In short
The episode is the Task finale, “Chasing Greatness,” focused on the Brandeis family’s emotional fallout and the Dark Hearts investigation reaching a final, high-stakes shootout. Key claims from the hosts: the show’s acting—especially Tom Pelfrey as Ben/“Maeve” material and Mark Ruffalo’s restrained courtroom performance—is the main legacy; the finale’s quiet, still directing elevates it; and the season’s Hall of Fame case is strong but lacks broad “water cooler buzz.” Notable examples include Ruffalo’s testimony speech (restrained, rewatch-rewarding), the kitchen bonding scene between Grasso and his sister (Frankie Grasso), and the finale’s action sequence where Grasso saves Maeve’s situation and shoots Jason. Character arcs: Tom stops drinking, reconciles with Ethan, refuses to punish Grasso, and “learns how to be a father” while ending his adoption spree; Maeve tries to escape with the kids; Perry is forced to kill Jason after being compromised by Donna; Sam is placed with a new foster family.
Guests
Joanna Robinson and Rob Mahoney (hosts).
Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.
Chapters
Tap a time to open that second in VOHosts Introduction and Context
0:05 to 1:21
Introduction of hosts Joanna Robinson and Rob Mahoney, discussing the finale of 'Task'.
“Rob, what's your ideal cookout scenario?”
Overall Impressions of 'Task' Season
1:21 to 6:15
Discussion about the first season of 'Task' and its potential for a second season.
“Did it make it to the first ballot Hall of Fame HBO?”
Character Performances and Emotional Depth
6:15 to 10:30
Detailed analysis of character performances and emotional stakes in the finale.
“But overall, this felt like it moved really, really well.”
Grasso's Character Arc and Future
10:30 to 14:00
Exploration of Grasso's character development and potential for a season two.
“The, like, Perry's death scene, the way that was shot, like, all of the nature around him I thought was really, really good.”
Grasso's Character Development
14:00 to 18:24
Exploration of Grasso's moral complexity and potential for a season two return.
“the last podcast yeah that was like an evil you had some strong words Bill I was upset and we said heading into episode seven.”
Future of Task Season Two
18:24 to 21:32
Speculation on the direction and structure of the upcoming season.
“He becomes a consultant now to help them try to solve this underworld.”
The Final Shootout Analysis
21:41 to 28:00
Detailed breakdown of the final shootout and character arcs leading to the conclusion.
“See our seven-day return policy at Carvana.com.”
Perry's Final Arc and Lessons Learned
28:00 to 29:58
Discussion on Perry's character arc, his actions, and the lessons derived from his story.
“You don't want to start with Gertie, who will never know peace, I guess, because there's always shit going down in the chicken coop?”
Tom's Journey and Emotional Growth
29:58 to 31:58
Exploration of Tom's character development, including his struggles and lessons learned about fatherhood.
“What was the scene when Donna and Maeve had a huge bonding situation?”
Faith and Moral Dilemmas
31:58 to 34:10
Analysis of the show's themes surrounding faith, morality, and the complexities of character decisions.
“I mean, maybe Jason's kids are now orphans.”
Show all 22 chapters
Grasso's Redemptive Arc
34:10 to 37:53
An in-depth look at Grasso's character arc, including his motivations and the impact of his past actions.
“I like that character finding those beats of just sort of like what feels right, even though it's not sort of like big letter of the law, you know, correct, but it feels like the right thing to do.”
Maeve's Final Actions and Fate
37:53 to 40:20
Discussion of Maeve's attempts to escape and her relationship dynamics leading to the finale.
“with apologies to any Michael Dorseys who might be listening, like a great corrupt cop name.”
Final Reflections and Series Connections
40:20 to 42:04
Reflections on the series' conclusion, themes, and connections to other works.
“Maeve's final arc tries to escape with the kids when she gets the word, forgets the car keys.”
Character Dynamics and Final Scenes
42:04 to 42:54
Discussion on character interactions and memorable final moments in the series.
“Also, I just love that Harper used the same move Maeve did, which is like, crawl through this into the trunk, small boy, so you will be, this is like a family move.”
Sam's Arc and New Family Dynamics
42:54 to 43:46
Exploration of Sam's journey and his new family situation.
“You know, there's Sam who is living damaged and sensitively and trying to cope with the loss of his parents.”
Emotional Moments and Character Relationships
43:46 to 45:28
Insights into the emotional moments between Sam, Tom, and the new family.
“with an awesome bedroom with a lot of posters that he picked.”
Ghost Wife and Symbolism
45:28 to 47:48
Analysis of the ghost wife motif and its significance within the show.
“There seemed to be an older brother involved.”
Plotlines and Character Developments
47:48 to 48:56
Discussion on the unfinished plotlines and character developments leading into season two.
“healthcare system or whatever you want to call it, which is always topical.”
Grasso's Role and Series Structure
48:56 to 51:47
Examination of Grasso's character and how the series could have been structured differently.
“I know this maybe says more about my relationship with my dad than anything else, but I was really impressed that Tom knew the name.”
Reflections on the Series and Future Speculations
51:47 to 55:48
Hosts reflect on the series' outcome, characters, and potential future storylines.
“And so, like, us caring about Maeve, us getting invested in Grasso, like, all that sort of stuff was very key for us to be sort of dialed in to the end of the show here.”
Shoutouts and Reflections on Preview Trust
56:01 to 57:13
The hosts discuss shoutouts and their thoughts on HBO's trust in them for early access to content.
“I do want to shout out HBO for actually posting the last episode so that we could do this podcast ahead of time.”
Shoutouts and Reflections on Preview Trust
57:41 to 58:06
The hosts discuss shoutouts and their thoughts on HBO's trust in them for early access to content.
“You're relaxing in an old hammock scrolling Wayfair's app when you spot it, a brand new patio set.”
Transcript
Automatic transcript. May contain errors.0:00Joanna Robinson:This episode is brought to you by America's cookout classics, Heinz, Kraft, and Oscar Mayer. This summer, we're celebrating 250 years of American cookouts with all the classics, Heinz, Kraft, and Oscar Mayer. Rob, what's your ideal cookout scenario? First of all, I want you on the ox. I trust you with that sacred responsibility to pick our music. I'm going to have to man the grill, and I'm going to need like a copious amount of condiments. I need every possible fixin imaginable. Well, make sure to top your burger with only the best, Heinz, ketchup, and Kraft singles. And you know, it's not a cookout without Heinz ketchup and mustard.
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1:20Bill Simmons:The Prestige TV podcast. I'm sad. Task is over. 7th episode Joanna Robinson is here Rob Mahoney this is his flu game he's been sick he's been under the weather he was lying in the back of Grasso's car covered in blood holding a gun actually someone left me in the quarry a little too long it's just a little damp a little gamey at this point
1:43Joanna Robinson:a little bloated
1:44Bill Simmons:yeah you have quarry drowning color so Rob might cough a couple times he's just going to violently turn away and cough so we just wanted to prepare you ahead of time alright task I'll go big, big picture to start. So we've seen all the episodes now. Did this make it? Did it make it to the first ballot Hall of Fame HBO? Do we have to wait 10 years and keep talking about it? Where was it for you, Joanna?
