“He’s horrified”: Task’s 'Perry' Jamie McShane opens up about the shocking death in Episode 5

HBO’s Task does not shy away from bloodshed and death, and has already killed off several characters. Another twist awaited fans in the recently released Episode 5, Vagrants, as Jayson’s wife, Eryn, played by Margarita Levieva, met with her end.

During the episode, Perry, the leader of the Dark Hearts, had a tense confrontation with Eryn after he realized that she had lied to him. In a desperate attempt to escape, Eryn jumped into the lake. But Perry followed her and accidentally drowned her.

Jamie McShane, who plays Perry, has now talked about the shocking death in an interview with Variety. The actor said that his character did not actually want to kill Eryn and was horrified when he realized what had just happened:

“When it hits him, he’s horrified, but then within that moment, the gangster mentality clicks inside.”

Jamie McShane talks about Eryn’s death in Task Episode 5

In Task Episode 5, Eryn jumps into the lake and cries for help, but the children partying nearby do not hear her due to loud music. Scared that people might hear her and contact the authorities, Perry follows her and shoves her head into the water. However, Eryn dies by drowning, and the gangster is left shocked for a moment. Talking about the situation, Jamie McShane said during the interview:

“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.”

Further addressing why Perry downed her, McShane revealed he was only trying to keep her quiet and but ended up killing her accidentally. Considering how close he is with Jayson, it makes sense that he would not have wanted to kill his wife:

“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.”

McShane also talked about the experience of shooting the intense scene, disclosing that he hurt himself during the lake shots and had to be taken to a doctor due to a broken tendon in his finger:

“That was a brutal shoot. As soon as I tried to get up from the water, which is on all sorts of loose rocks, I went down hard, and I snapped a tendon in my finger on the first take, and I couldn’t straighten my right ring finger. They called the medic and they took me to the emergency room, because they had to see if it was broken or not.”

Task tells the story of a seemingly normal family guy who has been carrying out violent robberies at various trap houses in his town. The FBI then makes a dedicated team to hunt him down. Meanwhile, the Dark Hearts biker gang also chases him, seeking revenge for their loss.

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Apart from McShane, Task stars Mark Ruffalo as Tom Brandis, Tom Pelphrey as Robbie Prendergrast, Alison Oliver as Lizzie, Fabien Frankel as Anthony Grasso, Emilia Jones as Maeve, Thuso Mbedu as Aleah, Martha Plimpton as Kathleen, Silvia Dionicio as Emily, Phoebe Fox as Sara, and Sam Keeley as Jayson.

Task airs new episodes on HBO on Sundays.

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