Task Episode 6: Robbie’s last moments redefined his story, and broke us all

HBO's Task delivered a devastating episode on Sunday, October 12, 2025, with its sixth episode, "Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a river." The episode saw the death of not only one, but two major characters that have been around since the very first episode of the miniseries: Robbie Prendergrast (Tom Pelphrey) and Elizabeth "Lizzie" Stover (Alison Oliver).

Moreover, these two characters die right before the title card pops up on the screen. In fact, the title card pops after Robbie's death in the opening scene of the episode. Thus, the rest of the episode follows the consequences of the devastating opening scene. The synopsis of this Task episode reads:

"The Task Force, Dark Hearts, and Robbie converge in the woods, leading to a dramatic showdown with far-reaching consequences."

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How did Lizzie and Robbie die in Task Episode 6?

The episode opens right where the fifth episode left off: Tom Brandis and Robbie have pointed guns at each other in the forest. However, as we suspected, Robbie saves Tom's life as the former shoots a Dark Hearts member and thus begins a three-way shootout between Robbie, Dark Hearts, and the FBI task force. As Tom fights Perry Dorazo, Robbie is fighting Jayson, who killed Billy.

Tom manages to subdue Perry, and Robbie almost comes out on top, but Jayson stabs the former. Jayson picks Perry up as Grasso helps them escape. As the two are driving in their truck, they accidentally run over Lizzie, killing her instantly. Meanwhile, Tom helps Robbie and asks the sheriff to drive him to a nearby hospital. However, Robbie breathes his last in the sheriff's car in Tom's presence in the opening minutes of this Task episode.

Actor Tom Pelphrey addressed Robbie's death in Task Episode 6, in a USA TODAY interview:

"I felt the same way about Robbie's death as Ben's in 'Ozark.' It's the purest form of tragedy. There's a beauty and an innocence to both Ben and Robbie that cynics would call naivete or foolishness. Both deaths feel surprising and inevitable at the same time. There's an innocent optimism that doesn't have a place in this world."

Emilia Jones, who plays Maeve in the series, said this while appreciating Pelphrey's performance in the HBO series:

"Tom gave Robbie a big heart. Robbie could be hotheaded, angry, and make terrible decisions. But he was always looking out for what was best for his family."

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Mark Ruffalo says that Tom empathized with Robbie:

While Tom and Robbie don't share screen space for a lot of time, it seems that they formed a bond in the small time they spent together. As Robbie is breathing his last, Tom is there to comfort the dying man, making him delve in deeper and bring out the priest side. Mark Ruffalo sat down for an interview with Entertainment Weekly after Task Episode 6's airing.

In that interview, revealing that Tom understood Robbie's rage, he said:

"It's what makes Tom a really great agent: his empathy. It's his superpower, because he knows how to get under the skin of the people he's looking for, and it makes it more difficult, but it also makes him a much more canny agent. The time he spends with Robbie, he's surprised by his level of humanity, and he understands the need for revenge, loss, justice, and retribution. Things that transcend the law, which is a human thing. He has a lot of care for him in the short time they're together. He loves him, and when he dies, he sees a soul. There's an idea of last rites, baptized, and being saved, that there's no way to get to heaven, let's say, without those things."

The actor then continued:

"He sees Robbie as a good man who made bad choices in bad circumstances. I don't think he sees himself as that different, really. That's empathy. He's moved, and it propels him into forgiveness for his son, who murdered his wife."

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What can we expect from Task Episode 7?

At the beginning of the episode, Robbie throws the fentanyl bag into the river before he fights Jayson. Perry and Jayson finally locate the washed-up bag in the closing minutes of the episode. However, in a surprising twist, the two find nothing but magazines inside the bag. Meanwhile, Ray Lyman's wife, Shelley, delivers a backpack containing money to Maeve.

Thus, the upcoming episode, also its last, would see Maeve trying her best to protect herself, Wyatt, and Harper (Robbie's children) from the Dark Hearts. Simultaneously, Tom and Aleah will try to investigate Grasso, who is also dealing with the guilt of losing Lizzie. Writer and creator Brad Ingelsby said this to Entertainment Weekly:

"The impact Lizzie leaves on the group is a profound one. What her death does is it adds a tremendous amount of guilt, in terms of Grasso's storyline. He thought he was able to manage all these things, he had this house of cards he constantly tended to, and now the house of cards has fallen down, and he's left with the guilt and shame."

As for Grasso, Ingelsby said that the character will be at his lowest in the finale of Task, stating:

"All the balls in the air come crashing down. The horrible death of this woman he cares about. He's the cause of her death. He literally lets Jayson and Perry go, and because he lets them go, they run into Lizzie. In addition, it makes Aleah and Tom determined to get to the truth."

Apart from that, there is also the issue of Eryn that Perry hasn't informed Jayson about. If you remember, Perry accidentally drowned Jayson's wife, Eryn, in the fifth episode of the series, Vagrants. Even Jamie McShane, who plays Perry, said that he did not intend to kill Eryn:

"Perry had no intention of killing Eryn. He tells her that he gave her a clean way out of her situation, and now they have to handle it differently. When he tells her to go, he’s telling her that he’s taking her back to confess to Jayson, who will find his own way to deal with her. When she runs away, he’s trying to get her until he realizes that those kids are up [on the cliff] partying and playing, and Eryn is just screaming bloody murder. He tries to get her to be quiet while he’s looking up at the kids, and he’s just not fully realizing what he’s doing. When it hits him, he’s horrified, but then within that moment, the gangster mentality clicks inside."

Thus, we see Jayson still desperately trying to call Eryn, but unable to reach her in this Task episode. Jayson tells Perry that he is worried, but he does not inform his adopted son that he killed his wife. Thus, some believe this plotline might be finally resolved in the finale this coming Sunday.

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Find out the fallout of the devastating deaths in the sixth episode this Sunday on HBO Max this week as Task concludes its seven-episode run.