[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Task, Season 1 Episode 2, “Family Statements.”]

Task continues to push viewers to the edge of their seats in the latest installment, “Family Statements,” as Maeve (Emilia Jones) has a close call with FBI agent Tom Brandis (Mark Ruffalo).

After realizing her uncle Robbie (Tom Pelphrey) had kidnapped Sam (Ben Doherty), the son of Dark Hearts biker gang members, she decides to take matters into her own hands as she attempts to turn in the boy via an anonymous tip. Driving to a nearby toy store, she tells Sam to go inside and pick out something, and she’ll follow behind, but instead she dials 9-1-1.

But as sirens begin to near and Maeve observes what’s going on, she learns that Sam has snuck back into the car, putting her in a precarious position as authorities surround the area. While she attempts to leave, a trunk check forces her to come up with a diversion, telling authorities she saw a confused child in the toy store, and eventually, she is dragged into an arcade where she’s asked to identify the child among a lineup as Tom observes her.

She manages to believably convince Tom and others that one of the random children is who she was referring to, and she’s released, returning home with Sam in tow. Upon her return, though, she runs into Robbie and asks with simmering anger what he’s done to them. As viewers see in the episode, the Dark Hearts are an organized bunch that is seriously dangerous. A kidnapped kid is a quick way to ask for trouble.

“She’s just trying to do the right thing,” Jones tells TV Insider of Maeve’s motivations. “She’s been put in such a difficult situation. When you meet her, she’s incredibly stuck and is a mother figure to her uncle’s children. She’s trying to create structure, and she just feels like she’s slowly starting to lose her identity.”

That much was evident in the show’s premiere when Maeve brought a date home, and things didn’t go to plan when Robbie unceremoniously interrupted things. “And so, when Robbie pulls her into this other mess, she feels her whole world start to just crumble around her, and she’s livid because she has been amongst the Dark Hearts before… Robbie has dragged her into this criminal activity again,” says Jones.

The stakes of Maeve’s attempt to turn Sam in heighten as soon as viewers discover he’s snuck back into the car, and Jones reveals, “In the scene in the car with Mark [Ruffalo], when she’s trying to do the right thing by turning Sam in, I tried to emotionally map it out so I wasn’t peaking too early with certain emotions because it’s a long sequence and it’s super stressful from start to finish.”

And if this is only Episode 2, we can only imagine the further levels of stress viewers are in for. In the meantime, let us know what you thought of the intense moment in the comments section below, and stay tuned for more from Task in the weeks ahead.

Task, Sundays, 9/8c, HBO and HBO Max