2:11Joanna Robinson:I don't think it's quite, quite there in this first season. But all news out of HBO seems pretty like we're going to get another season of Task. And so as a solid first season leading into a potentially incredible second season, I think this is... It was a great show, but I don't know if I would put it up there with the first season of Succession or some of the other ones that became so huge. I think it got pretty close in the end, though. I think the 5-6-7 run turned out to be pretty exceptional. And there's just some stuff in the middle. We're going to talk about the family dynamics at the Brandeis house.
2:49And I think they landed that plane in a really significant way and justified the plot line. But I'm not going to say like every scene along the way was Sterling. And so there were those little blemishes throughout the season. They're just like little bits and pieces that didn't work to perfection, but still really high level stuff. I really enjoyed basically every other bit of the season.
3:08Bill Simmons:I loved it. I think from a Hall of Fame candidacy, there was one piece that seems to be slightly missing where when it's like a truly great show, there's just like a water cooler buzz about it and people just kind of being in awe of how awesome it was. And I don't think that got there from that point. But I think what's going to stand out and endure, and I think it's a little better than Mare of Easttown for me. I have it slightly higher. I thought the performances, especially by Ruffalo in this last episode, by Pelfrey the whole time, the supporting characters, I thought the character of Maeve, I was so attached to her by the end.
3:47Bill Simmons:And I think the acting is going to be the legacy of this show, just how well constructed all the performances were.
3:54Joanna Robinson:I think if even though Tom Pelfrey has been working for a long while now and Fabian Frankel is on a Game of Thrones show, the two of them and Amelia Jones coming out of this show, I think people will look back on this as sort of like a big launching point for a couple performers. Absolutely. No question. I think that's the closest we got to the water cooler buzz was the, was the Pelfrey stuff specifically. It was, if you are missing this, you're missing something really special, but as an overall show, I agree. I don't know that it ever like frothed up the kind of like widespread interest that some of the buzzier HBO properties do.
4:31Bill Simmons:I think part of the, and it's not a fault because it was the way they did it. And I like how they did it, but I think the first episode had a couple of pretty wonky scenes in it. And it was slow. Some people thought it was slow. Anecdotally, people were telling me, I don't know, it's slow. I'm like, are you fucking serious? I think the people are wrong, yeah. That was not my feeling coming out of one. Yeah, what are you doing? But there was that really crazy scene with him and the priest. I just wonder if people just kind of got their hackles up a little bit. But I thought this show was really great.
5:01Joanna Robinson:I was sort of hoping that the volume out of six would be a bit higher than it was because six was so good. I think six is my favorite out of five and six. I like the finale but I think it sort of peaked at five and six for me and so I was hoping like a bunch of people would want to catch up before the finale and I haven't really anecdotally seen that happen though you know it still might we're recording this a couple days before Sunday but and people love a binge but I yeah it's just not quite it's not even where Mare was necessarily just that really caught fire in the culture and stuff like that so but I think it deserves it And I think people who have been dialed in to the show, we talked about this a bit last week, Bill, but I think people who have been dialed into the show will just tell everyone they really missed something if they missed tasks.
5:51It also is very bingeable because of the length and because the natural plot is so propulsive. Shout out to a show that is exactly as long as it needed to be, frankly. They didn't try to skim it. They didn't try to stretch it to 10. It felt like pretty much everything we were getting into in terms of the weight of the ideas and the themes was deserved. Again, on an execution level, maybe this scene or that one didn't work for you or this plotline or that one. But overall, this felt like it moved really, really well.
6:19Bill Simmons:Yeah. And when you're comparing it to the Alzheimer's, like, as you guys know, I've been watching Succession in the sauna for 25-minute stretches.
6:27Joanna Robinson:You're almost done with Succession in the sauna. What are you going to do next?
6:30Bill Simmons:I honestly don't know what happened. I might just start watching Succession again. I mean, it is the most sauna show that's ever been created. So congratulations for finding it. You're just on the edge of your seat with every line. But that 7, 8, 9, 10 run in succession, and especially the last two episodes and how that show, it's just, like, to me, if you're going to go first bout Hall of Fame, it's got to be on that level. And I do feel like this was right below. But I will say, and I'm with you, Joanne, I like the fifth and sixth episodes slightly more than the seventh, just because I thought the seventh kind of peaked too early.
7:05Bill Simmons:Ruffalo's courtroom scene was just awesome. Yeah. I mean, that was some, you know, that's among the best acting in his career. And I've been with him for now 25 years as a season ticket holder, as you guys have too. But I just thought he was just so good in that scene. And it's one of those scenes where the guy could have tried to turn the waterworks on to really go for the Emmy clip or tried to dial it up a couple spots. But I just thought it was just perfect acting. I really was like, I thought it was incredible.
7:38Joanna Robinson:I don't know. You know how sometimes you just watch an episode and you're just in the wrong mood or whatever? The first time I watched it, it didn't really hit me. But then I was talking to CR, and he was talking about how much he loved it. And I was like, well, then I feel like I really need to rewatch it, and I missed something. And then on the second time through, I did really appreciate how restrained it was. And that made it sort of all the more powerful. And there's just one moment, like when he's talking about the art teacher, that moment where he almost kind of breaks, and it makes the rest.
8:06Joanna Robinson:But he's not screaming, like, look at me, son, look at me, which that's a choice someone could have made. But yeah, that restraint was really admirable. And I found all the Sammy stuff incredibly emotional in the finale. That was something that we were a little worried about. Is he just going to get a replacement son? And the fact that the show was like, we are also worried about that was really gratifying, I think, in the end. Literally every character is concerned that you are trying to replace one son with the other. Honestly, the fact that this finale could make me care the way I did about Tom and Ethan's relationship, a relationship that by plot purposes has been absent.
8:44These characters have not interacted for over a year.
8:47Joanna Robinson:Right. And yet, I am living and dying with every line of that speech. In the lead up to it, I was feeling the legitimate tension of what is he going to say in this hearing? what is the meaning of what he's telling Emily about you know basically trying to keep her safe and make sure that she feels safe in their home what does that mean as far as what he's going to say about Ethan like there's a little bit of magic in that in the idea that after all of this you can basically not quite introduce a new character in Ethan but the most screen time he's had all season even though he's just sitting idly in a courtroom and it's like I feel for that character because Mark Ruffalo is making me feel for that character and that's that is an impressive thing to pull off.
9:27Bill Simmons:You know what else that scene had? One of my favorites, when the cut to the character who's not crying yet, and they cut back, still not crying, like, come on, give me the tears rolling down. I know you have it in you. And then it finally hit the daughter and there they were, the tears just ripping down the cheeks. I was like, yeah, we got her. It's funny when you, unfortunately, to get behind the hood of this stuff that we we all know about. They're filming that scene from five, six, seven times, right? He's doing it again. They just have the close-up just of the daughter, and that's like they'll do that take.
10:02Bill Simmons:Then they go the second, the wide shot of both daughters. Then they do the Ruffalo close. Then the wide shot. So he's probably giving that speech, I don't know, six, seven times.
10:10Joanna Robinson:And I'm sure there's versions. Again, we're recording this on Sunday. I'm sure there'll be some post-mortem interviews where people will find out, but I'm sure there are versions he gave a bit more emotion to, and they went with this one, which was maybe one of the more, perhaps, I'm guessing, one of the more restrained takes and I just think it was a really smart choice. The directing in this episode I thought was really, really good. Jeremiah Zager or whatever. Yeah. The, like, Perry's death scene, the way that was shot, like, all of the nature around him I thought was really, really good. Or, like, the Sammy montage, like, showing how, like, really quickly showing how entrenched Sammy's, like, monogrammed backpack, like, how much he's in this house household and how hard it's going to be to like sort of uproot him again.
