(MINI SERIES) The Veil - Interesting Enough Espionage Drama Series

After months of having weekly released episode of new series on Disney+, finally there was one that has all episodes shown in a day. Although I was a bit unclear on the premise but I just wanted to give it a try. So how was the series then? Let's dive into it now.

Brief Story Line

In a remote refugee camp, a French woman named Adilah El Idrissi (Yumna Marwan - Costa Brava, Lebanon etc) was suspected of being an ISIS commander and was held captive. A mysterious woman who used the name Imogen Salter (Elisabeth Moss - The Invisible Man, Mad Men TV series etc) came to the camp and convinced Adilah to leave with her as she was in danger from people trying to kill her. So both of them embarked on a long trip to France to ensure Adilah's safety.

Meanwhile, the French intelligence agency was aware of Adilah situation with Malik Amar (Dali Benssalah - The Accidental Getaway Driver etc) in charge of the investigation under the supervision of Magritte (Thibault de Montalembert - Call My Agent! TV series etc). Things got more complicated with the appearance of CIA Agent Max Peterson (Josh Charles - The Good Wife TV series, S.W.A.T etc) who suspected that Adilah was actually indeed the high level ISIS official who was planning a major attack. 

Through a difficult and dangerous journey, Imogen tried to collect information and find out if Adilah was just a symphatizer or truly the ISIS commander. And so how would the story conclude? You could find out in the series.

End of Brief Story Line

As I said above, the premise did not have real clarity since Disney+ only put the words of "Two women play a deadly game of truth and lies from Istanbul to Paris and London. One has a secret, the other aims to expose it to save lives" about the series. Only after I watched the first episode I got to understand the plot, which I thought was pretty interesting. It felt like a psychological cat and mouse game between two intelligent women who was manipulating and trying to deceit one another.

With the progress of the story it would be clearer that there was something larger at play and not only the drama of exposing the other's secrets. Subsequent to the opening episode, the series felt more like a game of espionage and surprisingly with a bit of action too. I read that Elisabeth Moss even got injured while doing a stunt, so her dedication to her role should be admired (including practicing British accent). It's not a wonder since she was a character actress who had won awards in the past. 

For me aside from Moss, Yumna Marwan was quite capable of countering her. Both of them gave quite a strong performance. Oh, I also like Josh Charles here as he was really suitable as CIA agent Max with obnoxious behaviour and rather unethical approach. The type that you really want to punch in the face. His few altercation with Malik was a bit hilarious as well. Aside from those names, there were few guest stars too but the one that left me a great impression was James Purefoy (Solomon Kane, Altered Carbon TV series etc) as a character that I better let you find out for yourself.

Having only 6 episodes that were quite short of roughly 40-45 minutes (except for the finale that was around 1 hour) made it easier for me to complete. That's why I managed to finish it only in 1 weekend. And since it's mentioned as limited series, I was quite pleased as the story got to be resolved. Although I have a feeling that they could renew it if they are willing. This series was created by Steven Knight (co-creator of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? show and the hit series Peaky Blinders) for FX on Hulu which is also owned by Disney. This would explain some of their original series that Indonesian subscribers of Disney+ are able to enjoy.

Overall to me this was an entertaining enough series of espionage focusing more on psychological method.  However, I sometimes felt that the intensity was not too consistent and weirdly, even though the timeline was mentioned several time, I did not feel it to be very suspenseful. The final episode also felt a bit of a stretch, like trying to tie the knot to make it a full circle. I did like the part of trying to expose the secret and the characters were a joy to see too. So if you are looking for an intense spy series with lots of action, then you would not find them here. But if you prefer a more drama thriller kind and you also want to see the beautiful scenery of Paris, Istanbul, London and other locations, then likely you would be enjoying this.

Mike's movie moments rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars