Task Episode 2 ends with a pulse-pounding sequence that will have you terrified that the cops might actually find a kidnapped kid.
Last week, the HBO show ended with the reveal that soft-hearted thief Robbie Prendergrast (Tom Pelphrey) refused to kill a little boy who had seen his face at the scene of his latest crime. Robbie spirits little Sam (Ben Lewis Doherty) back to his house, spinning a lie that he’s actually friends with the boy’s murdered gangster parents. Of course, this doesn’t sit well with Robbie’s pragmatic niece Maeve (Emilia Jones).
**Spoilers for Task Episode 2 “Family Statements,” now streaming on HBO MAX**
Task Episode 2 “Family Statements” ends with Maeve attempting to do the right thing by Sam only to find herself in more trouble than she could have ever hoped for. Maeve tries to leave the child at a local shop close to her work, using a customer’s forgotten phone to call in a tip about the kidnapped kid’s whereabouts. This clever plan goes to shit, however, when Maeve returns to her car and discovers Sam wants to go home with her.
Because Maeve called Sam’s location in, local law enforcement — including the task force led by Mark Ruffalo‘s Tom Brandis — surrounds the area. Maeve is forced to think quickly and improvise in order to escape her own arrest.
So how did Task pull off this tense sequence? What does it all mean for Maeve’s involvement with Robbie’s crimes? And what was the most stressful part of shooting the episode for Task star Emilia Jones? Here’s everything you need to know about the end of Task Episode 2…
Task Episode 2 ends with Maeve having to think fast once she realizes that Sam is in her car and the feds are searching every vehicle.
“I remember when I first read that script, Episode 2, I was like, ‘Oh no. Oh no!‘” Emilia Jones said. “And then when Sam’s in the back, I was like, ‘Oh my goodness.’ Like, this is going to be so fun to film, but also challenging.”
For Jones, because there’s scene after scene where the tension ratchets, she didn’t want to “peak too early.” The panic Maeve feels when she discovers Sam has to crescendo when she’s forced to talk directly with FBI Agent Brandis.
“For me, it was just like mapping that whole sequence out emotionally. If I’m too nervous here, where do I go?” she said.
Mapping out the sequence was pivotal for the entire cast and crew. Series EP and episode director Jeremiah Zagar told DECIDER that he spent time with Jones, Ruffalo, and the rest of the Task cast meticulously going over the location before they began shooting. “This is the space, this is how it exists, this is where the cars are coming in, and where our positions were in every shot,” Zagar said.
Zagar also revealed that his approach to shooting “action scenes” helped make the scene even more tense.
“I think, I think, that this is important in every action sequence I’ve done… We edit the night of the shoot,” he said. “We get the edit back and we see what’s missing in the morning. So I can communicate to the actors the things that we need.”
For Task Episode 2, editor Keiko Deguchi returned the scene with the note, “We need more of Sam popping his head up out the window.” The shots of Sam peeking out were never in the script, but series showrunner Brad Ingelsby agreed with Deguchi and Zagar that “it would create tension.”
That tension was something that Jones felt, too, as she had to go toe-to-toe with Oscar-nominee Mark Ruffalo while Sam was hidden. “That was that was the peak of the the stress,” Jones said.
Maeve cleverly avoids a car search by posing as a concerned citizen. She pretends that she may have seen Sam at the arcade where she works. Thus, Brandis and his team take Maeve back to the shopping center to investigate, fully unaware that Sam is literally in the trunk of Maeve’s car.
Task Episode 2 ends with Maeve successfully outfoxing the Feds, but it’s not a victory. She returns home with Sam and pointedly asks Robbie what he’s gotten the whole family into.
“It’s a realization for Maeve that her whole world has just come crashing down,” Jones said. “You know, Maeve’s really stuck. She was losing her sense of identity before this happened. So this is a moment for her where she’s at the end of her tether and it’s really quite sad.”
Jones also revealed that there were multiple versions of the final moments of Task Episode 2. Some in which she didn’t utter that haunting final line. “We did options where I didn’t say anything at the end of Episode 2,” she said. “I just looked at Tom, who plays Robbie, and we did ones where I said where I said the line.”
Of course, the FBI isn’t the only group on the Prendergrast family’s trail. Sam’s parents were members of the Dark Hearts, a violent biker gang seeking retribution for Robbie’s crimes. Will Robbie and Maeve manages to evade both the task force and the gang? You’ll have to tune into next week’s all-new episode of Task to find out…