10:55Joanna Robinson:Like all that was done really efficiently in some of these like images that they put together inside of this episode. Like the back part of this episode is so quiet and so still. And I think to the extent that we're even having like the first ballot Hall of Fame conversation, look, it's not a slight to say that you don't quite get to that level. But the reason that conversation is worth having is because of all of the quiet and still stuff. Like if this was just a heat pastiche, that's a fun show. But the fact that you're chasing all that with, you know, Robbie's triumphant moment at the end of episode six in silence, and you're getting all of kind of the quiet family stuff here in the finale.
11:31Like, I think that's what elevates it. I think that's what changes the show into something that is restrained. And I'm with you, Joe. I'm sure there's a wide range of Ruffalo performances, but there's also no doubt what register Brad Inglesby likes to work in. and it is this kind of like a little bit held back, a little bit emotionally stunted. Sometimes you have to really dig into it, but we want to leave things unturned in terms of these characters.
11:56Bill Simmons:Yeah. Look, the whole reason we're watching a TV show, it's not about the plot. It's about do I care about the character or not? Yeah. When they're in danger, do I care? Right. When they lost somebody, do I care? Do I want them to be reunited with somebody? Do I want them to get along better with somebody? This show checked all those boxes for all the main characters.
12:14Joanna Robinson:My favorite scene of this episode actually was, I mean, barring Ruffalo's speech, I would say is the Grasso and his sister scene in the kitchen. Yeah. She's like a great character, Frankie Grasso, that I really actually wish we had gotten earlier in the season. Like, it's kind of wild that she just shows up in the finale here. Lily Kay, who Rob and I had some questions about her character in Stick a little bit earlier this year, but was so good in this scene. And it's just exactly the kind of scene, again, that Brad likes to, like, immediately he walks in this house and, like, I get his connections with those boys.
12:50Joanna Robinson:I get the connection with his sister. She's talking about hooking him up with someone from the gym. He's like, remember the cat lady? Like, all this sort of stuff. Like, all of that immediate intimacy that you immediately buy into. And it helps us care about Grasso's character. Like, not just the whole, like, I did it to help my mom, to help my sister obvious stuff. But just sort of like, this is a guy who is important to his nephews, who's important to his sister. So when we see him gray, slumped over the steering wheel or whatever, we're engaged because of those incredible Brad special scenes that he writes.
13:27Joe, everything you said is 100 % true. I also love that scene. It is at the same time an extremely tough look that even Grasso's sister knows that he's DJ Grasso no pussy. like it's from your own family is tough
13:41Joanna Robinson:how did you feel about DJ Grasanova like putting on a track in order to distract Michael Dorsey his boss when he comes in the house it was the only way what mixtape was it
13:51Bill Simmons:which mixtape did he grab from well we were joking last week sadly Rob wasn't on but we were talking about DJ Grasanova I was really mad at him the last podcast yeah that was like an evil you had some strong words Bill I was upset and we said heading into episode seven. Like, they better make us feel better about Grasso and some of the choices he made or else I'm going to think he's a really bad person. And in two minutes, I'm like, oh yeah, his mom was sick. She needed a better view. Like, yeah, he's fine. Dark hearts, why not? His mom needed a bigger bedroom. I totally got it. I was back in.
14:28Bill Simmons:I'm back in on Grasso. That's all it took.
14:31Joanna Robinson:If they do a task season two, we had joked last week about Grasso as a fugitive, But if they did Task season two, Grosso needs to pay for what he's done. He should not be a law enforcement officer anymore. But is he a character that you would like to see in a season two of Task? Or do you feel like that character should be done? I would love to. I think the question is, functionally, if the show is going to continue to be about another task force, how would he be roped into it if he's not a police officer anymore? And so that's where you get into dangerous territory of like, oh, a character that we have this attachment to and we've seen kind of grow and evolve and really kind of step into his guilt and his shame over the course of the season.
15:10But I don't want to shoehorn him into a thing where he doesn't belong just because we like him and like Fabian Frankel, right? Like, I would be a little apprehensive, even though Grasso lives. This is an important development.
15:22Bill Simmons:Well, Holmand, which is very often the North Star for conversations like this, Brody shouldn't have just died at the end of episode of season one, right? Absolutely.
15:31Joanna Robinson:Yes.
15:31Bill Simmons:They awkwardly shoehorn him back into season two and it's a disaster. I'm glad you brought this up. I thought we were going to do it later. I'm happy to do it now. Task season two, which is happening. It could go one of three ways. It's either just a completely new show and it's a different task force somewhere else, Pennsylvania, wherever else. and nobody from this season is on that season. I don't think they'll do that, but it's on the table. The second one would be built around Ruffalo, like starting a new task force. And we just dive into it. Maybe there's some Dark Hearts DNA left. There's some Freddy Frias is still sitting there as a real character.
16:08Bill Simmons:Like we have some pieces that who takes over the Dark Hearts. Is there a police corruption? Like now that we have that guy who's dead in Grasso's office from Risky Business, our guy. Yeah. Um, is there like a whole unwinding of that whole police corruption? So you go that way. The most fun, and I don't know if they'll do this is, um, Grasso somehow gets out of whatever sentence is waiting for him. Maybe the lawyer screws it up. Maybe he's let it escapes. Maybe he gets out. Maybe it's becomes the fugitive. Maybe it's built around. They have, they have to find Grasso. Um, but I think those are, is there any other option beyond those three?
Read the full transcript
16:47Joanna Robinson:um well okay there is an a tantalizing option um that i've heard a couple people mention um and i'll get to that in a second i will say i think we might have cut it out of brad's interview last week because he said some a few things that i felt like tipped the finale like you know finale a little bit so i cut them out but like um i think he's interested in ruffalo's character i think he's interested in tom's home life which is something that we felt was like a little weak actually this season. But he's, you know, he's like, Ethan's coming home. How is that going to go? And I was like, well, let's cut that.
17:21Joanna Robinson:That's the finale spoiler. But like, how is he going to deal with, you know, we see him paint the room, but like that's just step one. Like, how is the reality of that? So he's interested in Tom and Ruffalo's character. Something I've had a couple people mention to me is the idea of a Mare of Easttown task crossover for season two.
17:40Bill Simmons:Oh my Lord.
17:41Joanna Robinson:I mean.
17:42Bill Simmons:Is that on the table?
17:42Joanna Robinson:I don't know. What's Kate doing? What if Grasso gets set up on a blind date with Mare? Is that something we're interested in?
17:49Bill Simmons:Or he's DJing. He's now a DJ. He's DJing her second wedding.
17:53Joanna Robinson:I could be more interested in Grasso dating Mare of Easttown, honestly, to be honest with you.
17:58Bill Simmons:So we're all in on Grasso sticking around in some way. I would like it, but you just have to justify it.
18:05Joanna Robinson:Here's the idea. If Ruffalo's like, we're not done squashing the dark hearts. There's more dark hearts to be squashed. Grosso knows a bunch about their organization. And so he could be like a consultant, not like back on the, you know, but like from prison.
