This post contains spoilers from Task episode 2 on HBO from this point forward.
In the series premiere episode of Task, Robbie's (Tom Pelphrey) mission to steal money from the Dark Hearts gang found himself and his friend Cliff (Raúl Castillo) in an unexpectedly sticky situation. When their latest robbery goes wrong, it results in a triple murder and the kidnapping of the murdered couple's young son Sam. Little to they know, the FBI's task force is hot on their trail.
Following Robbie's decision to bring Sam home with him, he's oddly cool-headed as Cliff panics about what's going to happen to them. Robbie assimilates Sam into his home under the guise of watching a friend's child. Not to mention, they discover that what they assumed was a bag full of money lifted from the Nance household is actually an obscene amount of fentanyl.
The threat of getting caught by Tom (Mark Ruffalo) and his ace task force continues to close in on him, especially after Robbie's niece Maeve (Emilia Jones) discovers the truth and attempts to solve their problem. Unfortunately, their problems have only grown exponentially. Task episode 2 drops a huge twist and reveals the truth about Tom's family traumatic family matters.
What happened to Tom's wife and son?
While leading a task force to uncover what's going on with the Dark Hearts gang and the robberies, Tom also balances having to deal with his son Ethan's legal matters. His oldest daughter Sara (Phoebe Fox) arrives in town with her baby in time for Ethan's sentencing and the possibility of family statements. It's clear that she's not exactly close or warm to her family.
During a family meeting, Sara bristles at the suggestion of testifying on Ethan's behalf, which Emily seems to want to do. It's revealed during this conversation that Sara is Tom's biological daughter and Emily and Ethan were adopted. The reason Ethan is in legal trouble is because he's responsible for their mother Susan's death. He wasn't taking his medication and pushed her down the stairs.
Sara still shows unfair aggression toward Emily over the adoption with her obvious belief that only Sara lost a mother that day. Emily storms out of the house after Sara's unkind words, and the Brandis family hasn't made any progress on the unfortunate situation. Leading into the next episode, we're left to wonder how Ethan's hearing will go and whether Sara will come around.
Maeve gives the cops the wrong tip on Sam
Beyond the revelations about Tom's family and the mounting trouble Robbie's gotten himself into, there were other revelations in episode 2. For starters, we learned that Robbie's mission to rob the Dark Hearts gang started after his brother, a member of the gang, was killed by fellow members. Additionally, the task force realizes that the robber has an inside man in the Dark Hearts.
We don't know who Robbie's contact is just yet, but he does secretly communicate with someone in the gang. Could it be Jayson (Sam Keeley)? They both have the same flip phone, and Jayson gets a stern talking to by the gang's leader, Perry (Jamie McShane). While that's on a low boil, Maeve realizes something's up and googles the Nances, connecting Sam to his killed parents.
Since she realized that Robbie was involved in their murder and kidnapped Sam, Maeve decides to drive Sam to local store late at night. She tells him she will meet him inside, but she drives away to her place of work, swipes a phone from the lockers, and calls 9-1-1 with an anonymous tip about seeing the boy. However, she discovers Sam returned to her car just as police have set up checkpoints. (Didn't she think Sam would name all of them to the cops if her plan had worked?)
She instructs Sam to hide in the truck, but the cops are checking trunks as cars leave the parking lot. When it's Maeve's turn at the checkpoint, she distracts the cop's request to open the truck with a false tip that she saw a lost kid inside of KJ's. Tom then questions her about what she saw. He asks her to park her car and come inside to look at a lineup of children. When she identifies the wrong kid, Tom knows it's a "bum tip" and releases everyone.
Unsuccessful in her attempt to remove Sam from their lives, Maeve comes back home with the kidnapped boy and simply asks Robbie, "What have you done to us?" It won't be long before someone catches them with Sam. Beyond the Sam situation, everything has gotten messier. The Dark Hearts attack Peaches' family upon learning about his role in the robbery, and oh... there's still a mole.
Task airs new episodes Sundays at 9/8c on HBO and HBO Max.