Task: Why did the show kill off Robbie and Lizzie in Episode 6? Details explored 

In Task, no one is truly safe, and Episode 6 made that clearer than ever. Within the first fifteen minutes, Robbie Prendergrast (Tom Pelphrey) and Lizzie Stover (Alison Oliver) met their tragic ends, leaving fans reeling.

However, their deaths weren’t there just to add some kind of shock value. Creator Brad Ingelsby explained that these deaths do act as turning points for the show, forcing the characters who are alive to face the fallout of their decisions and to face the crumbling world around them.

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The purpose behind Robbie’s death and the cost of revenge in Task

Robbie’s death was the culmination of his story. For episodes, Task had teased Robbie’s desperation to tie up most of the loose ends, and Episode 6 finally showed what that meant.

When he went to meet a supposed buyer for the Fentanyl, fans saw a man walking into a trap he seemed to already know he wouldn’t leave alive.

The confrontation soon went haywire as Jayson, the same man who murdered Robbie’s brother, came to settle a few old scores.

Tom (Mark Ruffalo) tried his best to save Robbie, taking him to the hospital after he was brutally stabbed, but the damage was already done.

Ruffalo told Entertainment Weekly that Tom’s compassion in that scene.

“Reflects his understanding of why Robbie did what he did...”

He also added that Tom saw him as;

“A good man who made bad choices in bad circumstances.”

Robbie’s act revealed his true intent, and that is, he hadn’t gone to sell drugs at all. Instead, he’d set himself up as bait to only draw Jayson out, fully aware that he might not make it back alive. By the time he died, his plan had already been set in motion.

He’d made sure that Maeve and the kids would all be financially safe, using Shelley's help to deliver a bag of money to them. His revenge against Jayson cost him his life, but it also redeemed him in a way and closed his story on his own terms.

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Lizzie’s death and the ripple effect of Grasso’s betrayal in Task

If Robbie’s death on Task was sad, Lizzie’s death was utterly cruel. A straight-arrow state trooper who’d spent the season trying to do the right thing, Lizzie was caught in the crossfire of other people’s issues.

After a firefight between the FBI and the Dark Hearts gang, a gun blast split open her eardrum, leaving her unable to hear an approaching car. Just a few seconds later, she was hit by Jayson and Perry’s vehicle as they fled the scene.

The fallout was immediate. County Detective Anthony Grasso, the man secretly feeding information to the Dark Hearts, had been the one to let Jayson and Perry escape. Ingelsby told Entertainment Weekly that Lizzie’s death leaves Grasso with “a tremendous amount of guilt,” explaining,

“He thought he was able to manage all these things… now the house of cards has fallen down.”

Grasso’s guilt now defines his arc. While he may not have pulled the trigger with his own hands, his betrayal did, in fact, set off the chain of events that murdered Lizzie.

Even Chief Dorsey, who protected Grasso’s cover, ordered him to stay calm to avoid any kind of suspicion. But the damage was done, and Lizzie was dead. Lizzie’s loss also toughened Tom’s resolve as he knew about Grasso being the mole, and his words, “I’m comin’ for you,” make it clear that the finale will be as personal as it can get.

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Robbie and Lizzie’s deaths in Task Episode 6 were the turning points that peeled the show to its rawest core. Robbie’s death tied together his guilt, grief, and need for redemption, while Lizzie’s death exposed the true cost of corruption and backstabbing.

As Task heads into its finale, the fallout from these two deaths in Episode 6 promises to reshape every living character, setting the stage for a long-overdue reckoning.

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