18:20Bill Simmons:So disgraced cop. I don't think he goes to prison. I think they let him out. Okay. Time served. He becomes a consultant now to help them try to solve this underworld. Doesn't have to go to jail. Or double agent. Can we send him back to the Dark Hearts?
18:35Joanna Robinson:Donnie Brasco-ing? Look, I'm just saying. We're just, you know, it's the writer's room. No bad ideas. We're just throwing stuff at the wall. Hold on.
18:42Bill Simmons:Wait a second. This is good. Who knows that Grasso turned?
18:47Joanna Robinson:Well, Dorsey's dead, and he shot the guy who walked into the house.
18:53Bill Simmons:All the witnesses are gone. Right? His one source, who was his one conduit, got shot in the head, and the other guy who knew about his conduit, he killed.
19:04Joanna Robinson:Yeah.
19:04Bill Simmons:So those guys don't know.
19:05Joanna Robinson:As long as that guy didn't talk to anyone else in the Dark Hearts upper echelon, the mother council or whatever it's called. then maybe we could sort of put Anthony back in. That would be interesting. I would love that. I like that idea.
19:19Bill Simmons:That's good. We need that and more stress-eating from Martha Plimpton, I think, are the two things.
19:24Joanna Robinson:And her assistant, who's just looking at the memes on his lunch break with his tie sort of flung over his shoulder so he doesn't get any mustard on it. Pretty amazing. While we're talking first ballot Hall of Fame, I thought Plimpton submitted herself first ballot on the Heavy Poor Hall of Fame this episode. Like really, really go into town on the wine and pills combo. And who's to blame her? You know, she's just been shot. I'm not begrudging the woman. I'm just saying her credentials speak for themselves at this point.
19:50Bill Simmons:I think she realized she saw the script for episode seven. I'm only in two scenes. I'm fucking really going for it. This is a full-fledged dial-up. We didn't talk the two big scenes, the Ruffalo, the big testimony. And then the second one was the shootout, which we're going to talk about right after this. All new Sundays at 9, exclusively on AMC and AMC+. I am the vampire Lestat. I'm a rock star now. I'm a little killer. I'm a little mom. From Anne Rice's Immortal Universe comes what Vulture calls the most momentous event in fictional rock history. Thousands of fans love you. I want millions. It's my era.
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22:11Bill Simmons:All right, the big shootout. We had one last action sequence. So by my count, Ruffalo was in three pretty major action scenes in this show in seven episodes.
22:21Joanna Robinson:This is also another surprising moment for Tom when he's spotting the gun before Aaliyah spots the gun. And I was like, this is a question we had when he went toe-to-toe with Perry where we were like, could he like what's what is the truth of tom is he the like shambling fumbling broken down you know whatever or is he like spotting guns before alia who is allegedly honest he's like
22:45Bill Simmons:fucking jack reacher it's like he's just killing everybody i thought him taking on perry was like uh you know when a mother sees that their child's in danger and will like lift up a car like that That was basically the equivalent for him versus Perry. This one I have no explanation for. All of a sudden, he's very sharp. He's very... Honestly, him and Aaliyah sweeping the house in the first place felt like a mirror of the first episode with Robbie and Cliff. Right. So methodically moving through the stash houses. It felt like it was their moment to do some good quality, clean policing. Is it possible because he was not drinking?
23:21Bill Simmons:He definitely stopped drinking for a few weeks.
23:24Joanna Robinson:The Phillies Cup is a bird feeder now.
23:26Bill Simmons:maybe got his shit back together a little bit. Wow. And the athleticism came back, but he's just back. Action cop Ruffalo.
23:38Joanna Robinson:Here's a nit I have to pick and then a non-official endorsement I have to give. On the way to the shootout, I will say the character of Breaker, someone we don't really know inside of the Dark Hearts, standing outside of Donna's window saying, where'd you find the bag? What do you mean nothing's in it? what's it, Mae's house? It was tough. Not my favorite writing. You don't do phone exposition, Joe? You don't just like shout it out to anyone who's in earshot?
24:04Bill Simmons:No, I'd better off seeing like an email or a text or something. Exactly. I think, yeah.
24:10Joanna Robinson:On that front, in terms of communication and what can be tracked, this is not an official ad for Snapchat, but knowing that Snapchat won't narc on you, but SiriusXM radio will is just something to think about as we go forward in our criminal enterprises. Tool of criminals everywhere. Disappearing chat, very important. So Grasso ends up saving the day,
24:35Bill Simmons:goes to Maeve's house, ends up shooting Jason, who I think out of all the performances, I think Jason was probably my least favorite. Kind of had the one move of just pulling super close to the other character and locking eyes and then spit would fly. And that was kind of all he was doing.
24:54Joanna Robinson:I still think we needed just a couple more Perry-Jason scenes for me to understand what a tough choice this was for Jason or why it was that Perry couldn't kill him or whatever. How close were they? Yeah, there needed to be something more establishing that connection.
25:12Bill Simmons:They did that with the brothers, the Pendergrass brothers in three minutes. Yeah, exactly. In the quarry.
25:18Joanna Robinson:We need some Allman brothers and then we would have understood. That's all it does.
25:21Bill Simmons:Or Leonard Skinner. Or Leonard Skinner with the Allman brothers. It felt like, you know, Joe, you talked with Brad last week about kind of all the fathers and surrogate fathers that are in the air with this show. That felt like the most yada, yada, yada. It's like, oh, this guy's older than that guy. They clearly have a relationship. Fatherhood. Right, right. But yeah, like his hesitation to not kill Jason did not mean anything to me in the end. But shout out to Perry, you know, going out doing what he loved. Skinny dipping in a creek. Is that part of the quarry? I don't know a body of water that is.
25:51but it's a way to go. That's for sure.
25:54Bill Simmons:The bacteria in that place. I can't even imagine.
25:59Joanna Robinson:Bill, how do you feel about Perry clearly not using like a single quarry rock to, to weigh Aaron's body down? I mean,
26:08Bill Simmons:I said this in the episode six pod. I just expected more from Perry. It was a really poorly thought out murder. I, I just disagreed with all of it. There was multiple witnesses up in the hill. he didn't get rid of the body like what are we doing you're like one of the punching chain behind
26:28Bill Simmons:really one of the worst murders of all time I also we're going nitpicks I really did like the final shootout and I thought it was a good one with Grasso getting his finally having his moment Aaliyah fending off the the dark arts guy who has her from behind in a chokehold and maybe I've watched too much UFC but you're basically not getting out of that unless the round's over you're not getting out of it with the just I don't know moving forward and then kicking the person's knee like it's over you the position he had and the size differential there's no way she's getting out of that so that was my one nitpick my bigger
27:04Joanna Robinson:nitpick is that on Aaliyah's character in general like that's just someone that I feel like you know we gave her some connection to Lizzie so we could understand why she was like a bit motivated here at the end but I would have loved like a little bit more information on her given what a Walsh is. Yeah, season two, bring her to the front. One of the only surviving characters, at least of the task force, who's currently employed. So you would think that she's going to be a prominent member. Would be nice. Not quite a nit to pick, but as far as this kind of death scene and Jason and Perry go, I thought Jason confirmed with his getaway, like there is no cool way to run through a stream.
27:39Like you just look like a toddler kicking up a puddle no matter what you try to do. You know, you got to do it. You got to go through the paces, but it wasn't the most elegant accent.
