HBO's Twisty Thriller Resurfaces on Streaming Charts Months After Its Season Finale

Three months after airing its explosive season finale, HBO's hit series Task is back on streaming charts. The twist-filled crime thriller is one of the most-watched shows on HBO Max, quickly climbing up the streamer's top ten chart. Shows that make a resurgence months after their finale are uncommon, since most see their fans' attention wane after a season concludes. However, Task was a hit for HBO when it aired, so this renewed interest hints at an untapped audience on HBO Max. According to FlixPatrol, the series is particularly popular in South America and Eastern Europe.

Task comes from Brad Ingelsby, who created the hit 2021 series Mare of Easttown starring Kate Winslet. This series also takes place in rural America and features a strong cast. "Set in the working-class suburbs of Philadelphia, an FBI agent (Mark Ruffalo) heads a Task Force to put an end to a string of violent robberies led by an unsuspecting family man (Tom Pelphrey)," the official logline reads. Emilia Jones, Jamie McShane, Sam Keeley, Thuso Mbedu, Fabien Frankel, Alison Oliver, Raúl Castillo, Silvia Dionicio, Phoebe Fox, and Martha Plimpton also star. Task was a huge success for HBO, which revised its commitment and ordered a second season despite the drama being billed as a limited series. HBO's boss Francesca Orsi praised the drama while announcing the renewal, saying,

"We knew well in advance of its launch that we had a powerful drama series on our hands, but it has been so rewarding to witness the audience’s fervor and embrace of this show as it grew week after week. Rarely does a writer balance humanistic storytelling with intricate, explosive plotting but Brad Ingelsby is one of our industry’s greats and we have no doubt he will strike as profoundly and addictively once again in Season 2."

Is 'Task' Worth Watching?

With a 96% critics' rating on Rotten Tomatoes, Task received generally positive reviews. The audience score is not far off at 76%. Collider's Carly Lane was one of the critics whose reviews were weighed. She praised the cast's performances and storyline, lauding its ability to create and dial up tension. However, she criticized its pacing, which could sometimes cause tonal whiplash. Lane wrote in her review of Task Season 1:

"Pacing-wise, Task can also be somewhat scattered. Slower melodrama is not-so-equally intertwined with erupting action, and once the investigation plot really gets going, it threatens to drown out more welcome instances of character development. However, the series' penultimate episode, written by Ingelsby and directed by Salli Richardson-Whitfield, is a masterclass in tension, as multiple parties converge on a remote area and the resulting showdown is deadly to a nigh-cataclysmic degree — the sort of hour that no one will ever be the same after witnessing. That same sentiment carries through the overall experience of watching Task itself, a crime thriller engulfed in a grittiness much more similar to Sons of Anarchy (and not just because of its antagonistic motorcycle club) than the HBO series that preceded it. Yet for all its high-intensity action, it's in the show's quieter moments where Ruffalo, Pelphrey, and the rest of the talented ensemble cast leave a lasting impression, emotional ripples that reverberate long after the initial impact has faded."

All eight episodes of Task's first season are available to stream on HBO Max in the U.S. Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.

Release Date 2025 - 2025-00-00

Network HBO

Directors Jeremiah Zagar