An espionage thriller that upends several conventions of the genre, the FX series “The Veil” streams exclusively on Hulu, beginning today.
For starters, how many spy series or movies present two female leads? In this dense drama, Elisabeth Moss plays an intrepid British agent who assumes the name Imogen Salter at the beginning of the show — because she likes the name Imogen.
Actually, just before that, she’s seen (whatever her name is) with a German agent, sharing a congratulatory cocktail in an airport lounge, just before a squad of Interpol officers arrive to arrest him after he’s fallen for her very long con.
From that posh locale, the scene shifts to a frozen mountain camp on the Turkish-Syrian border housing refugees from the region’s many wars and atrocities. When an aid truck breaks down, crowds of starving women descend on it to loot its provisions. Sensing trouble, one woman, Adilah (Yumnah Marwan), tries to help and distribute the food only to women with children. In the ensuing chaos, she’s identified as an ISIS terrorist and set upon by the crowd, who pummel her and nearly succeed in lynching her on the spot.
Once rescued, Adilah’s whereabouts come to be known to MI6, who send the newly minted Imogen to retrieve her and debrief her before rival agencies can capture her or angry mobs kill her.
Not to give too much away, but Imogen appears to have an agenda of her own, and takes Adilah on a prolonged road trip, much to the confusion of several spy agencies. So we don’t so much have a case of cat and mouse here, but two rivals sharing a car ride on a voyage of mutual discovery.
Look for Josh Charles (“Sports Night”) as Max, a brash CIA agent, described by his French rivals as “the most American of the Americans” — a slight he takes as a kind of honor.
While many of Moss’s roles, from “The Handmaid’s Tale” to “Shining Girls” have put her through the ringer, the camera work here often accentuates her blue eyes and blond hair, reminding us that spy dramas often trade in glamor. For all the beauty shots, Moss is reported to have fractured her spine during the making of “The Veil.”
Speaking of American Americans, Moss sports an authentic British accent here. OK, the Los Angeles-born Moss holds dual U.S. and U.K. citizenship. But in an industry where it is common for actors from England and Australia to take on American accents and roles, Moss is fairly exceptional in moving in the opposite direction. She also developed a fairly convincing accent in the series “Top of the Lake,” created by New Zealander Jane Campion.
TONIGHT’S OTHER HIGHLIGHTS
— Violence claims the head of the New York Federal Reserve on “FBI” (8 p.m., CBS, r, TV-14).
— On two episodes of “Lopez vs. Lopez” (NBC, TV-PG): true confessions (8 p.m.); secrets revealed (8:30 p.m.). The second episode is the season finale.
— A corpse’s discovery casts a pall on a wedding ceremony on “Will Trent” (8 p.m., ABC, TV-14).
— The team welcomes a new face on “FBI: International” (9 p.m., CBS, TV-14).
— “The Express Way With Dule Hill” (9 p.m., PBS, TV-14, check local listings) looks at ways that music therapy is used in treating drug addicts in Appalachia.
— Missing teens harbor dark secrets on “The Rookie” (9 p.m., ABC, TV-14).
— An arrangement unravels on “FBI: Most Wanted” (10 p.m., CBS, r, TV-14).
— As his patient faces a ticking clock, Shaun finds a perfect kidney donor whose religious delusions complicate matters on “The Good Doctor” (10 p.m., ABC, TV-14).
— “Frontline” (10 p.m., PBS, check local listings) sifts through mountains of evidence to determine how many arrested suspects have died in police restraint and custody.
CULT CHOICE
Under the spell of his neglected son’s birthday wish, a slick lawyer (Jim Carrey) must spend a day without uttering a falsehood, fib or equivocation in the 1997 comedy “Liar, Liar” (8 p.m., MTV2, TV-PG).
SERIES NOTES
Fiona loses patience with Thony on “The Cleaning Lady” (8 p.m., Fox, TV-14) … “Weakest Link” (9 p.m., NBC, r, TV-PG) … The case of the vanishing hockey player on “Alert: Missing Persons Unit” (9 p.m., Fox, TV-14) … “Password” (10 p.m., NBC, TV-PG).
LATE NIGHT
Jimmy Fallon welcomes Tiger Woods, Benny Blanco and Todd Barry on “The Tonight Show” (11:35 p.m., NBC) … Joe Manganiello, Zarna Garg and Queen Cora Coleman visit “Late Night With Seth Meyers” (12:35 a.m., NBC) … Taylor Tomlinson hosts Reggie Conquest, Jordan Temple and Paul F. Tompkins on “After Midnight” (12:35 a.m., CBS).
