Critics said the second episode of HBO Max’s crime drama Task deepened the series’ moral stakes and character work, while a New York Post columnist this week renewed complaints about long waits and inconsistent service at Starbucks locations in New York City as the company pursues a turnaround plan.
In a recap of Episode 2, writer Sean T. Collins praised creator Brand Ingelsby and director Jeremiah Zagar for expanding the show’s focus to the Dark Hearts, the biker gang connected to the home invasions that drive the early plot. Collins wrote that the episode makes the gang’s leaders — Perry, played by Jamie McShane, and his protégé Jayson, played by Sam Keeley — into grieving, frightened figures when they discover that a child tied to the slain bikers, Sam, is missing. That revelation, Collins noted, establishes a narrative parallel: the gang’s search for the boy is as urgent and personal as the task force’s investigation.
Collins highlighted several performances and thematic threads in his recap, including Emilia Jones’s portrayal of Maeve, who faces a choice about whether to turn the missing child over to authorities or shield him to preserve a fragile family unit. The recap also cited Tom Pelphrey’s role and a family subplot that exposes tensions between biological and adopted siblings, noting that the series asks uncommon ethical questions for a cop drama about who the audience should root for.
Other elements singled out included the episode’s framing of systemic economic and social pressures — comparisons were drawn to Ingelsby’s earlier work Mare of Easttown — and technical contributions such as Jeremiah Zagar’s direction and Dan Deacon’s score. Collins called the episode, and the performances within it, a reason to keep watching as the series continues to probe grief, loyalty and the consequences of poverty and addiction.
Separately, New York Post columnist Steve Cuozzo wrote that despite a pledge from Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol to accelerate service and restore the company’s in-store experience, many New York outlets remain hampered by long lines, confusing menus and what he labeled an absence of effective floor management. Cuozzo wrote that stores he has visited in Manhattan showed cleanliness issues, staffing inconsistencies and slow order fulfillment that undercut the chain’s turnaround efforts.
The column cited a company sales report showing a two percent decline in sales between April 1 and June 30, described as the sixth straight period of falling sales in the Post piece. Cuozzo criticized expanded menus and promotional drinks that require multiple steps or equipment to assemble, and described how the Starbucks app and card payments can complicate transactions and extend wait times. He also described a personal experience of an 11-minute wait for a simple iced green tea lemonade and said some staff would rather spend time embellishing cup messages than prioritize drink preparation.
Cuozzo quoted baristas and customers who said complex seasonal beverages and new store directives have increased service times. One example in the column was a beverage called the Strawberry Matcha Strato Frappuccino, which staff members said requires two blenders and six ingredients, making it time-consuming during peak periods. The columnist urged Starbucks to simplify its menu and reinstate more hands-on floor management to improve throughput and store cleanliness.
Both items underscore different facets of contemporary culture: the role of narrative television in exploring social and ethical dilemmas, and the daily experience of consumer-facing brands adapting to a mix of digital ordering and in-store theater. In Task, critics said that the series’ willingness to humanize criminal characters and to foreground messy moral questions has strengthened its second episode and set up a broader conflict between legal authorities and those tied to the victims. In retail coffee, the Post columnist argued that operational clarity and visible management are central to restoring customer confidence as Starbucks pursues corporate changes.
Producers of Task have not issued immediate comment beyond the broadcast and press materials for the series. Starbucks executives have publicly outlined a plan to restore what CEO Brian Niccol described as the company’s “warmth and human connection,” and company statements and interviews have referenced both menu pruning and technology investments; the Post column framed those initiatives as insufficient to address what it described as pervasive in-store problems in some New York City locations.
Critics and columnists offered distinct prescriptions: the Task recap recommended continued attention to character detail and emotional authenticity as the series progresses; the Starbucks column recommended operational changes and a return to more visible, directive store management. Both pieces reflect how audiences and customers are responding in different ways to creators and corporations shaping everyday cultural life.