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This week on Tell Me About Your Father Matt, Erin, and Elizabeth break down episode 2 of HBO’s Task.
From FBI war rooms to chicken coops (both are essentially shacks), Task keeps building its character-driven “Sons of Anarchy reject script” storytelling around the big question: “What have you done to us?”
Episode 2 maintains that the dramatic anchor of Task is its characters, through fragile bonds, messy families, bad decisions, and the dangerous weight of responsibility. Sam delivers the biggest emotional punch.
What we cover in this recap:
Father figures everywhere – Perry’s got an iron grip on Jayson. Tom’s got 3 kids, we learn, and 3 more on the task force. Robbie is gentle with hens, but has kidnapped a child whose parents he executed.
The family dinner from hell – Tom’s kids (adopted and biological) clash over Ethan’s fate, while Sara, who seems to have inherited the Family Disease, delivers the show’s coldest line to Emily without any words.
Robbie’s double life – He’s plotting revenge and moving stolen fentanyl, but also making fluffy pancakes for little Sam in the sweetest (and strangest) father-son moment of the season so far.
The kids aren’t alright – Sam’s heartbreaking “deer monologue” is an ovary-throbber, Harper needs $25 for the father-daughter dance that Robbie forgot, and Erin has an unpopular opinion about pregnant therapists.
Women drivers – Whether it’s Maeve, Emily, or even Jayson’s as-yet largely wordless girlfriend in the background, the women of Task are driving the story forward while the men flail.
Acting with sandwiches – Erin explains the significance of the dad-core score with the deep-cut Pearl Jam track, “Long Road” that plays over Robbie’’s mournful introspection, and why Dan Deacon’s composition is as intentional as the storytelling. Bizzy has beef with Mark Ruffalo’s hoagie hugging scene being 8 seconds too long, and asks, How mad is Sean Penn that he is not in this?!
See you again next week for episode 3!
Matt, Erin and Elizabeth
