Diksha Sundriyal
HBO’s ‘Task’ follows Tom Brandis, an FBI agent who is put in charge of a task force that is supposed to apprehend the robbers who have been raiding the drug houses of a biker gang named Dark Hearts. With the robbers and the gang, Tom and his team already have too much on their plate, which is why he becomes more concerned when he is told that someone is passing off info to the gang. He is advised to trust no one, which puts suspicion on everyone in the team. Interestingly, the fourth episode turns the suspicion towards someone entirely unexpected. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Kathleen is a Strong Contender for Being the Mole
When told about a mole in his team, Tom Brandis immediately looks towards the people who are working under him. To be fair, he doesn’t really know any of them. In fact, the team was made before he was abruptly put in charge, which means that he wasn’t even part of the vetting process. So, it is natural for him to be suspicious of all of them. However, while he looks at them closely, his connection with Kathleen McGinty creates a blind spot, due to which he might not be able to see what has been right in front of him all this time. At the beginning of the show, when Kathleen hands over the team to Tom, she tells him that she is being forced to retire.
She says it’s because the bosses want to bring in new blood, but there is a chance that the reason could be entirely something else. Could it be that a shocking secret of hers came to light, surprising enough to have her fired, but also scandalous in a way that she couldn’t be fired immediately, but had to be slowly pushed out, so that no one got suspicious? There is a chance that she and some of her superiors have been involved with the Dark Hearts, which explains how the gang has thrived so well for so long. They probably have a deal with the FBI, or at least some of its officers. It could be that something went wrong, and Kathleen was chosen to be the fall guy, so now she is being forced to retire, but not without making a fuss, because her bosses wouldn’t want her to name names.
Another possibility is that Kathleen has been working with the gang alone. There would have been plenty of chances for her to make a deal with them in her long career. Or maybe, she really is being forced to retire because someone younger is supposed to take over, which made her angry enough to compromise her integrity and turn towards other means of making a quick buck. Or, perhaps the gang has something incriminating on her, and the early retirement is her way of getting out of that deal without causing any damage to her career and reputation.
Kathleen Could be a Distraction to Hide the Real Mole
The suspicion of Kathleen is established in the fourth episode, where Tom discusses the possibility of a mole within the ranks with her. She not only tries to dismiss it, but also says that it might be someone of a lower rank. That, however, seems somewhat unlikely because Jayson knew about the task force before they collaborated with any other department. This means that it was Tom, the three officers, and Kathleen, as far as we know, who knew about the force. The gang leader also mentions that the information trickles down to them, which suggests that the source might not be someone so close to the investigation that they keep him frequently updated, but it is someone close enough to be updated on the details regularly. Kathleen is perfectly placed for this situation, which might explain the delay in getting information, which then trickles down to the gang.
And then there is the call. When Tom walks out of the room after discussing the mole, she calls someone, saying that they might have a problem. Interestingly, in this scene, Tom gives her details of the trap for Cliff, and a couple of scenes later, Jayson says that their informant came through and gave them details about where Cliff is going to be. This becomes even more suspicious when Cliff is given a completely different location, so that he never shows up in the park where the cops are waiting for him. Instead, he is found by Jayson and the gang, who kill him. While Tom laments the failure of the mission, we see Kathleen looking at him from a distance, which makes her look even more suspicious.
She could also, however, be a red herring. We don’t know whom she called when Tom left the room. It could be someone placed higher than her, someone who might have more authority to quietly conduct an investigation on the mole. When she talked about the problem they had, she could simply have been talking about the team. When she looks at Tom in the end, after the trap for Cliff fails, it could be that she now believes Tom’s suspicions, which she had previously tried to explain away, saying that the mole couldn’t be someone on the team. Perhaps, she was simply concerned for him.
There are three more episodes left to clear this mystery, and it could very well be that the mole is someone who has been able to stay out of sight and out of mind, someone seemingly insignificant, but important enough to know the details of the case. There is also a strong suspicion about the three officers. Could Lizzie’s incompetence be a facade to hide her betrayal? Could Aleah’s stoicism be a tool to fool her team? Or is it Grasso, who seems the most likely person to be the mole so far? Though Grasso being the mole would be disappointing, because that would make Fabien Frankel play yet another good-guy-turned-bad in an HBO series. In any case, the mole’s identity must be uncovered soon, especially if Tom wants to get to Robbie before the gang does.
Read More: Task: Who is the Rat in Dark Hearts?
You must be logged in to post a comment.