both of them confronting their new reality. It also makes some major revelations and ends on an even more uncertain note as a new mystery is set up, raising the stakes of the investigation, the answers to which hold the power to change the whole game. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Robbie’s Secret Informant in Dark Hearts Shows Their Face
The episode opens with Robbie and Maeve talking about how he has messed everything up for his children. She asks him what he was thinking when he decided to target Dark Hearts, which leads him to open up about the grief for his brother and the anger about how Jayson showed up at Billy’s funeral, acting as if nothing had happened. He doesn’t want to let the gang and their leader get away with what they did to his brother, but the look in Maeve’s eyes reveals that her uncle has made things so much worse than before. The next morning, Robbie gets a call from his source in Dark Hearts and is asked to come to their regular meeting spot. At the same time, Maeve goes through her father’s pictures and comes across one where he is with Eryn.
The fact that Eryn is the mole is confirmed when Robbie and Cliff show up at the rendezvous point and are greeted by Eryn, who had an affair with Billy, which was the reason he was killed. While Robbie hugs her warmly, Cliff is not so welcoming. He blames her for the mess that took place in their last heist, leading to Peaches’ death and leaving them with a young boy to take care of and twelve kilos of. Eryn defends herself by saying that she had no idea the deal did not happen, or that Sam was still there. She asks Robbie to calm Cliff down, but he points out that his partner freaks out, as they have landed in quite a pickle. He asks her to help them with the fentanyl, but she tells him not to sell it yet. Dark Hearts are waiting for them to make a move, and now is not a great time.
She also mentions that the robbery has ruined Jayson’s reputation, and there is a good chance that the upper brass will kick him out soon. They just have to wait a little longer, and they will have their revenge for what was done to Billy. Despite Eryn’s warnings, Robbie and Cliff are desperate, and they decide to find a way to move the fentanyl themselves. Meanwhile, Anthony and Tom show up at the Dark Hearts’ regular haunt to talk to Jayson and are joined by Perry. The feds reveal that the gun used in the crime is the same one that was used at a shooting in 2017, which involved Dark Hearts and a rival gang. This means that the gun belongs to someone from the gang. Perry and Jayson don’t show any signs of wanting to help and try to intimidate the officers. However, the information does make them pause.
Robbie and Cliff Make a Major Mistake
At the task force base, Kathleen McGinty shows up to take stock of the situation, revealing that the new development in the case has made her bosses eager to solve the case as quickly as possible. At the bar, Eryn tries to keep her calm. Perry, on the other hand, is directed towards a gang member named Shane, whose wife has talked about how his behaviour has suddenly changed in the past couple of days. This makes Perry wonder if Shane is the rat, and perhaps his guilt and fear are making him act out. Elsewhere, Maeve takes Sam out, and they spend some time together in nature. When she asks him to swim in the water, he reveals that he doesn’t know how. She tells him how her father threw her into the pool in a bid to teach her how to swim, but she is not going to do the same to Sam. She takes him to the water and gently lets him float while talking with him.
Her moment of peace stands in contrast to Emily, who has gone to meet Ethan. She tries to cheer him up, asking him about how he is and if he’s made any friends. She tells him that Tom asks about him all the time, but he points out that Tom came to drop off his suit but didn’t bother to come inside, so it is a little difficult to believe that he cares. In the meantime, with the fentanyl being their only lead, Jayson and Perry decide to talk to Freddy Frias, as he would be the logical choice for someone wanting to move the fentanyl. They try to assert dominance even as Freddy wonders why he should do them the favor of finding their thief when he could simply use the fentanyl to push them out of the market. He tells them an anecdote where he learned early on that the color of his skin would be enough for people to hate him and not want to work with him.
