Task Episode 6 “Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a river” features the deaths of some of the HBO show’s most beloved characters. The tense showdown that ended last week’s episode immediately erupts into violence. Characters are shot, stabbed, and run down. However, after all that pain and sorrow, Task Episode 6 ends on a strangely hopeful note. One that suggests maybe Robbie Prendergrast (Tom Pelphrey) has won?

**Spoilers for Task Episode 6 “Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a river,” now streaming on HBO MAX**

Early on in Task Episode 6, Robbie and Tom Brandis (Mark Ruffalo) find themselves fighting off the likes of Jayson (Sam Keeley), Perry (Jamie McShane), and the rest of the Dark Hearts.

While Tom is brawling with Perry in a cabin, Jayson is chasing Robbie and his duffle bag full of drug money through the woods. After they exchange several rounds of bullets, Robbie calls back to Jayson: “Jayson! You want this? Is this what you came for?” Then he tosses the bag into a swiftly running river.

Jayson and Robbie begin brawling to the death. The enmity between the men fueling their punches. Eventually, Robbie has Jayson in a chokehold. It seems he might win. He might finally get retribution for his brother’s murder. But then Robbie’s whole body goes slack. He rolls over and Jayson is holding a bloody knife. Jayson has stabbed Robbie.

Jayson stands over Robbie and flexes his knife hand as if he’s preparing to deliver one final blow. That’s when Tom, who beat Perry into submission at the cabin, appears. Jayson runs away and Tom rushes to Robbie. Even though Tom manages to help Robbie to a car, the thief with a heart of gold — the Robin Hood of Delco County — dies, bleeding out in the backseat. His final moments are marked by memories of leaping into the quarry on a sunlit day with brother Billy (Jack Kesy).

So Robbie dies. Perry and Jayson eventually track down the bag of cash in the river. Elsewhere, Grasso (Fabien Frankel) does all he can to save Lizzie (Alison Oliver) when his secret allies, the Dark Hearts, descend, but she is mowed down by the gang’s getaway car anyway. So how does Task Episode 6 end on a positive note?

Because it turns out the money wasn’t in the bag that Robbie threw in the river. The money was on its way to Maeve (Emilia Jones). So what’s up with that twist? How early did Robbie plan this? And how did Task turn Episode 6 around with one glorious final shot?

Task Episode 6 Ending Explained: Was Robbie’s Plan to Die? How Does Maeve Get the Money?

So it turns out that Robbie purposely lured the Dark Hearts to the cabin in the woods as a diversion to face Jayson down and to make sure the money got to Maeve and the kids. He teamed up with Shelley (Mickey Sumner), who sold the drugs to her contact and split that money into two bags. One was for her, to get herself and her kids away from her abusive husband Ray. The other was meant to be delivered to Maeve on Robbie’s orders.

Task Episode 6 therefore ends with Jayson and Perry realizing they’ve been fooled, Maeve rolling in dough, and a single shot of a happy Robbie swimming in the quarry. Robbie won.

Of course, Robbie’s plan only works if he can convince everyone around him that he’s doing the opposite. So at what point does this masterstroke occur to Robbie? When in the story does he realize he might have to sacrifice himself to make Maeve and his kids’ lives better?

“To me, I started getting that sense — that I keep to myself — when he goes to the truck depot to talk with with Bartosz,” Tom Pelphrey told DECIDER, referring to the scene where Robbie tries to arrange secret transport to Canada.

“Sam gets out of the car and he’s returning the fish in the lake and then the guy sees him and Robby loses his temper,” Pelphrey said. “Like I think up until that point, he’d been able to tell himself that he had things kind of under control. And I think losing control like that and like getting so close to blowing the whole thing, makes him start to realize that this plan is shaky at best….and I might need a Plan B.” 

While it’s entirely possible that Robbie could have survived Plan B — I mean, he almost killed Jayson — it’s the only version of events that protects the kids even if Robbie falls.

“By the end of this, we love him so much and you feel like he has left some sort of legacy for his kids. That isn’t all bad,” Task Episode 6 director Salli Richardson-Whitfield said. “But what [showrunner] Brad [Ingelsby] has done by that point in the writing, he’s just set up everything so well with the characters that all of that is earned and your eventual love for Robbie is earned, and that’s why it’s so heartbreaking.”

“I know I’m biased, but I love Robbie so much,” Pelphrey said. “I loved what he was trying to do so much and how he was trying to do it .”

Which is why Pelphrey was so happy that Brad Ingelsby added that final shot of the episode as a “moment of completion.”

“The way that that [Episode 6] ended was constructed in post. That was not in the script,” Pelphrey revealed. “We are all very fortunate that we’re in Brad’s hands. You know, Brad is on set all day, everyday. Brad wrote this thing. Brad knows this thing. While you’re there, he’s very quiet, very deferential, and loves everybody else bringing their ideas, bringing their truth. He hired everyone for a reason and he encourages them to do their thing. But always, always, always, he knows the story and he’s trying to take care of it.”

Pelphrey said that Ingelsby revealed to him that the episode as written needed something to “really just put a button on it.” So he went through the footage that Task‘s other director, Jeremiah Zagar, took in the quarry flashback to add that bittersweet button to the episode.

“I think that’s everything,” Pelphrey said of the final shot. “I mean, I think that’s why Brad knew he needed it.”

How Many Episodes are in Task?

There are seven episodes in Task, which means there is still next week’s finale to worry about. While it might seem like Robbie won, the Dark Hearts are still looking for their money, Brandis is now hip to Grasso’s betrayal, and there are more loose ends to tie up.

Task Episode 7 premieres next Sunday, October 19 on HBO and HBO MAX.