The Camp – As the opening episode of The Veil begins, Portia (Elisabeth Moss) meets Tomas (Philipp Christopher). Tomas tells her everything will be completed once they get to Berlin. After he says she’s been invaluable, Portia doubts he’ll feel that way when Interpol arrives. Portia says she’s the person who has recorded and memorized every move he made and every word he said for the last 37 days. A lot of it has been highly illegal. Tomas curses her before he is taken away by Interpol agents. As Portia leaves, she calls to say it’s done and she wants to be called Imogen. At a refugee camp on the Syrian and Turkish border, Guy (Dan Wyllie) yells for the vehicle to move to the north road.

Sandrina (Joana Ribeiro) tries to find out what’s happening. Groups of refugees run for the food, but Guy says no food will be distributed until the vehicle reaches the food station. The refugees begin unloading the truck anyway. One woman in the crowd begins shouting “Daesh”. She accuses another woman, Adilah El Idrissi, of being ISIS and killing her husband and daughter. Adilah (Yumna Marwan) is assaulted by others. They create a makeshift noose and attempt to hang her. Daan (Aron von Andrian) intervenes before they can kill Adilah. Imogen arrives at the camp a short time later. Guy believes miracles do happen since they never send anyone to help them. He gives her a blank badge because they didn’t say who they were sending.

Guy asks who she is. Imogen explains she was due to go home five days ago, but she agreed to come. She thinks London is home. Guy shows her around. There are an estimated 10,000 refugees there. Most of them are Syrians, but there are some Yazidis too. Guy says they’re mostly women since ISIS killed the men. Imogen just realized yesterday would’ve been her birthday so she needs to call her mom. Moments later, Guy catches her roaming around. Imogen questions why there’s a military uniform inside the camp. The soldier is there for the protection of a French woman. Guy explains that one of the Yazidis recognized her from Raqqah. She’s supposedly ISIS and her name is Adilah. Guy explains they sent her fingerprints to French spooks and Americans. The guard sneaks off at night to get warm so Guy expects to find her dead.

He may feel that way because he was in Dohuk in Iraq. After he says he saw what ISIS was capable of, Imogen asks if he’d kill Adilah himself. He talks about the possibilities. Guy tells her to speak to Philippe (Yoli Fuller) to call her mother. Adilah wraps a phone in a bag. Imogen approaches Philippe and convinces him to go for a walk while she speaks to her mom. Once she’s alone, she calls DGSE Headquarters in Paris to tell Malik Amar that the situation has changed. Witnesses confirm she’s one of the few high-level female commanders of ISIS. Malik tells Imogen to get her to do Edip Koi Camp as quickly as possible. They need to get to her before the Americans. Imogen approaches Adilah’s tent and tells the guard Guy sent her to assess her condition. Adilah has a pocketknife. Imogen tells her she works for an NGO and might be able to help her stay alive.

Adilah puts her knife up and asks why Imogen would want to keep her alive. Imogen tells her they’ve pledged to keep people alive. Adilah reveals she was stabbed during the fights. She is worried about being poisoned if she takes medication. Adilah admits they hate her. Imogen asks if she deserves to be hated. Adilah tells her she went to school outside of Parish and learned English there. She likes the English poets. Adilah asks why Imogen cares about her. Imogen tells her how she rescued worms when she was young. She doubts anyone will come for Adilah as long as she is there. Guy speaks to Philippe to ask about Imogen calling her mom. Philippe doesn’t know what they talked about since he wasn’t there. Guy called Pieter at HQ and he knows nothing about Imogen. He’s suspicious since they usually don’t send people to help in this type of weather.

Adilah tells Imogen how someone saw her in a launderette and took pictures of her. Then, she ended up in Paris. Adilah started to think and use drugs. She mentions one man who was bad. Her family disowned her because of it all. Imogen asks how she ended up being accused of being a member of ISIS. Adilah has a child in Paris but she left her. Her child is the only reason she wants to stay alive. Imogen promises to try to get her antibiotics and get her out of Syria. She’ll go to Turkey where she can make a claim to be repatriated to be processed properly. Two people burst into the tent and try to kill Adilah. They end up starting a fire. Imogen helps Adilah escape. Outside, Imogen takes down someone with a gun and uses it to tell the group to get away from them. Later, Guy tells Imogen that she’s a liar. Imogen doesn’t deny it.

She asks if he found a way to be less lonely here and if there’s just one. Imogen believes that’s the reason Guy will allow her to leave with Adilah and enough petrol to get to Turkey. Guy doesn’t understand why she’d trust Adilah if she is who they claim she is. Although Guy is harmless, he insists Adilah is not. Imogen threatens to file a report against him. Before long, she is allowed to leave the refugee camp with Adilah. Sandrina asks how Imogen can’t realize Adilah only wants to cut her throat. Imogen suggests she does know. Once they’re on the road, Imogen tells Adilah they have no radio so they’ll have to talk. She wants to start with family. Imogen ignores a call. Malik (Dali Benssalah) goes to the DGSE surveillance room in Paris and seems to track Imogen. Imogen and Adilah stop and talk about English poets.

