“Everyone is out to escape something in Task, though it will be holding viewers happily hostage: Perhaps the best crime thriller of the year, it’s also a validation of the seven-, eight-, or nine-part TV series.” That’s what Wall Street Journal TV reviewer John Anderson wrote about this new HBO MAX series.

Task is a seven-episode television miniseries created and written by Brad Ingelsby for HBO. It stars Mark Ruffalo, Tom Pelphrey, Emilia Jones, Thuso Mbedu, Raúl Castillo, Jamie McShane, Sam Keeley, Fabien Frankel, and Amanda Mahlaba.

FBI Special Agent Tom Brandis (Mark Ruffalo) is lured out of a semi-retirement to head aI FBI Task Force to deal with a string of violent robberies in the working class suburbs of Philadelphia. Brandis is “saddled with a motley crew from local law enforcement, including shaky state trooper Lizzie (Alison Oliver), domestic violence survivor Aleah (Thuso Mbedu) and pretty boy detective Anthony (Fabien Frankel, free from the chainmail of his “House of the Dragon” role).”

If you’re in the mood for a gritty crime series, Task delivers. New Episodes drop each Sunday on HBO MAX. GRADE: Incomplete but trending towards a B+