27:49Bill Simmons:It's not Ben Kingsley and sneakers, but it's very close. It was close. I want to go through some of the arcs of the characters, the final arcs. Let's start with Perry, just for fun.
28:00Joanna Robinson:You don't want to start with Gertie, who will never know peace, I guess, because there's always shit going down in the chicken coop?
28:05Bill Simmons:Well, there's always money in the chicken coop, Joe. Do that later. Okay. Old Gertie. Perry's final arc. Order to kill Jason. Mm-hmm. the guy's, I don't know how many people he's murdered, but it's been a lot. He was told, it's you or him. This isn't done. You'll be dead tomorrow. Still can't do it. Maybe he had weakness inside. Just maybe not that good of a murderer. Maybe he just wanted to run a biker club and not have to murder people. Gets ratted out by his bartender girlfriend.
28:38Joanna Robinson:Donna.
28:39Bill Simmons:You know, the lesson as always, Rob, don't slam a bathroom door against a love interest. It's a good lesson. Because it'll come back to haunt you at the end. I endorse this.
28:47Joanna Robinson:Ask for coffee nicely. Yeah. Yeah. Just ask for coffee nicely.
28:50Bill Simmons:No slam doors. And then takes a naked swim the next morning as Jason's finding out about Aaron and the chain and ends up killing him. So I have three lessons here. One, we've learned this multiple times. The Pennsylvania water, not your friend. Not a sanctity place for a swim. Don't do it. It's not a healing place. Bad things that you can get drowned. Bad news can happen. Stay away.
29:15Joanna Robinson:Very important that Tom wants to take Sammy swimming at the Y. Not in bacteria-ridden quarries, but at the Y.
29:21Bill Simmons:Chlorine only for young Sammy. Lesson number two, get your chain back after you drown somebody, which I thought we knew that, but I just want to reiterate. And then lesson number three, a little more stout, don't date a bartender. Oh. Yeah. You're X-ing out the whole community. I was a former bartender. Yeah, just be careful. Be careful of those bartenders. They're always networking. She just parlayed him. She's like, ah, maybe I'll throw my lot with this part of the dark hearts. And that's it. Perry gets cut out.
29:50Joanna Robinson:I feel like the lesson is supposed to be that Donna is like, she cares about Maeve. And so she's like, well, they're going after Maeve. So fuck him. You know, like that seemed to be her motivation. That's true.
29:58Bill Simmons:What was the scene when Donna and Maeve had a huge bonding situation? Because I don't remember it. Did we have one?
30:03Joanna Robinson:Well, I think just this idea that like Maeve was part of the biker family, which they tried to make a point earlier in the season to be like, once you're in the biker family, you're in the biker family. So even though we didn't get a scene between them, it makes sense to me that Donna doesn't deserve to die. I don't think I needed that underlined for me the way that I needed the Perry and Jason thing sort of better fleshed out for me. Do you know?
30:26Bill Simmons:Any additional thoughts, Rob? I have nothing against the bartender community. I think it's fine to date bartenders. I thought it was a joke. Look, I thought she was very gracious in lending them her mom's lake house or whatever to begin with. She did her part in helping them escape.
30:41Joanna Robinson:Everyone has a waterfront cabin somewhere in this story.
30:45Bill Simmons:Are we missing out?
30:46Joanna Robinson:Should we be in Delco? I guess so. Are we missing out? I don't know.
30:50Bill Simmons:It's like freaking Martha's Vineyard out there. It's just all over the place. So anyway, Perry, maybe a B plus as a character. I don't know what else I wanted from him, but it felt like he was missing something and I don't even know if I could put my finger on it.
31:05Joanna Robinson:I mean, I really loved that sequence in episode five when he goes to Maeve's house, you know what I mean? or six, whenever it was, when he's like in Maeve's house. I thought that stuff was really good. I think there have been some great moments with, and when it was like Detective Perry and he's like putting all the pieces together.
31:18Bill Simmons:Menacing Detective Perry.
31:19Joanna Robinson:Yeah, that stuff was good. But like missing that final sort of like Jason deeper connection really made the end of his character tough. I mean, good as a heavy, not so great as a human being who is in this story. At least one that we're supposed to like more fully understand.
31:33Bill Simmons:Tom's final arc saves Maeve, fends out the dark hearts, solves the investigation. stops drinking, reconciles with his son, gives a really heartfelt emotional speech, refuses to give penance to Grasso, which I can't wait to talk about. Officially stops adopting kids. I think he's done. He's finally had it. The priest just made him rethink the whole thing. He had a problem.
31:58Joanna Robinson:I mean, maybe Jason's kids are now orphans. So I'm just saying. Oh my gosh, there's more. Season two. Compulsive adopter.
32:05Bill Simmons:All the kids, yeah. Stops drinking. and just ready to throw himself through the Philly season, Rob. I don't know. What else did we learn about Tom? I like that we end this season with him, even after all of these adopted kids and attempted adopted kids, like learning how to be a father. Like he's still kind of fumbling through all this and trying to figure out how to best show up for these kids who he is either the biological father of or has taken under his wing. And I thought one of the exchanges in this episode that I really loved was the one with him and Father Daniel about whether he should be adopting Sam in the first place.
32:44And this idea of being unselfish with your love was something that really landed for me in the sense of like, you're doing this for kind of a good reason, but also you're doing it to fix yourself. And that in itself is not justifiable and is not fair to Sam. And the fact that all of that is kind of dovetailed with everything happening with him and Ethan, I found to be really powerful. And I thought it just like really landed the emotional arc for that character in an interesting way.
33:11Bill Simmons:Save you. Stop saving everyone else. That was basically the theme for Tom, which, you know, he ends up in the happiest place ever, just an empty guest bedroom with no people around.
33:24Joanna Robinson:The title of the episode, Still Small Voice, is a Bible verse. And it's about, you know, this idea that like the story of Elijah, forgive me, I'm an atheist, so I'm going to do my best. but like the story of Elijah and this idea that like, you know, looking for God in these big, obvious ways and then finding God in this like very quiet, small way. And so this idea that like, you know, we meet Tom and he's so divorced from his faith and he's so bitter about what happened with his son and with his wife and all this sort of stuff like that. And so watching him, again, a la Mel Gibson and signs, coming back into his faith and reconnecting with that and finding this like inner compass.
34:03Joanna Robinson:We saw I do it in a previous episode with trying to get Maeve out of any legal ramifications. But deciding she should keep the money and we should just look the other way on the money because my internal moral compass says that kind of feels it's wrong, but it feels right to me. I like that character finding those beats of just sort of like what feels right, even though it's not sort of like big letter of the law, you know, correct, but it feels like the right thing to do. It's not shocking that a show that is so gray area as this would be incredibly interested in what is wrong, but kind of feels right.
34:40And you see it in the execution of the case too, right? Martha Plimpton going to overdress Connor with his burrito and his memes and being like, yeah, this is against the law, but you're going to do it because we need to do it to crack this case. and then all of that juxtaposed with everything happening with Grasso, who was doing things he knew was wrong, but for maybe kind of right reasons or at least justifying them with the right reasons. It's like there's a lot of messy police work and police-oriented life happening around these characters, and they're trying to find ways to justify it to themselves.
