‘Task’ Star Reveals Perry Never Intended to Kill Eryn in Episode 5: “I Just Wanted Her To Shut Up”

Well, HBO‘s Task has killed again. Yet another character meets their untimely demise in this week’s Task Episode 5 “Vagrants.” The tragic death scene toys with our emotions by not only offering the victim a glimmer of hope that’s grimly snatched away, but also teasing that the killer didn’t intend to take a life in the first place. It was all an accident?

**Spoilers for Task Episode 5 “Vagrants,” now streaming on HBO MAX**

Early on in Task Episode 5 “Vagrants,” Dark Hearts leader Perry Dorazo (Jamie McShane) tracks Eryn (Margarita Levieva) to a secret spot overlooking the quarry below. Perry sees Robbie (Tom Pelphrey) leaving, thus confirming that Eryn is the traitor who has been working against the Dark Hearts in retribution for her lover Billy’s murder.

As Perry rolls up, Eryn understandably panics. She jumps into the water in an effort to swim away. Her hope? To grab the attention of a group of kids camping above the quarry. The camera then cuts to this group of teenagers, who are blithely unaware of the violence unfolding behind them because their music is too loud to hear anything.

“I think one of the most beautiful things about cinema is that you can change perspective so quickly,” Task Episode 5 director Jeremiah Zagar told DECIDER. “I thought of it as tragic, you know? That there’s this possibility for hope and then it’s sort of sucked away.”

“They’re listening to music, they’re getting high and they don’t pay attention. And I love the reveal of it, right? That you that you pull back and you don’t know if they’re going to notice or not and slowly you understand that they won’t.”

Because the kids don’t hear or see the fight below, Perry is free to unleash fury on Eryn. They scuffle and he eventually drowns her. The twist, though, is Perry looks horrified that this has happened. When we asked Task actor Jamie McShane if Perry intended to kill Erin, he bluntly said, “No. No, no, no.”

“He intended to take her back to deal with [the situation],” McShane said. “In Perry’s opinion. get her back to her husband and let him deal with it, but I just got to get her back.”

“So that was all, but then she ran and swam and I had to just get her to shut her up. And then there were kids up on the hillside. So I just wanted her to shut up.”

McShane then turned to co-star Sam Keeley, who plays Erin’s partner Jayson, and said, “Your wife doesn’t shut up.” 

Keeley shook his head. “She did not in that moment.”

Panicked, Perry leaves Eryn’s corpse in the water, suggesting he wants to cover up his involvement in her death. And who could blame him? After all, the whole reason Eryn betrayed the gang and help Robbie steal from them was because a jealous Jayson beat Billy to death.

Task returns this Sunday, October 12 on HBO and HBO Max.