Comedy
Only Murders in the Building
It’s fun, but the show is guilty of lack of restraint in the second degree—a senseless crime if ever there was one.
In another life, Tom and Robbie may have found a friend in each other.
Both men wrestle with grief. They mourn the loss of family. Both struggle to connect with surviving family members. And they long for simpler days found only in the teary looks they give to old family photos.
Tom’s a former priest turned FBI agent, struggling with his faith and work alike following the family tragedy that put his son in jail. His supervisor, hoping a case might help him work through his pain, puts him in charge of a task force to track down three burglars who’ve been breaking into a plethora of drug houses and stealing the ill-gotten gains for themselves. The majority of the homes are affiliated with a motorcycle gang called the Dark Hearts, and its members have started slaying other gangs’ drug dealers in retaliation. Tom needs to find and arrest the trio before they inadvertently start a turf war.
Robbie, meanwhile, works as a garbage man—a job he uses to scope out the homes of drug suppliers before he and his friends break in to take their money. It’s all in the hope of putting the drug money to a more noble use—providing a better life his children. Following his wife’s departure and his brother’s murder, they live in constant tension with his 21-year-old niece.
Both hope to provide some sort of reconciliation and healing to their families.
But as they spiral toward each other, it’s clear that both won’t be able to get what they want.
Max’s Task thrusts viewers into the lives of two grieving men. It is no surprise that the first episode rarely grows any less depressing.
Granted, the show explores ideas about working through our suffering. But those messages are somewhat muddled behind the larger conflict of the show: Tom’s pursuit of Robbie amid the growing threat of a turf war. That central conflict comes with an abundance of profanities, blood-spewing deaths and even occasional nudity.
Interestingly enough, Task also seems interested in bringing ideas about faith into the mix, too. Tom’s background as a lapsed Catholic priest creates moments in which he and others grapple with religion. Time will tell if such conversations end up playing a deeper role in the show’s slow-burn plot.
Task is ultimately at its best when it’s depicting the emotional conversations its characters have. It falters when its FBI storyline inevitably picks back up, turning the show back into a generic and crude crime thriller.
And its content issues will leave viewers feeling aggrieved, too.
(Editor’s Note: Plugged In is rarely able to watch every episode of a given series for review. As such, there’s always a chance that you might see a problem that we didn’t. If you notice content that you feel should be included in our review, send us an email at letters@pluggedin.com, or contact us via Facebook or Instagram, and be sure to let us know the episode number, title and season so that we can check it out.)
Tom’s supervisor tasks him with taking down a masked group of thieves before their actions spark a turf war. Meanwhile, Robbie hopes the money he’s stolen might provide a better life for his family.
A man briefly flashes his naked rear to the camera. A man and woman passionately kiss and remove their shirts, intending to go further before they’re interrupted. We see men shirtless. There’s a crude reference to a sexual act. Someone shares that a woman is stuck in bed due to a leaky uterus. Noting the slow pour of liquid out of a cup, Tom compares it to an old man’s prostate. We see a man from behind as he urinates.
We see four people die from gunshot wounds onscreen, spraying blood across the walls. There’s a picture of two dead drug dealers. As men attempt to forcefully subdue a woman, she bites them. Men take punches and get bashed in the head with the butt of a gun. We’re told a father made his son sleep in a basement whenever he was mad at him.
A priest tells Tom that their friend published an article in the National Catholic Register on Franciscan priest Richard Rohr’s The Universal Christ, a controversial book that argues Christ is present in all matter, denies the substitutionary atoning work of the cross and claims salvation is not through explicit faith in Christ, instead arguing that God saves all people, and not just those who formally believe in Jesus Christ. As the two discuss it, Tom mocks Rohr’s views by knocking on his kitchen table and attempting to find the Lord in it. When nothing occurs, Tom notes that Jesus must be busy using the bathroom.
Tom silently prays. When Robbie calls his friend a monk, the man denies it, saying that “monks pray.” A man celebrates his engagement, stating that “two bodies, one soul—it’s a spiritual thing, you know.” A priest states that he’ll be administering four baptisms the next day.
People drink liquor and beer. A couple of people are visibly inebriated. People smoke marijuana and cigarettes. A man says he won’t get a DUI because the police won’t be able to catch him.
There are roughly 75 uses of the f-word and 15 uses of the s-word. We hear a crudity referring to the female anatomy. We also hear “a–,” “b–ch,” “d–n” and “h—.” God’s name is used in vain six times, including two instances paired with “d–n.” Jesus’ name is likewise used in vain four times.
Kennedy Unthank studied journalism at the University of Missouri. He knew he wanted to write for a living when he won a contest for “best fantasy story” while in the 4th grade. What he didn’t know at the time, however, was that he was the only person to submit a story. Regardless, the seed was planted. Kennedy collects and plays board games in his free time, and he loves to talk about biblical apologetics. He’s also an avid cook. He thinks the ending of Lost “wasn’t that bad.”
It’s fun, but the show is guilty of lack of restraint in the second degree—a senseless crime if ever there was one.
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