35:10And I think the way that that ties into the conversation about Faith, Joe, is not just like, does Tom believe in God? But I think the conversations he has with Grasso over these last couple episodes about what confession means and to whom. That it's like, this is not something we do for the big guy in the clouds. This is something that we are doing for each other and doing for ourselves to try to just like get through the day. And their willingness to do that and participate in that and who is interested in being forgiven for what it is that they've done, I am fascinated by in these episodes.
35:42Bill Simmons:I never gave anyone penance. People beat themselves up enough on their own. This is last words to Grasso. It was interesting. I'm in a cat like that show if I've ever heard one. I was expecting this awesome showdown scene in the hospital or some sort of something. And it's like, that was kind of, he kind of just swatted him away, Mutombo style. So with Tom, if Maeve gives him one stack. Oh, you want to kick back. Says, here, take this. Yeah. Tom takes it. Do you feel differently about him? Yes. Okay. Absolutely. What if he grabs, like, you can keep this, but takes one thing and just shoves it in the back of his pants?
36:26Joanna Robinson:Does he use it to buy Sammy monogrammed backpacks and, I don't know, triple the vegetable output of his garden? Like, how many beets are we talking about here? It goes right to the garden.
36:37Bill Simmons:It goes to more animals.
36:38Joanna Robinson:Yeah. More fertilizer. First of all, where do you think all those posters came from? Exactly. You know, they've already been subsidized. It's the DQ budget for the house all now. Oh, my God.
36:47Bill Simmons:I love that. let her keep the knapsack. Yeah, the DQ is great. I love that he let her keep the knapsack. Me too. I absolutely love that. It's a good touch. Grasso's final arc. I wrote redemption with four exclamation points, even though he's not totally redeemed, but at least we feel better about him. But, you know, got to meet his sister, get the whole background with the sick mom. Great job sniffing out risky business guys stage suicide move. he just read it it was like he was reading a corner blitz he's like oh my god I see this coming I thought there was one interesting moment in that when he's talking to the guy and the guy said he's basically like how did you do this all these years yeah
37:33Joanna Robinson:he's like I've only been doing this for two
37:35Bill Simmons:I feel like I've been doing it for 20 and the guy was basically like now you get used to it I was like I could do 10 more minutes on this like how do you live with this and the fear of being caught and, you know.
37:48Joanna Robinson:And I liked, yeah, when Michael, again, Michael Dorsey, I think really a great, with apologies to any Michael Dorseys who might be listening, like a great corrupt cop name. But like, I think him saying, you know, I put my sons through college and he's like, I know you did. And like, obviously he's saying that to try to be like, you can't kill me. I've got three sons, you know, like I'm a person with connections to the world and stuff like that. But Grasso being like, yeah, you had your reasons and so did I. and that doesn't make it better what we did here. You know what I mean? Like, I thought, yeah.
38:19Joanna Robinson:And I thought Grasso, I had to go back and look because Grasso's chunky gold crucifix that he's wearing in, you know, very obvious over his sweatshirt in the scene where he goes to, like, see his nephews and see his sister. And I was like, has he been wearing that all season? And, like, we definitely saw it in, like, the bedroom scene with Lizzie. Like, we've seen it before. But it's usually sort of tucked under unless he's, like, you know, not having sex with Lizzie in her haunted marital bed. But the way it was just sort of out and hanging heavy almost on him in those scenes I thought was really interesting.
38:56I mean, it's the fundamental difference between those two characters, right? It's like one is continuing to try to justify what they've done. And the other one, and I think this is another great element of Grasso's scene with his sister too, where it's like, he's the one saying, I have to come clean about this. I have to turn myself in. And she's the one who's trying to say, wait, wait, wait.
39:13Joanna Robinson:Yeah. Can't you just like hesitate for a minute and see what happens before you make any rash decisions? But like, it's very clear that that character like cannot deal with this kind of deception anymore. And that's an interesting place to find him at the end of this story. And maybe it took Lizzie's death to push him over that particular cliff, but he got to the place he needed to get to in the end. I think that moment where he talks to his boss, Michael Dorsey, about, in last week's episode, about like holding Lizzie's body and she's already gone. And so this idea, like hammering home for him, this idea of like an ass soul, like what it means for your soul to leave your body.
39:49Joanna Robinson:And then that reigniting these questions he's been having all seasons about faith, I thought was, yeah, really good stuff. Good shit.
39:57Bill Simmons:Well, we learned a lesson from him. The lesson is, let your sick mom stay in a slightly worse room. If your sister's in an abusive relationship, don't bail her and her kids out. No, don't. They don't need a safe place to stay. Just keep the course now. I ended up feeling bad for him. I was not expecting that. Maeve's final arc tries to escape with the kids when she gets the word, forgets the car keys. Come on, Maeve. I argue with my wife about this all the time. Just put the car keys in the same place every time. That's it. The number of places that she's looking in the house is preposterous. it's not in that drawer there's no chance it's in the drawer this is like this would be the one advice I would give to everyone in life come in the house and put the car keys in one spot then you'll know they're in the spot
40:51Joanna Robinson:is it like a bowl is it a hook like does it matter where the place is
40:56Bill Simmons:whatever you want just routine just put it there she gets attacked by Jason survives missed opportunity with Jason I felt like there was some tension with them in a good way. Missed opportunity for Jason and Maeve to start dating in season two and combine their families. Can't happen. He's dead. Yeah, I don't think so. We think she's going to get killed in the shootout. Great red herring from Inglesby with the little girl climbing through the window and like, oh no, oh please no. No, God no. They don't do that. And then Tom lets her leave with the money anyway. So where does she go, Joanna? Canada?
41:35Bill Simmons:Where are we going?
41:35Joanna Robinson:I don't know. She knows a guy. I hope she comes out to California. California Maeve. She deserves it. Or like New York City Maeve. I don't know. Oh, yeah. She could do well there. Yeah. I have some questions about Harper in this shootout thing. She goes into the house and she's like, I'm just going to let the cops know Maeve's in trouble. So she opens a window. But do you think they could not hear her screaming her head off until Harper? Wasn't that like Harper's move was to open the window so the cops could hear that Maeve was in trouble? Look, child logic is what it is, Joe. Yeah. Okay. Okay.
42:08Joanna Robinson:Also, I just love that Harper used the same move Maeve did, which is like, crawl through this into the trunk, small boy, so you will be, this is like a family move. Right, yes. Right. But I really loved that final scene between them. It reminded me a lot of my favorite series finale, Six Feet Under, and like the Lauren Ambrose, like, you know, you can't take a photo of this, it's already gone, sort of moment that just makes me cry every time that I see it. And so I loved that scene with her and the camera and Harper outside of the home. Wyatt gets one more butthole joke in there for the road. And yeah.
42:45Bill Simmons:Callback too to the end of season, episode one. The wide shot of the house. Wide shot of the house. I thought with Wyatt, like really hammering home, there are two kinds of kids. You know, there's Sam who is living damaged and sensitively and trying to cope with the loss of his parents. and then there's Wyatt who's complaining about the length of the road trip and making chicken butthole jokes. That's really the only two genres. Oh, right.
43:08Joanna Robinson:She says it's four hours. So wherever they're going is only four hours from where they are. Within Pennsylvania, that could be anywhere.
43:16Bill Simmons:We didn't mention Maeve as a season two possibility person.
