A rough 'Task,' but it's worthy

'Mare' creator's drama follows two tragic men on opposite sides of the law.

- ROBERT LLOYD

MARK RUFFALO as FBI agent Tom Brandis, from left, with Alison Oliver, Thuso Mbedu and Fabien Frankel in "Task," which premiered Sunday on HBO.

In “Task,” which premiered Sunday on HBO, Brad Ingelsby, creator of the 2021 miniseries “Mare of Easttown,” which introduced the wider world to Wawa and the Delco accent, returns with another tale of crime and family in the rural-suburban wilds west of Philadelphia. Where women were at the center of “Mare,” men are the subject here - a cop and a criminal, symmetrically arranged - messed-up middle-aged single fathers who care about their kids.

Both have been loaded with tragedy. Robbie (Tom Pelphrey), whose wife took off a year before, has a much-missed dead brother in whose house he's living with his two kids and young adult niece (Emilia Jones as Maeve, a secret hero); he's a garbage collector with a sideline in robbing drug houses, which he identifies through their trash. This routine has been successful enough that he and his partner, fellow trashman Cliff (Raúl Castillo), have drawn the attention of the authorities.