Freddy points out that racism is the only reason Dark Hearts are still in the game, even though Freddy has a better product. He asks them for a 50-50 cut in the fentanyl, and from his words, it is clear that Jayson and Perry have no other choice. Luckily, Cliff and Robbie know that going to Freddy would be anticipated, so they try to find back channels to move the product. They go to meet Ray, Cliff’s acquaintance from prison. His first instinct is to suggest Freddy, but when Robbie says they don’t want to go through the regular channels, he realizes they are selling stolen stuff. He tells them that the Colombians are the next logical choice and offers to set up a meeting for them. Unfortunately for Cliff and Robbie, sharing the fact that they have twelve kilos of stolen fentanyl with a man like Ray becomes a huge mistake.
The Task Force Takes a Major Step in the Investigation
That night, Ray and his wife, Shelley, go to Cliff’s house to rob him of the fentanyl, but that’s not the worst part. Earlier that day, Lizzie and Aleah went to Peaches’ workplace to find more leads. The promise of a reward leads one of his colleagues to come forward and reveal how Peaches talked big, and when he called the man out for his big ideas about buying expensive stuff, Peaches bragged about all the money he was making from robbing houses. He also namedropped Cliff Broward, which becomes a major lead for the officers. That night, as Ray and Shelley look through Cliff’s house for the fentanyl, Tom and his team barge into the house. A chase ensues where Aleah apprehends Shelley, while Lizzie and Tom corner Ray.
While Tom tussles with a masked Ray, Lizzie loses her nerve and cannot shoot him. This leads Ray to push Tom down the stairs while he runs away. Lizzie chases after him, but he runs again because she cannot shoot him. In the end, Anthony steps in, and the criminal is caught. At the foot of the stairs, a wounded Tom has a vision of his wife, Susan. Aleah helps him up as the SWAT team arrives. Tom doesn’t hide his anger and disappointment in Lizzie, but he has work to do. Aleah is set on Shelley to make her talk, while Anthony and Tom corner Ray. At first, Ray claims that he was in the house planning a surprise for his friend. Meanwhile, Aleah recognises the signs of domestic violence with Shelley, and shares her own story about how her partner hit her so hard that she ended up breaking her eye socket.
She promises to protect Shelley from Ray, so the woman tells them everything about the meeting with Cliff. Armed with this information, Tom goes back to Ray, and this time, the man confesses to everything in return for getting the charges against him dropped. He reveals that he told Cliff he would set up a meeting with the Colombians. Since the news of Ray’s arrest hasn’t gone out yet, the feds decide to use the meeting to catch Cliff and his accomplice, who remains unnamed so far. Before leaving, Tom tells Ray that while he will not charge him for any other crime, he will charge him with assaulting a federal officer, which stands in violation of his parole conditions, which means he is going back to prison.
A Major Bombshell is Dropped on Tom
Still disappointed in herself for freezing and letting Tom get hurt, Lizzie is in a vulnerable spot. She asks Anthony to have a drink with him, but clarifies that she is not asking him out. After a few drinks, she tells him about how she froze, and he points out that everyone freezes at some point. She reveals that her problem is that she freezes all the time. Around the same time, the officers from Lizzie’s station show up, and they mock her about being with the task force and tell her to stay there for as long as she wants. She is embarrassed by the encounter, following which Anthony decides to cheer her up by publicly talking about what a great job she is doing with the task and how critical she is to the investigation.
At home, Tom has a talk with Sara where he confesses that he can never forgive Ethan for killing Susan. Sara points out that this is something that he should talk about with Emily, while also revealing how much she hates that things have gotten bad between her and her sister. To make matters worse, Emily overhears the conversation, establishing her belief that her brother is on his own, and maybe, so is she. That night, he dreams about Susan and how happy they were on the day they welcomed Ethan and Emily home.
The next day, Tom is informed that crucial information from the investigation has been leaked to Dark Hearts, which means that there is a mole amongst them. When asked if he vetted all the officers working with him, he says that he never got the chance to vet them because he inherited the team the day before he met them, as the case was supposed to be headed by someone else. The question of the mole raises new concerns for Tom as he is asked not to trust anyone until the truth about the betrayer is revealed.
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