The Veil review: Even Elisabeth Moss seems to be bored by her performance in this over-serious spy thriller that doesn’t recognise its own silliness

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And unfortunately, the confused central performance is a by-product of the show’s own lack of identity. Written by Steven Knight, who, it must be said, works too much, The Veil feels thoroughly outdated to behold. Sure, it’s being released globally at a time when the streaming industry has already peaked and plummeted, but it reeks of something that was originally created a decade ago, but was put on the back-burner because there were more ambitious projects to prioritise instead.

There’s more than just a whiff of Homeland, or Killing Eve. Salter is tasked in the opening episode to gain the trust of Adilah El Idrissi , who has been isolated in a refugee camp along the Syria and Turkey border after being identified as an ISIS agent. She claims that she was coerced into joining the militant organisation against her will, but both the DGSE — the French secret service — and the CIA are convinced otherwise. They have reason to believe that Adilah is, in fact, the terrorist mastermind known as ‘The Genie of Raqqa’ — the most dangerous woman in the world. With the looming threat of a terror attack on US soil, a high-ranking CIA officer played by Josh Charles shows up in Paris, desperate to inject some urgency into the proceedings.

It’s as if the show itself is recognising its biggest flaw. Because even though we — and Imogen — have been told that time is of the essence, she seems to be dillydallying an awful lot. After successfully escorting Adilah out of the Syrian refugee camp and driving her all the way from Istanbul to Paris — there are no security checkpoints or highway toll plazas in this universe, it seems — she reunites her with her daughter in Paris. But even though we’re being sold a cat-and-mouse thriller — Adilah and Imogen are supposed to be engaged in a dance of wits, as are the French and American operatives — all of it comes across as a bit too placid. For instance, after arriving in Paris, Imogen is able to relax and hook up with her French boyfriend, played by Dali Benssalah. Did she forget that Adilah, like Don himself, has ‘gyarah mulkon ki police’ on her tail?

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The Veil wants to play around with the gender norms that genres such as this are usually chained to, but in trying to concoct some level of ‘chemistry’ between Imogen and Adilah, especially in the earlier episodes, the show falls into the same traps that it is so determined to avoid. The trouble, once again, is with the performances, and how they’ve been directed. Because the bond that develops between Imogen and Adilah begins to feel genuine, which it could be, it removes the possibility of both women engaging each other in an elaborate mind games, which is actually more likely, and honestly, more exciting.

All six episodes of The Veil were shared in advance for the purpose of this review. They came with the sort of disclaimers about what could and could not be mentioned that might make a reviewer wonder if they’re engaging in an act of espionage themselves. But gun to head, you’d never be able to tell what constitutes a spoiler and what doesn’t in this show. Of course, there’s some doubt — if any — around Adilah’s real identity, but beyond that, The Veil is a positively pedestrian spy drama that fails both as a character study of a driven professional, and as a politically aware contemporary thriller.

The Veil
Creator – Steven Knight
Cast – Elisabeth Moss, Yumna Marwan, Dali Benssalah, Josh Charles
Rating – 2/5