‘Task’ Creator Explains Why Tom Had to Make That Choice in the Finale: ‘I’m Sure We’ll Get Some Pushback’

Note: The following story contains spoilers for the “Task” finale.

As early as August, “Task” creator Brad Ingelsby was anticipating some potential pushback on a specific choice in the HBO drama’s finale episode. The original crime drama series came to an explosive head in Episode 6, which saw Tom Pelphrey’s Robbie die of his gunshot wounds and the case for Tom’s (Mark Ruffalo) FBI task force seemingly at a conclusion.

But in “Task” Episode 7, the finale, Tom pushes to root out the mole in his task force while Ingelsby’s drama puts a sharp focus on the emotional arc at the heart of Ruffalo’s character: his fostering of Sam.

By the episode’s end, Tom has decided to adopt out Sam rather than adopt the boy himself, instead turning his focus to repairing his relationship with his own son Ethan, who accidentally killed his wife.

“I’m sure we’ll get some pushback because I felt like an audience would want Tom to keep the kid, but I felt really, really passionate that he couldn’t keep the kid,” Ingelsby told TheWrap ahead of the show’s launch. “That’s not what the show was about. This was about a guy who had to get the home ready for his son, and if he kept Sam, then we were betraying what the show was about, in a way.”

Ingelsby compared the theme of “Task” to that of his prior HBO hit series “Mare of Easttown,” which ended by providing emotional closure for Kate Winslet’s character.

“I felt really strongly that ‘Mare of Easttown’ was a show about a woman who stubbornly wouldn’t confront the death of her son. She was throwing herself into all situations not to confront the death of her son, so the ending, to me, was she literally has to go and confront the death of her son,” he said. “And for me, the end of ‘Task’ was I’ve gotta open the door to my son. I can’t forgive him. It’s so painful to me. I can’t do this thing. And then it’s through the journey of the case and his interactions with Robbie, and Robbie sacrificing himself to give his family this hope for a future that Tom ultimately comes around and says, ‘You know what, as much as I want this kid, I have to recommit to my son, and I’m scared about what’s going to happen when he comes home because my wife’s not here, and Emily is going to be in college, and I’m terrified, but I have to open the door.’”

The showrunner also acknowledged that he explored every possible story avenue while plotting out the ending of “Task,” including letting Robbie live, but he decided that Robbie’s theme of sacrifice for the sake of his family would more strongly influence Tom’s decision to recommit to his own son.

Read on for our full post-mortem interview, including what could be in store for a potential “Task” Season 2. For more on the “Task” finale read our postmortem interviews with Maeve actress Emilia Jones and Grasso actor Fabien Frankel.

I wanted to ask about the construction of the season. The penultimate episode could almost serve as a finale, but the story keeps going, and it gets so much richer. It’s also only seven episodes, not eight or 10. How did you land on this construction?

Brad Ingelsby: Early on, I had this idea for the meeting in the woods. Everything leading up to that is sort of inching them closer together. The end of the fifth episode is when they’re all together in the woods, and we end on a cliffhanger. And then it was like, “OK, so what’s left to deal with after that? And how do you keep an audience?” I also felt like maybe an audience would expect the end of the show to be like, Sam is going to get turned over. So I was like, “How do we move that up a little bit? How do we still have a few emotional surprises in our pocket?” Maybe Maeve turns them in early. I’m always trying to anticipate what an audience expects, and not necessarily do something different just to do something different, but is there another layer we can add on? Can we go a little deeper with the characters? 

I’m sure we’ll get some pushback because I felt like an audience would want Tom to keep the kid, but I felt really, really passionate that he couldn’t keep the kid. That’s not what the show was about. This was about a guy who had to get the home ready for his son, and if he kept Sam, then we were betraying what the show was about, in a way. I had been doing a lot of reading over the course of the show, and I’d gotten really into Thomas Merton, and Merton talks a lot about unselfish love and what it means to truly love somebody. I got really attached to that idea, so when I came to the ending with Tom and Sam, it was very much on my mind that the best thing for him to do would be to give him up. He wants to keep this kid because he really cares about him, and the kid is so sweet and you can tell they get along, but it’s not the right thing to do. The right thing is to reinvest and to make a commitment to your own son. 

