HBO’s Task Ends Season 1 With Unresolved Parole

HBO's seven-episode drama Task concluded Season 1 with Episode 7 (“A Still Small Voice”), centering on Mark Ruffalo’s Tom Brandis — a trauma‑stricken FBI agent and former priest — who reads a court letter forgiving his adopted son Ethan and urging him to come home, signaling the start of family healing. The finale resolves violent plot threads from the season — including a brutal FBI shootout and the deaths of Lizzie and Robbie, Grasso’s betrayal and attempt at redemption, Maeve fleeing with money, and Jayson’s violent pursuit — while the outcome of Ethan’s parole is left unrevealed. Creator Brad Ingelsby and Ruffalo said Tom’s imperfect, costly decision is what makes the moment meaningful, and the episode’s final image of Tom listening to birdsong underscores continuity and small grace amid loss. Ruffalo described the emotional toll of inhabiting Tom for months and a ritual note he uses to “sign out” after filming. Task has remained a top‑ten hit on HBO Max, and its blend of heavy personal drama and crime storytelling foregrounds themes of empathy, grief, and law‑and‑order tensions that leave larger social questions open should the series continue.