Adilah tells her about her grandpa who was a hero of the Algerian Revolution. He was okay, but the rest of her family is not. Malik approaches Michael Althorp (James Purefoy) who wants to know about the most wanted woman in the world. Malik tells him about Adilah. She was identified by witnesses as a senior ISI commander called Sabaine Al Kubaisi. Although she claims she’s innocent, Adilah was identified by six different Yazidi witnesses. Adilah shows Imogen a picture of her daughter. Although Imogen doesn’t have children, she doesn’t know how a mother could leave one behind. Adilah says she just couldn’t bring her along. Malik believes Adilah may also be the “Djinn Al Raqqa” or “The Genie of Raqqa”.

In Arabic, Genie’s original meaning is shape shifter. Michael says no one on their list of persons of interest has the name Adilah El Idrissi. Imogen tells Adilah that her family is dead. She has a man occasionally. The Americans should arrive at the refugee camp tomorrow morning to look for the target’s DNA. They have sent Max Peterson (Josh Charles) to Paris. It means they’re taking this very seriously. Malik says the target is French so this is a French-led operation. Michael reminds him that the director forced them to ask MI6 for help. Malik says she’s the best in the world at this. If this woman is lying about her identity, she will find out. Michael wonders if Malik is a little biased. Malik is told to be there to make Max comfortable. Michael says an informant for Syrian intelligence reported that a high-level female ISIS commander is part of a breakaway ISIS cell.

They’re planning a large-scale attack on an unknown Western target between seven to ten days from now. Malik is convinced Imogen will find out if the woman in the car is a genie or a devil. Imogen injects Adilah with medicine. She didn’t ask for the knife because she’s not afraid of Adilah. Imogen reveals she was attacked when she was younger so she learned to protect herself. Adilah was trained to fight and kill, but she insists she didn’t. Imogen asks her not to lie. When Adilah was in Raqqah, they moved to a small village and had to gather people up. The men and boys were taken away. They locked the women in. The fighters would come and do whatever they wanted with the women and girls. Adilah denies giving orders to male fighters. She claims she was trying to stop them.

She tells Imogen how she set the captive Yazidi women free. Then, she joined some refugees walking to the border. Someone in the camp still recognized her. Adilah is adamant she never killed anyone. When they get to Edip Koi, the fighters will know her and they will kill her. She claims Imogen is taking her to die. Malik meets Max. Max questions why the DGSC is allowing Malik to run a British agent who he was screwing in London regularly three and a half months ago. Then, he questions why the DGSC is allowing the Genie to roam around the territory of a NATO ally with Malik’s girlfriend. Malik grabs his phone and says he’ll return it when it’s been cleared. They fight over the phone briefly until soldiers check on them and Max gets his phone back. Max says America is taking over the investigation and Malik’s girlfriend should expect a series of escalations.

Adilah asks Imogen to tell her who she is. Imogen worries that would completely undo her. She is shown with a man in a flashback before telling Adilah that she lost something a long time ago. She’s been trying to find out why she lost it ever since. Imogen asks Adilah why she joined that brutal circus. Adilah admits she doesn’t know why she did it. She would like to live long enough to find out. Imogen decides to drive toward Istanbul instead of Edip Koi. Later, Imogen stops to speak to Malik. Imogen thinks Adilah was but she isn’t sure if she still is. Malik asks her not to do it again. Imogen ends the call. Once she gets back into the vehicle with Adilah, she admits she has no clue what comes next. A flashback shows Imogen with Michael.

 

The Veil Review

The opening episode of The Veil sets up a familiar story that most viewers have seen before. Elisabeth Moss stars as Imogen Salter who is tasked with getting the truth from Adilah El Idrissi. Adilah may be a high-level commander in a breakaway cell of ISIS that’s planning an attack in a few days.

The American, Max Peterson, says America is taking over the operation, but he faces resistance from Malik and the DGSC. The story can possibly get more interesting as the clock runs down and we get closer to the attack, but the opening episode wasn’t particularly promising. Some scenes took away from the overall seriousness of the subject material. After all, these characters are trying to stop a terrorist attack that could kill many innocent people.

Yet, they’re childishly fighting over a phone in an airport. Some of the performances aren’t as strong as they could be while others are great. Elisabeth Moss doesn’t come across as believable with a constant smile on her face. There’s no one to cheer for here at least not yet. There needs to be something to set this apart because I am not seeing it yet.

The opening episode was a pretty bland affair, but there’s still time for the story to become more gripping. This episode scores a 5.5 out of 10. Recaps of The Veil can be found on Reel Mockery here. Find out how to support our independent site at this link. Learn more about advertising with us here. Discuss this show and others at the Reel Mockery Forum.