43:20Joanna Robinson:I kind of want her out of danger.
43:22Bill Simmons:Please. Maeve needs to save herself. That's why she's a season two possibility where the dark hearts realize she has the money.
43:28Joanna Robinson:Oh, God.
43:29Bill Simmons:We've got to find her. Where is she? That sounds more like a season three or four plot line when they've run out of steam and they're like, what do we have left? Oh, wait, Maeve's still alive. Let's just take her. Maeve's still alive. Sam's final arc. So he briefly ends up in Tom's house with an awesome bedroom with a lot of posters that he picked. Yeah. With two great sisters who seem like they really like him and a hands-on dad. He gets, Rob will get this. He gets rebuilt as a trade asset, Rob. Traded to a different foster family for two unprotected first-round picks. He is a child. He's just out.
44:06Bill Simmons:They dump him. He had a room. They decorated his room. I was mad they didn't keep him. I don't know. We don't know about this new family. Tom cannot handle Sam and his life right now. The sister's right there. The older sister who just got divorced. She's right there.
44:23Joanna Robinson:She has a new baby. She has a lot going on. I did, I mean, I will say Sarah and Emily and Sammy was like my favorite Sarah and Emily we got all season. By far. Talking about, like, Sarah saying something nice about, like, a nice memory about Ethan while Emily is sort of like poised for Sarah to be nasty about it. And then she's like, remember when the dog went missing and Ethan did this thing? Like, that was so good. The DQ conversation. You know, talking to Tom about, you know, going to Target or, you know. And the scenes with Emily saying, like, where do you want to keep your socks? Like, when Sammy first gets there and he's, like, so scared and downtrodden, she's like, where do you want to keep his socks?
45:01Joanna Robinson:He's like, I don't know. But then, like, the scene later of her helping him get dressed to meet the new family, it was just, like, really beautiful. I also, like, when I saw him.
45:11Bill Simmons:Yeah, but did you want him to change his mind when the family was walking to the door or did you want him to let him leave?
45:17Joanna Robinson:After his friend was like, be unselfish with your love, I was like, he's got to give the kid away. This was the healthy choice, I think, for everybody involved. But up until then, when they were gardening, I was like, this is so charming. I was in. He was charming.
45:27Bill Simmons:I was really in on Sam and Tom. Sam was back. He was completely rejuvenated.
45:31Joanna Robinson:I know. But the family seemed very nice. There seemed to be an older brother involved. So I don't know. We barely see them, but I hope it's okay. And I feel like he's going to know Tom his whole life, provided that family is somewhere nearby. I feel like Tom will want to stay in that kid's life as like, you know. I can see that for sure. I also think as far as like a ghost wife watch goes, see, this one did work on me. I am ashamed to admit. Oh, ghost wife worked. Ghost Susan putting the flowers into the vase, like putting out the flowers while waiting, like obviously a mirror of the whole Emily and Ethan adoption, like all of that.
46:09This one kind of worked. And I think it was because it was so small.
46:11Joanna Robinson:I didn't hate it at all. I just can't believe that Maria Eno shows up to do that. at all, that she's just infrequently seen ghost wife and wife in photos all season. This is one case where like my, this actor is too big to just show up to be ghost wife, like completely failed me. You're not wrong. Because like, I wonder if stuff was cut. Like that's just such a firm, I don't know. If people are listening, they're like, I don't know who the hell she is. And I'm like, well, watch Big Love and watch The Killing and then come and talk to me. She's a real actress. She's great.
46:42Bill Simmons:The two red herrings were the Redding shootout, which we thought we were getting a flashback whatever from never. And then the wife. We just got a wide shot. I thought we were. I thought we were getting the whole...
46:55Joanna Robinson:Redding did get a mention in this episode. I thought for a second Bill might get his wish of a Redding-centric storyline. What if season two is just the flashback Redding season? They're really clear in the decks. Just really making sure we have all the real estate we need to cover it from every angle. It's going to be a full Rashomon. Every character gets an episode. There's so much to learn from the fridge. I hope that Brad, well, I know that Brad's not listening because he says he doesn't listen to this stuff, but... I wouldn't.
47:23Bill Simmons:If I wrote a TV show, I wouldn't listen to a podcast like this.
47:26Joanna Robinson:If anyone on HBO is listening, we can brainstorm 10 seasons of Task for you. I think we've already got you up to like four seasons. Yeah, we're available.
47:34Bill Simmons:Martha Primton's final arc, arm sling, probably a little stress-aiding, especially with the pills that she's now addicted to, but at least she was in the mall. Big win.
47:44Joanna Robinson:Is that season five of Task?
47:46Bill Simmons:or was she in the mall the whole time no she definitely was in the mall it's a longer arc yeah I don't think she was in the mall it's interesting her like
47:55Joanna Robinson:potential looming painkiller addiction plotline in a show about fentanyl well it was interesting to me that like there was that like pandemic shortage of medication sort of moment sniped in from nowhere here at the end of this that is just sort of like a great villain of this is the U.S. healthcare system or whatever you want to call it, which is always topical. But I was like, oh, oh, that's in here. Okay.
48:22Bill Simmons:Listen, these are not real characters. These are not real people. I feel like we can make jokes about TV characters. I was thinking in the back of my head, season two, Ethan comes home and he's sharing a room with Sam, but then there's another medication shortage. It would be like the most terrifying hour of TV on the planet.
48:39Joanna Robinson:You have to die. Leave Sam alone.
48:42Bill Simmons:I just didn't think. Like, these are all fake, not real people. But they did plant that seed for Ethan. Great guy, but you just got to make sure that medication doesn't run out. Yeah. And maybe that's part of season two. I don't know.
48:57Joanna Robinson:I know this maybe says more about my relationship with my dad than anything else, but I was really impressed that Tom knew the name. Do you know the name of all of your son's friends, Bill? Like, do you know their names? Good question. Is that a...
49:08Bill Simmons:I actually do. Yeah.
49:10Joanna Robinson:And I know because like you're involved. Like, I don't know. I'm just always impressed when dads know the name of their kids' friends. Dads are on it? Yeah. I was like, he knows some names. That's great. He's locked in. Did he know the name slash do we know the name of Magic Guy? Does that guy, does that character have a name? He does.
49:26Bill Simmons:Yeah, what happened on the date? Talk about another unfinished plot.
49:30Joanna Robinson:Again, you've got to save something for season two. It's close-up magic, I guess. Also, was there a faster babysitting job acceptance than him in between dates one and two when Emily comes to him and is like, hey, we need you to look after Sam while we go to this hearing.
49:46Bill Simmons:I do have one big picture question now that we've seen all the episodes. Is this show better if we know Grasso is the mole almost the whole time? And we have more background with him versus like kind of cramming into the last episode. Like if we found out like episode two, three range that he's actually the mole and we don't have to do that. Oh, could it be Martha Plimpton? Could be this person. but we know and then we get more and we can really see how conflicted he is leading up to when Lizzie gets shot is this a better show it's interesting I don't know the answer
50:17Joanna Robinson:I think it's interesting I think the idea of watching him and Lizzie sort of like fall for each other while we know for sure that he is operating on the other side would be interesting I would happily welcome more scenes with his sister and his nephews like that you know
50:31Bill Simmons:that's why I brought it up because I thought that was such an interesting scene in the kitchen I was like ah I could have used like Yeah. Four more of these. The same with his sister.
