‘Task’ Ending Explained: Showrunner Brad Ingelsby Breaks Down the Final Mysteries

Task Episode 7 “A Still Small Voice” wraps up the gripping HBO crime series with a few more deaths, a couple more twists, and one bittersweet ending that hints that maybe — just maybe — our favorite surviving characters might end up okay.

**Spoilers for Task Episode 7 “A Still Small Voice,” now streaming on HBO MAX**

Task Episode 7 follows the fallout of last week’s installment, where it was revealed that Robbie Prendergrast (Tom Pelphrey) pulled one over on Dark Hearts gang members Jayson Wilkes (Sam Keeley) and Perry Dorazo (Jamie McShane). The bag of cash he had used to lure them into the woods was actually stuffed with travel brochures. The real money was delivered to his niece Maeve (Emilia Jones) by Robbie’s final collaborator, Shelley (Mickey Sumner).

Even though Maeve cleverly hides the money in her chicken coop, the Dark Hearts are on to her as Robbie’s last surviving adult ally. Task Episode 7 “A Still Small Voice” climaxes with a tense showdown between FBI agents Tom Brandis (Mark Ruffalo) and Aleah Clinton (Thuso Mbedu) and Jayson as he holds Maeve hostage.

So who dies in the Task finale? Who makes it out alive? Where does Maeve go with Robbie’s kids at the end? Why doesn’t Tom officially adopt Sam (Ben Doherty)? And does crooked cop Grasso (Fabien Frankel) find a way towards redemption?

Here’s everything you need to know about how Task ends…

Task Ending Explained: Who Dies in the Finale?

There are two major deaths in the Task finale. First, Jayson Wilkes finally learns that friend and mentor Perry murdered his wife Eryn (Margarita Levieva). Jayson wastes precious little time enacting his revenge, killing Perry as he bathes in a nearby river.

“I think that was a rough scene to film because, you know, we all became very close on the set with amazing cast,” Sam Keeley said, revealing that shooting the scene extra “rough” because he and Jamie McShane became super close while filming. They lived next door to each other and spent weekends hanging out.

“That was challenging to say the least, but I think that was what was exciting about it because it it just felt like we were doing real work, like we really had to go there to those places,” Keeley added. “And I think it shows in the scene. Like, it’s awful.

With his last works, Perry warns Jayson that the rest of the Dark Hearts are arriving to kill him for his repeated failures as local leader. Jayson escapes and heads to the Prendergrast house.

Meanwhile, Grasso decides to flip on the Dark Hearts. When he tells his own crooked handler, Michale Dorsey (Raphael Spbarge), that he’s going to come clean, Mike tries to convince him not to by revealing that Maeve has the money and the Dark Hearts are on the way. Grasso then has to shoot his way out of his own home when gang members close in. He suffers a gun shot to the torso, but still manages to drive all the way to Maeve to warn her and the kids that “they’re coming for you.”

However, before Maeve can get herself and the kids away, Jayson arrives and demands she fork over the money. While she takes him to where she’s stashed the cash — in the chicken coop — Tom and Aleah show up. Jayson holds Maeve hostage, with a gun at her head, as they hide in the coop. A nearly out-of-it Grasso warns Tom and Aleah that “Jason’s here” and Tom calls for backup. Tom is almost shot by Jayson from the coop, but is lured away by the sound of Aleah shooting a Dark Heart in the house. Jayson then attempts to escape, but Maeve screams, drawing the agents to her.

“I had the scenes in Episode 7 where literally I was running for my life and we got to do all of our own stunts,” Emilia Jones told DECIDER. “Actually, I remember I said to Sam, ‘Let’s go for it. Like, let’s go for it!” He was like, ‘Are you sure? Are you sure?’”

“So we were literally just tackling each other and I was fighting for my life. And then they’d call cut and he’d be like, ‘Are you okay? Are you okay? Are you okay?’” she said. “My adrenaline was high throughout the whole of the latter half of the show. It was really fun to do.”

Jayson holds Maeve at gun point while Tom and Aleah close in. Ultimately, though, Grasso shoots and kills Jayson from the backseat of his car.

So Jayson and Perry die, Grasso is able to get to the hospital in time, and Tom quietly leaves the money with Maeve.

Does Maeve Take the Kids to Canada at the End of Task?

At the end of Task, Maeve decides to pack up her car and leave Delco with cousins Harper (Kennedy Moyer) and Wyatt (Oliver Eisenson). Because it’s not explicitly stated where she’s taking them, you might be wondering if Maeve decided to follow Robbie’s dream of moving the family to Canada. According to Task showrunner Brad Ingelsby, this would be incorrect!

“I think it’s a totally different path,” Ingelsby said. “I think Maeve is like, yeah, she loves that Robbie got them the money, but she’s blazing her own trail.”

“In my head they were going to North Carolina or something. I don’t know why. I don’t know why it was there, but like, I just thought, ‘Oh, they’re going to like Wilmington or something. They’re going to make a life down there and they’re going to leave this place behind.’”

Ingelsby also stressed that he thinks the surviving Prendergrast kids are “going to be okay.”

“Maeve has some identity independence now and Harper and Wyatt are going to be okay because they have Maeve. She’s such a loving presence in this show,” he said. “I think the audience will hopefully root on Maeve at the end of this.”

So Maeve and Harper and Wyatt are living it up, free of the Dark Hearts, in Wilmington, North Carolina.

Why Doesn’t Tom Keep Sam in the Task Finale?

One of the loveliest developments in the Task finale is watching how close Tom gets with little Sam. However, Tom makes the difficult decision to let another family permanently adopt the sweet orphaned boy. Why can’t Tom and Sam be a found father-and-son duo forever?

“The ending was tough,” Task showrunner Brad Ingelsby told DECIDER, admitting that multiple people did ask him why Tom doesn’t keep Sam. “But I always said, ‘Well, the show isn’t about that. The show is about a journey.’”

For Ingelsby, it was more important that Tom learned to accept the son he already had, Ethan (Andrew Russel). Task ends with Tom giving an emotional speech to the judge during Ethan’s sentencing that acknowledges his son’s challenges, but ultimately affirms his love for him.

“I think it’s a hopeful ending,” Ingelsby said. “There’s a lot of uncertainty in Tom. He knows what it was like to live with Ethan and the challenges that Ethan has and the ones he presents. But I think Tom is ready to face the challenges now. Whereas at the beginning of the story, he wasn’t. “

Ingelsby explained that it was “through forgiveness” — a concept that’s at the core of the show’s omnipresent Catholicism — that Tom is able to “move forward in life.”

“Not that it’s going to be easy, but as he says in the speech, like it was really hard, but there was also a lot of joy,” Ingelsbey said. “I think I want the audience to leave, I want them to think that he’s going to be okay.”

Will There Be a Task Season 2?

Task was envisioned as a limited series, but Brad Ingelsby suggested to DECIDER that he wouldn’t mind returning to the show and characters.

“I’d love to do another season of Task if there’s an appetite for it,” Ingelsby said. “As long as people want to watch these stories, then I’ll continue to write them.”

When DECIDER asked Task star Thuso Mbedu if she’d like to return as Aleah Clinton, the character who seems most poised to continue the work of being on an FBI task force, she said, “Oh, one hundred percent.”

“I think Aleah aspires to be in [Martha Plimpton’s] Kathleen’s position where she could head the FBI or a task force,” Mbedu said. “Yes. Oh, one hundred percent.”