Who Is The Mole In HBO's Task? The Most Likely Candidates, Ranked

This post contains spoilers for "Task" episode 3.

Poor Tom Brandis (Mark Ruffalo). If his life wasn't bad enough with the troubles he's facing at home, his current FBI investigation just got even trickier after learning the unthinkable. According to new info, the task force he was given by Kathleen McGinty (Martha Plimpton) has a mole that's burrowed its way into the group, and there's absolutely no indication of who it might be.

It's a twist that comes at a perfect point in the limited series. Dropping this bombshell around the halfway point, in a tale that's already riddled with whiplash worthy story beats, allows this one to sit and stew within "Task" and the operation at the center of it that's already slipping up. Looking back on the story so far, it's forcing us to second guess if any of the mistakes that have arisen in previous episodes were intentional or not, and if characters making significant missteps are actually placing themselves precisely where they need to be.

Factoring this in, we've done an investigation of our own to try and deduce who might really be an informant to the other side. Below is a breakdown of every member on Tom's team and who is the most likely to be the turncoat by the end of the series. 

The best way to sniff out the rat is firstly to rule out the team members that are not on the take, and the first one to check off the list is Aleah (Thuso Mbedu). The quiet germaphobe that hasn't been too involved up to this point hasn't shown any indication or reason to be the one that's blowing the whistle. Quiet but observant, Aleah gives the vibe that she's absolutely here to work, so the chances of her playing both sides seems unlikely. As far as we know, she has nothing to lose and nothing to prove. She doesn't seem to be in a struggling state like Lizzie is, or the overly keen young officer that Grasso is presenting himself as, which puts her off the board immediately.

What seems plausible is that Aleah Is being presented more like the team's secret weapon. Think Lester Freamon (Clarke Peters) from "The Wire" or George Stone (Andy Garcia) from "The Untouchables." As a result, it feels more likely that Aleah might be on course to perhaps catch the culprit in the act first before even Tom does. Also, given that the show's creator, Brad Inglesby has proven to be so brilliant at writing strong, solitary women in his stories (as seen in the phenomenal "Mare of Easttown"), Aleah fits the bill enough that she's simply too good to be bad.

Of the three young officers under Tom's command, Lizzie (Alison Oliver) really feels like the weak link in a very questionable chain. Arriving at the job while having a very loud argument with her ex, and commenting on the condition of their temporary headquarters, she felt like an addition to this investigation that was already out of her depth. She also failed to prove herself in the field when the raid on Cliff's (Raúl Castillo) ended with Tom being seriously injured and Fabien Frankel's Anthony having to step in and save the day when the suspect made it out. That's a growing pile of issues with a single member of the task force, but perhaps it's these very setbacks that have been intentional up until now. What if this rough around the edges recruit in Tom's task force is anything but? 

So far, the one recruit on Tom's team that's been in top form is Anthony Grasso. Attentive at meetings, interested in his commanding officer's past, and switched on during the raid, Grasso has all the qualities to prove why he's not the mole. It's also precisely why he's our number one suspect.

At least with Aleah, she's quietly observing the situation and only contributing where it matters. Grasso, however, is anywhere and everywhere this case needs him to be. It would make sense then, that a mole within the task force would be this involved and passing on all the details to Perry and Jayson (Sam Keeley) whenever and however he can. 

So if it really is Grasso, how long before he gets caught? He's made it clear that he's pretty good at his job, which could indicate he's even better as his side hustle, if indeed there is one. For now, we're just going to have to hope that Tom watches his back and whoever is the rotten egg among his new batch of colleagues gets exposed before he takes Robbie (Tom Pelphrey) down.