50:39Joanna Robinson:And also just like that moment with his nephew when he's asking his older nephew, like, are you staying out of trouble? You know, this idea of like, I see some of my younger self in you or I won't be around to like help, you know, make sure you grow up on the straight and narrow because I'm about to go to prison. You know, all of that stuff I thought was really strong. I would have been, I'd be fascinated to see a version of the show where that's the case. My only hesitation is if you make it structurally that way, is it a three-legged stool versus a two-person collision course a little too much?
51:09Like, are you putting too much on Grasso as a character to hold up that much of the story if we know everything about him right up front? Because, like, in this construction, he's almost like the Wayne Grow of the Heat, right? He's like the last bit of unfinished business that one guy, like, can't let go of, and so Tom keeps going after him. But if you make it equally reliant on him as it is Robbie and Tom, I'm not sure if that character is quite up for that.
51:35Joanna Robinson:But I do have to wonder if, you know, because something that Brad said in the interview last week was like, you know, once he saw what Tom was doing, he got really nervous. Tom Pelfrey was doing. He got really nervous about what the show was after Robbie was gone. And so, like, us caring about Maeve, us getting invested in Grasso, like, all that sort of stuff was very key for us to be sort of dialed in to the end of the show here. but if if grasso is just like bumped up a little bit for the rest of the season then uh you know maybe that moment of like oh robbie's gone what is the show anymore without robbie would have been less of a moment i don't know but it's not like i really i mean i miss robbie i miss tom pelfrey but like the the grasso and and maven danger and all that sort of stuff was really strong so but what does that mean for season two like if maven and maybe grasso are kind of off the board robbie is obviously not going to be a part of season two, is a Tom and his home life driven show with a new influx of characters.
52:35No, Grasso's going to be involved. You think he has to be?
52:37Bill Simmons:I would bet anything. I would bet anything he's involved. He has to be. And they left, you know, I didn't even do an Aaliyah's season arc because I don't know what the arc was. Exactly. She was the kind of unfinished character slash plot that I think if you did it over again, you'd probably have more stuff with her and probably take some of the daughter stuff out.
52:58Joanna Robinson:because it didn't go anywhere. I agree. I love that you say Robbie is definitely not in season two when we got a ghost wife here this season. You think we get ghost Robbie? Ghost Robbie is on the board.
53:11Bill Simmons:He's just haunting the quarry. It's a horror movie. It's like one of those Mike Flanagan shows.
53:18Joanna Robinson:The quarry's gone evil. He's just grabbing the ankles of any dark hearts that walk by. Oh my god.
53:25Bill Simmons:We could also go fast forward eight years and Sam is now a teenager and getting into the dark hearts. Oh no. And we just go that. It's a flash forward. Ruffalo's out. He's retired. He's like, wait, what happened to Sam? Bill, what did Sam do to you?
53:43Joanna Robinson:Yeah, what?
53:45Bill Simmons:The same thing. I love it because every time Joanne is horrified, so now I just got to keep going back. No, Sam's fine. He'll be great. Season three, Sam's crippling addiction. like we're just gonna steer into the skin I guess listen the Dark Hearts recruits him young like clearly no I think there's way more stuff with the Dark Hearts I think there's way more stuff with Freddy Frias especially because they have a good actor for that part
54:09Joanna Robinson:I think yeah Sam patching in for vengeance
54:14Bill Simmons:oh to get older Sam
54:17Joanna Robinson:older Sam patching in for vengeance
54:19Bill Simmons:20 year old Sam finds out what happened to his parents
54:22Joanna Robinson:past season 20 but the people who killed his parents are already dead. Rob Cliff are gone. So he's got to get their relatives. He's got to get them back.
54:31Bill Simmons:Rob, watching Grasso in the car, almost delirious with the bled out, but still able to shoot Jason and you today in this podcast. Thank you. The two most inspiring things I've seen this week. Joanna, I'm going to miss the show. I'm going to miss breaking it down. I think we did a good job. I think Joanna was the big winner of the podcast. There's no doubt. She predicted like nine of these things that happened. Yes. HBO probably doesn't like you.
54:55Joanna Robinson:HBO likes me fine.
54:58Bill Simmons:There'll be like a spoiler alert. This content is too true. Joanna's a fortune teller.
55:04Joanna Robinson:Do you want to try that 76ers joke again in front of Rob? I did hear it on my recording.
55:10Bill Simmons:I laughed for what it's worth. It was my best joke of the whole season. It was fine. I feel like part of you got it. Tiny bit.
55:17Joanna Robinson:I always kind of get it. I always kind of get it when you guys make sports references.
55:22Bill Simmons:I pretended I got your Six Feet Under reference before. You haven't seen Six Feet Under?
55:27Joanna Robinson:Well, you've never seen The Sopranos. I've seen some Sopranos. You've never seen any of Six Feet Under?
55:32Bill Simmons:No, I never watched it.
55:33Joanna Robinson:Okay, okay. I mean, that finale in particular. That finale. Real heartbreaker, to say the least. Well, thanks for pretending, Bill. I appreciate it.
55:41Bill Simmons:All right. Well, I'm sad. Now we don't have a show. What are we going to do?
55:44Joanna Robinson:Until the next one.
55:45Bill Simmons:That's it. You guys are going to have to carry the Prestige TV podcast from here. Who do we have to thank? Tell us who we have to thank, Joanna. Other than Justin Sales. Yes. Justin Sales. Anybody else? The goats right there. Tom Pelfrey, Mark Ruffalo. Tom Pelfrey.
55:58Joanna Robinson:For not putting a hit out on me. Yep, Gertie. Gertie. And Lego Gertie by association. Yeah, shout out to Dairy Queen. Shout out to Snapchat, a real one.
56:07Bill Simmons:Oh, shout out to Dairy Queen. I do want to shout out HBO for actually posting the last episode so that we could do this podcast ahead of time. Yeah, because some people don't always do that. But I admire that they trusted us, that we would be able to take that.
56:24Joanna Robinson:someone was yelling at us in the comments last week because they were like how could you not know that they were going after Maeve or whatever it was in the preview for the next time on I'm like pals we do not see the preview for the next time on when we record these
56:34Bill Simmons:podcasts but I'm glad I didn't I'm glad I didn't know that was coming I've hit the point in my life where I avoid everything like I didn't know one thing about one battle after another when I went to it the only thing I knew was the one commercial I saw but I think that's a better way to live you're in you're in yeah I'm just in an empty guest room, gazing out the window with no trailers, no information. Hey, great to do this with both of you. It was great to see you. Thanks for joining us. Thanks, Bill.
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From the publisher
Bill, Jo, and Rob run from the feds to recap the finale of ‘Task.’
(0:00) Intro
(1:00) Where does ‘Task’ land among the pantheon of HBO great shows?
(5:56) Mark Ruffalo’s performance
(11:07) Favorite scene of the episode
(14:31) What would ‘Task’ Season 2 look like?
(19:05) The extended shoot-out
(23:22) Nitpicks
(24:46) Final arcs
(46:36) Is this show better if we know the identity of the mole earlier?
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Hosts: Bill Simmons, Joanna Robinson, and Rob Mahoney
Producers: Kai Grady and Donnie Beacham Jr.
Additional Production Support: Justin Sayles
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