TV Talk: ‘Mare of Easttown’ writer trades whodunnit for collision course in HBO’s ‘Task’

Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers a viewing tip for the coming week.

HBO’s “Task” isn’t a sequel to “Mare of Easttown,” but it is a worthy spiritual successor.

Like “Mare,” the seven-episode “Task” (9 p.m. Sept. 7; streams on HBO Max) is set in eastern Pennsylvania, where the “Delco accent” drips from characters’ lips as they visit a Rita’s for “water ice” (sounds like: “wuter ice”).

Brad Ingelsby, who created and wrote “Mare,” is the creator/writer/showrunner for “Task,” which follows perpetually downbeat FBI agent Tom Brandis (Mark Ruffalo) as he returns to the field to head up a task force to stop a string of violent burglaries.

Like Kate Winslet’s character in “Mare,” Tom has personal problems aplenty. A former priest, Tom drinks too much and has a complicated family life. He’s been on the FBI career fair circuit since a family tragedy occurred.

“Task” tells a bifurcated story as it tracks Tom and his motley crew of new FBI task force recruits and as it follows Robby (Tom Pelphrey, “Banshee”), the leader of the robbery gang that gets in deeper than intended by the end of the series premiere.

Ingelsby, a writer on the Christian Bale movie “Out of the Furnace” that filmed in Pittsburgh, broadens the lens even further in later episodes as he adds a motorcycle gang to the mix. That gang was responsible for the murder of Robby’s brother, the father of Robby’s niece, Maeve (Emelia Jones, “Coda”), who’s now pretty much raising Robby’s kids.

There are no white hats and few black hats in “Task;” all the players are mostly gray hats, morally complicated characters with layers. That includes Martha Plimpton (“Sprung”), always a great addition to any series, as Tom’s crusty FBI boss.

“Task” proves engrossing and propulsive throughout, a smart, generally sophisticated crime drama, although there are a few too many moles and turncoats that detract from a story that otherwise feels authentic.

One thing “Task” does best is manage the story’s climax and its fallout. Rather than wrap large aspects of the story in the final hour, a lot goes down in the penultimate episode, giving more space for thoughtful character and relationship denouements. In addition, some of the themes it explores (“Be unselfish with your love,” a priest tells Tom) are deeper and richer than what we get in most TV shows.

In a virtual press conference Sept. 2, Ingelsby said after “Mare” he knew he didn’t want to make another whodunnit, but he did want to return to Eastern Pa., where he grew up.

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“When I came up with the characters of Tom and Robby, I felt like, what’s the engine that’s going to join these guys or carry them through the story? I knew it couldn’t be a whodunnit because ‘Mare’ was, so I felt maybe the tension can be a collision course,” Ingelsby said. “Once I started to put those pieces together, I wanted to tell another story in Delco. It’s in my blood. It’s the people I know and the people I care about and the way I grew up. I feel a certain ownership of that and an obligation to tell it. If I’m going to go back into Delco, I want to make sure I’m telling (a story) with the same level of complexity and care we did in ‘Mare.’ ”

Ingelsby acknowledged the cat-and-mouse element to “Task,” but he said his goal was for it to be elevated in a specific way.

“What I hope separates the show is the level of care we give to all the characters … not just the cops but the criminals,” he said. “It is a cat-and-mouse, but it’s also a drama about lives under pressure, people who are backed into a corner, who don’t have choices. As an audience, you don’t have to agree with all the decisions that are being made on screen, but you can understand why they’re being made.”

Ingelsby said he tries to lead with “compassion and empathy” for every character. He sees empathy as Tom’s superpower.

“When I talked to Mark (Ruffalo) about his character, I said, ‘Listen, there’s nothing particularly special about you as an FBI agent. You’re not the first guy through the door. You’re not good with a gun. You’re not going to walk into a room and pick up clues that other people miss. … What makes you interesting is you’re approaching the job from a unique spot: Tom was a theologian. He was in the seminary. He ran a parish. He had people come into his confessional booth. That job is a job of service.’ What is that character like as an FBI agent?” Ingelsby said. “That’s what I was interested in with Tom Brandis. He wasn’t the hard-charging detective. He was a guy that is constantly searching for good in people. When (Tom and Robby) eventually collide, it’s what makes that connection work.”

Regarding the Delco accent, actors Pelphrey and Jones said they each worked with a dialogue coach. Jones, a native of London, England, went to Delco bars and struck up conversations she recorded to have practice material. Pelphrey chatted with a crew member’s cousin who has “the full accent,” but it also wasn’t as much of a stretch for the New Jersey native.

“I say ‘wuter’ in life, and if I say it different than that, I feel like I’m lying,” Pelphrey said. “Some sounds are just gonna be with me no matter where I go.”