Task Star Tom Pelphrey On Why [Spoiler] Death Was Inevitable

HBO's 'Task' just blew up its penultimate hour, taking two major players off the board and locking in a finale that is clearly not here to make anyone feel better. One of those exits was Robbie, and according to the guy who played him, that ending was pretty much baked in from the start.

What actually goes down in Episode 6

Episode 6 turns into a massacre in a hurry. Robbie, played by Tom Pelphrey across six episodes, takes a fatal knife shot from his Dark Hearts rival Jayson (Sam Keeley). Tom tries to save him — and yes, that’s Tom the character, played by Mark Ruffalo, not Tom the actor — but Robbie bleeds out. Meanwhile, Lizzie (Alison Oliver) also doesn’t make it; she’s run down as Jayson and Perry speed off from the crime scene. It’s brutal, but sadly, it tracks with the world this show has built.

• Robbie (Tom Pelphrey) is stabbed by Jayson (Sam Keeley) and dies despite Tom (Mark Ruffalo) trying to keep him alive.
• Lizzie (Alison Oliver) is killed when Jayson and Perry run her over while fleeing.

Tom Pelphrey on why Robbie was never getting a happy ending

Pelphrey told Collider he badly wanted Robbie to make it out — his dream version had the guy slipping away to Canada to be with his family. But even he admits that was fantasy-land for this show. The way he sees it, a clean getaway would have felt false in a story this tightly wired around cause and effect.

'This has to go the way it’s going to go... If we’re going to be honest and tell the truth about how this is going to play out, that’s how this has to go.'

It’s a harsh take, but he isn’t wrong. Given the body count and the choices made, Robbie dodging consequences would have broken the spell. Also, points for unintentional chaos: having an actor named Tom (Pelphrey) dying in the arms of a character named Tom (played by Mark Ruffalo) is the kind of name confusion this show would absolutely do to us.

When the end arrives

'Task' wraps it up with its seventh and final episode on October 19. After this week’s gut punch, expect the show to floor it to the finish.