The Veil's Thrills Can't Cover Up Its Dated Take on Global Politics

FX’s The Veil is the latest lady spy thriller. It stars Elisabeth Moss as an international crime-fighter with British intelligence (although she works with all sorts of Western powers) who primarily goes by “Imogen.” Imogen’s got a very particular set of skills, to borrow a phrase, and they make her an excellent field asset. Yes, she can kick ass but she really distinguishes herself by getting people to trust her, and knowing when they’re lying versus telling the truth.

In the first episode, Imogen immediately puts those skills to use with Adilah (Yumna Marwan), who is at a refugee camp on the Turkish-Syrian border when the other women there ID her as a ruthless terrorist leader. Imogen needs to get Adilah out of there and assess her true identity, two objectives that remain in place for a lot of the series as the two women play a fascinating game of cat and mouse.

As such, the series, written by Peaky Blinders' Steven Knight, is bound to evoke comparisons with Killing Eve — both shows do plumb the underexplored realm of the female psyche in spy settings. The Veil is interested in the unique ways a woman may be motivated to become a lethal political operative, how motherhood factors in, and the ways in which gendered expectations affect both women.

Killing Eve went further on the latter front — remember when Jodie Comer’s Villanelle sent Sandra Oh’s Eve a suitcase of better clothes to mess with her head? The Veil doesn’t have that sense of playfulness or insight, but having two women as the leads still opens up new possibilities that make it feel relatively new and fresh.

Unfortunately, The Veil does not rethink much more than the gender of its leads, offering up a retrograde vision of international politics. Since 9/11, TV has regularly been serving up a consistent depiction of terrorism as perpetuated by a conflated Arab/Muslim brown other, as scholars like Evelyn Alsultany have noted. These shows use what Alsultany calls “simplified complex representations,” taking pains to either give the terrorists a voice or portray non-terrorist Muslims but, in the end, for all their gestures to the contrary, these shows always reinforce the idea that the U.S. and its European allies are justified in using violence against Muslim/Arab communities, who are not allowed the same tools.

The Veil continues this approach, showing that in the decades since 9/11 Hollywood hasn’t gained much insight into global relations. The default narrative of Western righteous exceptionalism and the East as a site of lawless danger still holds. Hopefully, few people are looking to shows like The Veil to shape their worldviews and global politics, although Alsultany presents compelling evidence otherwise.

But if you go in not expecting any insight into global conflicts, The Veil is entertaining. The spycraft is pretty fun as global powers slip by each other’s high-tech monitoring, thanks to some cloak-and-dagger work. The series lacks the delightful costumes of, say, The Americans (a show that did have something to say about politics and the world we inhabit), but the machinations of Imogen, Adilah, and their crew are intriguing.

Josh Charles is perfectly cast as Max Peterson, a U.S. agent the French call “the most Americans of the Americans,” bringing the comedic relief. Constantly clowning on his Parisian hosts, he manages to be delightfully pompous and stereotypical — a man who thinks might is always right and who’s happy to disregard the Geneva Conventions to achieve his objections, but isn’t above getting in a physical altercation in an airport or complimenting French food.

Moss and Marwan deliver excellent performances as the series’s leads. Both actresses shapeshift, with Marwan alternating between a damsel in distress and a ruthless leader, while Moss can be a warm savior one moment, a bumbling American the next, and a calculating British operative after that.

The interplay between the two women is thrilling to watch as they each maneuver to have the upper hand. Who is manipulating who and why is nearly always in question and fascinating to try to untangle. But Imogen’s backstory (she’s an orphan, naturally) is too pat, offering easy explanations that directly answer questions a more sophisticated show would let the viewer parse. Meanwhile, Adilah remains largely unknowable. The drama in The Veil hinges on trying to figure her out, but the show doesn’t give enough context for her ever to become scrutable, ultimately reaffirming the idea of Muslim women as needing to be saved by the West.

The result is a series that feels thrilling in the moment, but ultimately turns fetid upon reflection. The Veil relies on a heavy-handed score to up its drama, but once the ’90s electronica has faded, the suspense goes with it. There are no questions to ponder beyond Imogen and Adilah’s interpersonal relationship, no broader context to make this show feel important. No truths unveiled other than that the rehashing of tired tropes around terrorism can still power a plot.

The Veil will no doubt be an exciting watch for many viewers. But for those who see a connection between how the media portrays terrorism and the human rights abuses currently occurring in Palestine and elsewhere, the show replicates a dangerous narrative that a few well-paced chase scenes simply cannot overcome.

The Veil premieres April 30 with two episodes on FX on Hulu. Join the discussion about the show in our forums. 

A writer and activist, Cristina Escobar is the co-founder of LatinaMedia.Co, uplifting Latina and gender non-conforming Latinx perspectives in media. She writes at the intersection of race, gender, and pop culture.