You can’t deny that Robbie from Task doesn’t really give the vibe of an antagonist

HBO’s crime drama, Task, premiered on September 7, 2025, with a gripping story about two men with different but similar kinds of grim lives. The show follows Mark Ruffalo’s Tom, an FBI agent who is dealing with a tumultuous situation in his personal life, and Tom Pelphrey’s Robbie, a garbageman who heists with his team in drug dens.

While Robbie and his team’s burglary is the reason for the creation of Tom’s task force, he still does not appear as the antagonist of the show. Robbie lives with his children (whom he loves) and niece in his brother’s house. He takes part in heists with Cliff and Peaches to make ends meet, which his job as a garbageman does not fulfill. He is lonely and hasn’t hurt innocent people yet.

The premiere episode of Brad Ingelsby’s series depicts Robbie more as a lonely man who loves his family rather than a ruthless antagonist.

More on this in our story.

Task: Robbie and his team steal only from drug dens

In the premiere episode of Task, Robbie (Tom Pelphrey) is introduced as a normal man who is doing his day job as a garbage man. But the scenario changes at night when he and his team wear masks and go on their heists and steal from drug-stashed houses. Robbie is not introduced as a harmful and violent thief in Episode 1.

Even the DEA informants reveal that Robbie and his team had not harmed any innocent life, as they only target drug dens. However, this does not mean that he cannot commit murder, as we see in one of their heists, where they killed two people when they went to steal from their house.

However, the show still manages to depict and create a distinction, showing that Robbie is not the clear antagonist but someone who suffers due to a failed society and system. He steals and also lives an average life of a lonely man who resorts to online dating after being frustrated with being lonely.

Task: More about Robbie

Robbie’s family life also depicts another facet of his personality in Task. When he accidentally ends up in Maeve’s room and hides in the closet before trying to exit without her and her boyfriend’s notice, he also shows he is not someone devoid of decency.

Later, when he gets caught, he initially even apologizes to Maeve for his unwanted intervention, a behavioral trait that an antagonist might not showcase. Furthermore, the episode also showcases that Robbie is not cunning and smart enough when he decides to go to the heist, even after Cliff’s suspicions about the house.

At the end of the premiere episode of HBO’s Task, he and Cliff had to decide whether to kill the young boy who had seen their faces or leave him and risk being caught. Ultimately, he decides to take the boy home rather than killing him, showing that he is still far from committing atrocious crimes.

The show depicts Robbie as someone capable of hurting, but whether he will become the ultimate antagonist will be revealed in the upcoming episodes. Based on the premiere episode, he definitely does not give antagonist vibes.

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