diff --git a/backend/app/services/tag_service.py b/backend/app/services/tag_service.py
index c798bfb..4616812 100644
--- a/backend/app/services/tag_service.py
+++ b/backend/app/services/tag_service.py
@@ -743,6 +743,10 @@ async def normalize_existing_tags(
         "sample": sample,
     }
     start = time.monotonic()
+    log.info(
+        "normalize_existing_tags: %d group(s) need changes (budget=%ss)",
+        len(touched), time_budget_seconds,
+    )
     for done, (key, members) in enumerate(touched):
         # Time-box: stop cleanly before the Celery limit kills us mid-group and
         # strands the run as a timeout. The caller re-enqueues to finish the
@@ -754,6 +758,16 @@ async def normalize_existing_tags(
             summary["partial"] = True
             summary["remaining"] = len(touched) - done
             break
+        # Heartbeat so a long run is diagnosable instead of silent — the timeout
+        # operator-flagged 2026-06-07 produced zero logs because the only log was
+        # per finished group and it was stuck mid-group on a lock.
+        if done and done % 25 == 0:
+            log.info(
+                "normalize_existing_tags: %d/%d groups (%d merged, %d errors, "
+                "%.0fs elapsed)",
+                done, len(touched), summary["merged"], summary["errors"],
+                time.monotonic() - start,
+            )
         canonical = key[2]
         names_by_id = dict(members)
         # Survivor: prefer a member already named canonically (no rename, no
diff --git a/backend/app/tasks/_async_session.py b/backend/app/tasks/_async_session.py
index e8c9094..0252dc3 100644
--- a/backend/app/tasks/_async_session.py
+++ b/backend/app/tasks/_async_session.py
@@ -15,8 +15,15 @@ from sqlalchemy.pool import NullPool
 from ..config import get_config
 
 
-def async_session_factory():
-    """Return ``(sessionmaker, engine)`` bound to a fresh async engine."""
+def async_session_factory(*, server_settings: dict | None = None):
+    """Return ``(sessionmaker, engine)`` bound to a fresh async engine.
+
+    ``server_settings`` (optional) are applied by asyncpg as per-connection GUCs
+    on connect. Because NullPool opens a fresh real connection per checkout, every
+    transaction in the task inherits them — used to set ``lock_timeout`` so a
+    statement blocked on a lock fails fast instead of hanging to the Celery hard
+    limit (operator-flagged normalize_tags timeout 2026-06-07).
+    """
     cfg = get_config()
     # NullPool: this engine lives for ONE task (created + disposed per
     # asyncio.run loop), so intra-task connection pooling buys nothing and
@@ -26,5 +33,13 @@ def async_session_factory():
     # phase 3 (asyncpg ConnectionDoesNotExistError, Anduo #40014). NullPool
     # opens a fresh real connection on each checkout, so phase 3 always
     # reconnects clean; pre_ping is then redundant.
-    engine = create_async_engine(cfg.database_url, future=True, poolclass=NullPool)
+    connect_args = {}
+    if server_settings:
+        connect_args["server_settings"] = {
+            k: str(v) for k, v in server_settings.items()
+        }
+    engine = create_async_engine(
+        cfg.database_url, future=True, poolclass=NullPool,
+        connect_args=connect_args,
+    )
     return async_sessionmaker(engine, class_=AsyncSession, expire_on_commit=False), engine
diff --git a/backend/app/tasks/admin.py b/backend/app/tasks/admin.py
index 8096707..c6a1b08 100644
--- a/backend/app/tasks/admin.py
+++ b/backend/app/tasks/admin.py
@@ -126,7 +126,16 @@ def normalize_tags_task(self) -> dict:
     from ._async_session import async_session_factory
 
     async def _run() -> dict:
-        async_factory, async_engine = async_session_factory()
+        # lock_timeout=30s: a per-group merge repoints FKs across image_tag and
+        # series_page; if a statement blocks on a lock (e.g. behind a schema
+        # migration holding ACCESS EXCLUSIVE on series_page — the exact wedge that
+        # made this task run to the 40-min hard limit with no progress,
+        # operator-flagged 2026-06-07), it now fails fast. The per-group handler
+        # catches it (rollback + error++) and the loop continues, so one blocked
+        # group can't strand the whole chunk.
+        async_factory, async_engine = async_session_factory(
+            server_settings={"lock_timeout": "30s"}
+        )
         try:
             async with async_factory() as session:
                 # normalize_existing_tags commits per group internally.