“THE BEST CRIME THRILLER SINCE PRISONERS?” — Mark Ruffalo’s New Netflix Series Has Viewers SHOOK 😱💥 In this gritty 7-part masterpiece, Ruffalo delivers a career-defining performance as Tom, an FBI agent whose hunt for a killer in suburban Philadelphia turns into a battle for his own soul. Each clue cuts deeper, every twist pulls tighter — until faith, guilt, and obsession collide in a way that’ll leave you breathless. 🕵️‍♂️💀 Inspired by true events, this slow-burn thriller feels too real — haunting, emotional, and impossible to turn off. By the time the credits roll, you’ll be questioning who the real monster is. Watch below 👇

In the shadowed suburbs of Philadelphia, where Wawa hoagies and Rita’s Water Ice punctuate the grind of working-class life, HBO has unleashed a crime saga that hits harder than a Delco downpour. Task, the seven-part miniseries from Mare of Easttown creator Brad Ingelsby, premiered September 7 on HBO and Max, and it’s already being hailed as the fall’s most unrelenting thriller. Mark Ruffalo isn’t just acting—he’s inhabiting every fractured inch of Tom Brandis, a former Catholic priest turned FBI agent with a soul scarred by unimaginable loss and a liver pickled in regret. Sent to dismantle a crew behind a spate of violent stash-house robberies, Tom confronts not just criminals, but the ghosts of his own shattered faith. What starts as a procedural cat-and-mouse spirals into a moral abyss, blending faith, guilt, and raw violence in a way that crushes the creeping dread of Mare and echoes the obsessive hunts of Prisoners, Zodiac, and Nightcrawler.

Ruffalo’s Tom is no caped crusader; he’s a paunchy, prayer-mumbling everyman yanked from career-fair drudgery after a family tragedy that leaves him vodka-soaked and hollow-eyed. “Nothing left to lose” isn’t hyperbole—Tom’s crisis of faith stems from a horrific event involving his adopted son, Ethan, forcing him to question divine mercy in a world of merciless sins. Assigned to lead a ragtag task force by no-nonsense boss Kathleen (Martha Plimpton), he assembles a crew that’s as volatile as the biker gang they’re chasing: shaky state trooper Lizzie (Alison Oliver), devout detective Anthony (Fabien Frankel), and unflinching sergeant Aleah (Thuso Mbedu). Their target? A string of brazen heists on outlaw motorcycle club Dark Hearts’ trap houses, escalating into bloody turf wars that demand federal intervention.

But the real shock comes early: We know the culprit from minute one. Robbie Prendergrast (Tom Pelphrey), a garbage collector and churchgoing dad, moonlights as the masked mastermind, robbing dealers to fund a better life for his kids after his brother’s death leaves the family reeling. Pelphrey, fresh off Ozark‘s chaos, steals scenes with a hypnotic blend of desperation and tenderness—kissing his children goodnight before donning Halloween masks for midnight raids with pal Cliff (Raúl Castillo). It’s no whodunit; it’s a why-and-how-far, pitting Tom’s institutional pursuit against Robbie’s Robin Hood vengeance. As clues unearth secrets—mass graves, corrupt cops, buried traumas—the case twists impossibly, forcing viewers to root for both hunter and hunted.

Ingelsby’s script, inspired by his uncle’s exit from the priesthood and real FBI-priest collaborations at crime scenes, weaves authenticity into every gray sky and scrapple reference. Filmed on location in Delaware County, Task captures post-industrial America’s grit: eviction notices, fentanyl pipelines, and the invisible toll on “garbage men” who see society’s underbelly in every trash bin. Ruffalo, gaining 30-40 pounds for the role (complete with a prosthetic paunch that shocked producers), embodies Tom’s impediments—physical and spiritual—making up for creaky knees with sharp intuition. His mornings dunking in ice sinks, evenings in stupors, and quiet prayers underscore a man rebuilding faith amid rubble.

The tension? It doesn’t build—it pulverizes. Botched jobs leave bodies piling, sparking retaliatory carnage that blurs lines between law and outlaw. Directors Jeremiah Zagar and Salli Richardson-Whitfield amp the dread with intimate conversations—Tom confessing to priest friend Daniel (Isaach De Bankolé) about forgiveness’s limits, Robbie spinning dragon tales to mask his dragons. Supporting turns shine: Emilia Jones as Robbie’s overburdened niece Maeve, crumbling under household strain; Jamie McShane and Sam Keeley as Dark Hearts enforcers Perry and Jayson, volatile as nitroglycerin.

Critics are breathless. Rotten Tomatoes clocks a 95% fresh rating, with consensus praising Ruffalo and Pelphrey as “superb in a culturally-specific crime story that’s unrelentingly bleak but riveting.” NPR calls it Ruffalo’s “best small-screen role,” a compelling follow-up to Mare with heart amid horror. The Atlantic dubs it a “bleak world without women,” focusing on men’s vengeance and voids. Variety sees it as a “riveting cat-and-mouse” superior to Mare‘s whodunit, evoking Michael Mann’s Heat in its empathetic cops-and-robbers duality. The Guardian warns of its “downright manipulative” bleakness, yet concedes Ruffalo’s Acting with a capital A.

On X, #TaskHBO trended post-premiere, with fans declaring it “darker than Mare” and Pelphrey “scene-stealing gold.” One post raved, “Ruffalo’s Tom vs. Pelphrey’s Robbie? Pass the hoagies—this collision course is EVERYTHING.” Viewers binge-watched, drawing parallels to Prisoners‘ parental desperation, Zodiac‘s obsessive detail, and Nightcrawler‘s moral rot—yet Task amps the faith-guilt-violence trifecta to crushing levels.

Is it more intense than Mare? Absolutely. Where Winslet’s detective simmered in small-town secrets, Task boils over with shootouts, spiritual reckonings, and no easy outs. Tom’s chase isn’t for a killer—it’s for redemption, unearthing secrets that question everything: God’s plan, justice’s cost, family’s fragility. The finale? A bang that leaves burning questions—Season 2 whispers abound, though Ruffalo’s MCU commitments loom.

Based loosely on real priest-FBI ties and biker gang lore, Task normalizes the unseen: garbagemen as robbers, priests as profilers, faith as fragile armor. Ruffalo, consulting actual ex-priest agents, learned the job’s psychic toll—echoed in Tom’s haunted gaze. Pelphrey’s Robbie, nailing the Delco drawl, humanizes the “villain” with bedtime stories and bedrock love.

In a TV landscape of filtered facades, Task is raw: no levity, just layered grief and grit. If Mare crept under your skin, this crushes your chest. Ruffalo isn’t chasing ghosts—he’s exorcising them, and you’ll hold your breath through every unforgiving twist. Stream on Max—weekly drops culminate October 19. The suburbs remember; so will you.