Elisabeth Moss (The Handmaid’s Tale, Mad Men) has more than proven her chops portraying gnarly female protagonists who exist in moral grey zones. If a character is thrown into a harrowing dilemma – where sacrifice and suffering are inevitable – Moss is in her element.
In The Veil, Moss gets somewhat of a reprieve from the often haunting, harrowing The Handmaid’s Tale, though. In fact, she appears to be having a whirl of a time as Imogen Salter, an MI6 spy with a rotating roster of pseudonymous names and identities. Sporting long, glamorous blonde hair and a murderously high pair of black stilettos in the opening scenes, Moss has most definitely shaken free of June in the Republic of Gilead.
Elisabeth Moss as Imogen Salter. Credit: FX
Having unapologetically dumped her duplicitous client into the hands of national authorities, Salter whips out her phone to call headquarters for her next gig. They want her to immediately fly to a Syrian refugee camp where one of the women has been identified by Yazidi women as an ISIS leader, responsible for ordering the murders of their family members.
Merely days after arriving, Salter has both befriended and saved the life of this woman, Adilah El Idrissi (Yumna Marwan) – assigned to solitary confinement in the freezing cold, deadly makeshift refugee camp. A Parisian model and single mother, Adilah is equally as mysterious as Salter. Their relationship is one of like minds, and equally manipulative, mysterious liars. Which of them is telling the truth, and what is their agenda when they reveal something vulnerable? Are we Team Imogen, Team Adilah, or Team Imogen and Adilah against the violent, macho world of politics they’re mired in?
Elisabeth Moss as Imogen Salter (left) and Yumna Marwan as Adilah El Idrissi. Credit: Christine Tamalet / FX
The overbearing CIA man, Max Peterson (Josh Charles) and French DGSE staffer Malik (Dali Benssalah) form an unlikely partnership to track Salter and El Idrissi, uncertain of whether they’re friends or foes with either woman.
The dialogue is snappy and smart-assed, as is befitting of Peaky Blinders and Rogue Heroes creator and writer, Steven Knight. Knight is also executive producer along with Elisabeth Moss, Denise Di Novi, Lindsay McManus, (Aussie) Daina Reid and Damon Thomas. Thomas and Reid direct three episodes of the series each. Reid, Moss and Charles likely knew each other from The Handmaid’s Tale, since Reid directed episodes of The Handmaid’s Tale and Charles starred as High Commander Wharton.
Josh Charles as Max Peterson. Credit: FX
As Salter and El Idrissi take to the road, evading the pursuit of a handful of international law enforcement agents, their personal lives become fodder for hours of travel time. Both women, for all of their contrasts, have one thing in common: bad choices relating to men. For El Idrissi, it was both the father of her child, and the ISIS man she married. For Salter, it may or may not be the DGSE agent, Malik, and the rich, slimy Michael (James Purefoy, The Following). It gradually becomes clear that while the agents in pursuit are tasked with returning El Adrissi alive for interrogation, the same agents have been ordered to stop Salter – whether that means dead or alive.
Dali Benssalah as Malik Amar. Credit: FX
The plot is multi-stranded and generously draws upon global headlines: Russian oligarchs, secret agents living in the suburbs, terrorists, corrupt politicians and oblivious civilians who accidentally stumble into situations they can’t escape. But the plot is almost a secondary consideration. The Veil is really a showcase for the sort of woman spy we’re more accustomed to seeing in 1960s James Bond films. She guzzles cocktails, chain smokes cigarettes, swears like a sailor and views seduction as an elemental part of her profession. El Idrissi is fascinating, although her story sometimes falls into a cliché of the woman-as-victim: gangraped, tricked and manipulated, model-beautiful but insecure, a leader who only needs to see a photo of her daughter to give in to whatever trickery is at hand.
Nonetheless, like the super smooth, exceptionally prepared James Bond, Salter is captivating and funny, and El Idrissi will keep audiences guessing as to why she is so valuable to so many men in so many nations. You’ll have to tune in to find out if both women survive this Thelma & Louise road trip, and whether they really are partners or the ultimate foes.
The Veil is streaming at SBS On Demand. Episodes will air weekly on SBS starting Wednesday 4 June at 9.30pm.