It’s a heartbreaking choice but this is a show of heartbreaking choices and making those hard choices. Life doesn’t give you do-overs, and he’s trying a do-over at the expense of the son he already has.

That’s exactly right. I really felt strongly that it was a betrayal of what the show was about. And it was tempting, because you get there and you go, “Oh, the audience probably wants this to wrap up neatly,” but it’s not what the show is about. I felt really strongly that “Mare of Easttown” was a show about a woman who stubbornly wouldn’t confront the death of her son. She was throwing herself into all situations not to confront the death of her son, so the ending, to me, was she literally has to go and confront the death of her son. And for me, the end of “Task” was I’ve gotta open the door to my son. I can’t forgive him. It’s so painful to me. I can’t do this thing. And then it’s through the journey of the case and his interactions with Robbie, and Robbie sacrificing himself to give his family this hope for a future that Tom ultimately comes around and says, “You know what, as much as I want this kid, I have to recommit to my son, and I’m scared about what’s going to happen when he comes home because my wife’s not here, and Emily is going to be in college, and I’m terrified, but I have to open the door.” It felt like it just had to end there, and luckily, HBO supported that choice, and I’m really proud of how it ends.

Was there any debate over letting Maeve have the money or not? 

I think there was some discussion around it, but Maeve had been put through so much in the show, it almost felt incredibly cruel not to give her a win. Emilia is so good in this show. As we were doing the edit, I had the same reaction to Evan Peters in “Mare” like, as you get into the edit on something, you’re like, “Oh man, this is a character audiences are going to really respond to.” So to not give her a win at the end felt incredibly cruel. 

Were any alternate fates considered for Lizzie or Anthony or Robbie?

Early drafts we had Robbie living. But what really appealed to me about Robbie was the idea of sacrifice, that he realizes eventually he’s gotten himself in way over his head. When he sits down with Shelley at the top of the fifth episode, she says, “I can help you move this stuff.” It clicks in his head: “All right, I’ve now put my family in danger. I can’t do this anymore, so the one path is to lead them up there.” When we had that discovery, it felt like, “Oh, of course, Robbie has to sacrifice himself.” If Tom’s journey is forgiveness, Robbie’s journey is sacrifice. 

And I love Lizzie so much, I wanted to keep Allison. I would do a prequel with Allison Oliver. She’s one of my favorite actors, she’s just the best. But it was painful, a bit like Evan in “Mare.” We also talked about, does Grasso live or die? We had a few conversations like that. Everything’s on the table. Everyone’s fate was considered and reconsidered. 

One quick plot question, who was Martha Plimpton’s character calling earlier in the season? Because that was a little bit of a red herring like she was maybe the mole.

What we were trying to do there was she was calling the analyst guy who comes in in the next episode and goes, “Hey, remember you asked me about those people? Well, I did a little digging.” So we tried to get a little bit of a misdirect with Martha.

“Task” is billed as a drama series, not as a limited series. Are discussions underway about a potential second season?

We’ve talked but it’s kind of a let’s see how people respond. I’d love to come back and do it. I love the idea of getting a group of people together each season. 

Would it be “True Detective”-style? Like an anthology? Or some of the same characters?

I mean I’d love if we could get Martha and Ruffalo and some of the characters back. I had such a good time developing this task force this season. It excites me as a character writer, more than anything, to be like, “Who’s the group of people we get together and have to solve a case or go after a group of guys?” I’d love the opportunity to do it again. It would depend on what an audience thinks, but I’d love another run if I can get one.

This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.

The post ‘Task’ Creator Explains Why Tom Had to Make That Choice in the Finale: ‘I’m Sure We’ll Get Some Pushback’ appeared first on TheWrap.