Mark Ruffalo as Tom, Alison Oliver as Lizzie, Thuso Mbedu as Aleah and Fabien Frankel as Anthony in "Task."
Tom Pelphrey as Robbie and Raúl Castillo as Cliff in "Task."
Emilia Jones as Maeve in "Task."

Mare isn't in Easttown anymore, but that doesn't mean HBO is done with crime dramas set just outside Philadelphia.

Kate Winslet's turn as a cop from a working class Philly suburb in 2021 miniseries "Mare of Easttown" became a Delaware County-accented sensation for the premium cable network, winning acclaim and Emmy nominations for the star and creator Brad Ingelsby.

Now, Ingelsby is back with a new limited crime drama boasting another movie star, Mark Ruffalo, in "Task" (Sundays, 9 ET/PT, ★★★½ out of four). The new series trades a murder-mystery whodunit for a cops-and-robbers thriller chase, all in the dour, overcast glory of a region with strong opinions about hoagies and "wooder" ice.

The two series are not directly related, but you can tell from the first scenes that they are crafted by the same producer. "Task" has the same gray-and-brown color palette, the same themes of generational trauma and the inherent unfairness of our society. But "Task" sketches a broader, ensemble-driven story that has sympathies for everyone stuck in systems and cycles that keep them down, from Ruffalo's embittered FBI agent to the surprisingly gentle father (Tom Pelphrey) leading a series of home invasions of drug dens. Both men are good, both men are bad and both men have made terrible mistakes.

There's not an ounce of levity or joy to be found in "Task," as dour a crime drama as its HBO predeccesor "The Wire," and just as morally complex. Ruffalo's fallen federal agent is Tom Brandis, a former priest who is reassigned from the field to man career fair booths after an astoundingly terrible family tragedy leaves him a broken man. He's called to lead a task force (hence the title) when robberies at stash houses of a dangerous biker gang draw the attention of the FBI. He's 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).

It's an untrained, poorly oiled machine that winds up at the center of a major investigation when one of the robberies goes very wrong, leaving dead bodies (and worse) in its wake. It's bad news for Robbie (Pelphrey), a local garbage man and generally well-liked guy who's just looking for some more money for his kids, and maybe to heal some of his old wounds. His rage-filled niece Maeve (Emilia Jones, "CODA") is floundering to raise those kids for him, prevented from living her own life until he figures out his own.

The cast expands from there, including Robbie's crew, the dangerous biker gang he's ripping off and Tom's damaged family. It's all frowns and big glasses of liquor wherever the camera turns.

Deep thoughts and deeper DelCo accents are the kind of elements we expect from an Ingelsby series, and he delivers on both (as a proud Philly resident, I'd like to congratulate Jones on the most accurate accent of the bunch, although Pelphrey is a strong runner-up). The performances shine through it all, especially Pelphrey's. He's a supporting actor in a host of other series you might have seen, but clearly destined to be a bigger star after this performance. With his grizzled beard and kind eyes, he makes an ideal foil for Ruffalo's oafish and blunt task-force leader.

While some relentelessly grim series can be too depressing to enjoy, "Task" keeps its story fast-paced, and its characters complicated and redeeming enough to avoid that pitfall. The series derives its tension from every step Tom makes towards discovering Robbie, and every inch Robbie gains in his race towards what he thinks is freedom – from jail, from poverty, from his own trauma; it's all wrapped up in his desperation. And, oh-so-coincidentally, Tom may just be looking for that same kind of freedom.

You can't look away while waiting to see if either of them will find it.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Why HBO's 'Mare of Easttown' follow-up 'Task' is the darkest show on TV

Reporting by Kelly Lawler, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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