‘The Veil’ Finale: Elisabeth Moss on Her Character’s Massive Mistake, Shocking Loss: ‘I Don’t Think She Will Recover From This’
SPOILER ALERT: This interview contains spoilers from “The Cottage,” the season finale of FX’s “The Veil,” now streaming on Hulu.
Whoever says you can’t go home again has probably been watching “The Veil.”
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In the finale of FX’s espionage series, Imogen (Elisabeth Moss) reluctantly heads to the last place she ever wanted to be again –– the home of Michael Althorp (James Purefoy), her late father’s friend, her former lover/mentor and the kind of English rich man who can turn the tide of wars or start them. This mysterious man, who had so far only appeared in flashbacks, is Imogen’s only hope of getting new passports for Adilah (Yumna Marwan), from whom she is still trying to coax information about the looming ISIS bombing of a United States ship.
The series has operated on a global scale up to this point, but the finale is almost claustrophobic in its focus on the mind games between Imogen and Michael, who taught her everything she knows. He’s the only person who can shake her off her deep-rooted axis, something he does the second they arrive at his humble cottage –– i.e. the largest estate you’ve seen this side of Downton Abbey.
“But what’s really exciting to me is that there is this constant feeling and thought in the back of your mind that she was always moving toward that house from the beginning — and I love that,” Moss tells Variety. “Like, I always wondered if that was her design the entire time.”
Imogen will hand over the passports for Adilah and her daughter Yasmin only after she coughs up details on the ISIS plan, for which Adilah still has the detonator. Meanwhile, Michael seems interested solely in making Imogen squirm a little bit just to show her he still can, uttering phrases like “silly girl” and her real name, Violet — both of which visibly disarm her.
But his tricks also embolden her to finally speak for herself, using the opportunity to confirm her recent suspicions that the death of her MI6 father wasn’t a random tragedy. It was an assassination, ordered because he was a double agent who’d betrayed his country for Russia. His protégé Michael has adopted a similarly misguided worldview, revealing he supports ISIS’ plan as a means of sparking a humanity-cleansing kind of chaos.
Recognizing she can also push his buttons, Imogen seduces Michael all the way to the bedroom, where they nearly kill each other. But Malik (Dali Benssalah), Imogen’s current flame and French DGSE agent, storms the castle and kills Michael instead. Imogen flees with Adilah, in one last attempt to reunite mother and daughter, but Michael’s brutish chauffeur/henchman Patrick (Brian Milliagn) shoots and kills Adilah before they can leave. Distraught by the realization of how much she truly cared for Adilah, Imogen breaks down before seeing that Adilah had written Provadia, the name of the targeted ship, on the windshield before she died.
The world is saved, and Imogen sends Adliah’s daughter off to safety, before eyeing her next assignment in Athens. But not before finding out her nefarious father is not only alive, but has been keeping tabs on her. For what reason, a fiery Imogen seems hellbent on finding out why.
FX has billed “The Veil” as a limited series, but Moss and her producing partner Denise Di Novi talked to Variety about what the finale might set up next for Imogen — as well as why this was Moss’ favorite episode of the season and what Adliah’s loss will mean to her.
This show has hopped all over Europe, but the finale is mostly confined to Michael’s cottage. Why was it important that Imogen meet her maker at this point in the show?
Elisabeth Moss: I love the finale. If I can be biased, Episode 6 is my favorite episode. I think every single episode is leading to her arriving at Michael’s house. And what gets me so excited is that there is this plot reason why she needs to go to Michael’s house with Adilah, which is all fine and dandy. But what’s really exciting to me is that there is this constant feeling and thought in the back of your mind that she was always moving toward that house from the beginning, and I love that. Like, I always wondered if that was her design the entire time — to somehow get back to that house and get her questions answered about her father and Michael.
She does have an ulterior motive, and she is not your perfect heroine by any means. She makes a massive mistake, which is going to that house. But she has to. She is compelled to, for these very deep reasons that are driving her to find out the truth about her father and her life. To me, that is, like, chef’s kiss. It is exactly why you sign on for something like this. That is so, so delicious.
It is the first time we have seen Imogen frightened. You have said you knew her better than most characters you have played. Did you feel how dangerous it was for her to return to Michael?
Moss: Yes, for sure. Michael is her kryptonite. He is her Achilles heel that she knows has power over her, and can bring her to her knees a little bit. To see this enigmatic and strong, physically and mentally, character in Imogen be able to be manipulated and controlled like that is just obviously fascinating, and really fun to play. I love the fact that you present, for all these episodes, a character that is so on top of it and in control of her job and Adilah, and she’s always one step ahead. But there is this figure in her life that she just can’t quite get a handle on, and that is Michael.
Denise Di Novi: As Lizzie is saying, I think he is an incredible invention of a character. His philosophy of the world, a lot of thought was put into that, and it gives us this window into another danger that we have heard about and suspected and seen the results of. He also gives us another chance to show how, once again, Imogen is fearless and indomitable. We used to say the theme of Imogen is that she never folds. She never gives up. And here, she is at the end meeting her kryptonite person and it comes full circle for her. She is the victor, and she doesn’t let him win or manipulate her anymore. I think it is amazing to watch.
But it does come at a price. Bringing Adilah to that house gets her killed. Their story together is really beautifully bookended by beginning and ending in a car. What does it mean to Imogen that she loses the person she has risked everything for?
Moss: Oh God. I think it is one of those things I don’t know you can ever recover from, honestly. Imogen is so good at what she does, and it is not the first time she has gotten close to somebody. And certainly not the first time she had to ingratiate herself with someone in order to get the truth about whatever case she is on. But I think Adilah is different for her. They do become friends; there is a deep connection there between these two souls.
I don’t know if I’m allowed to speculate on a future that hasn’t been written, but I don’t think she will recover from this. I don’t think she will be able to get over this mistake and this loss. She may be very good at coping with those kinds of things, but I don’t know how you move on from this. It shouldn’t have happened. I think she truly believed she was going to save Adilah and reunite her with her daughter, and it is all she wants in the world. So to lose her and fail in that regard, I don’t think you come back from that.
Di Novi: I agree, and in a weird way, the greatest love stories are always the unrequited love stories. I think the tragic ending does make a point that this is kind of the nature of the life Imogen has chosen. Her job was to get this information but, as Lizzie just said, saving Adilah and reuniting her with her daughter became just as important. But in the end, she did the job she was given and did it brilliantly, and that is what her life is. Now, she has to move forward.
Do you think this mission and the revelations that come in this final episode, namely that her father is alive, has unburdened Imogen at all? She really goes through all five stages of grief as she talks to her father at the end, even though he isn’t there.
Moss: Oh my God, that scene was just everything. I loved doing that scene, because there is so much going on. You’ve got the discovery, first of all, that your father is alive, which is good news because you have mourned his death for many years. There is joy and happiness there, but it is very quickly followed by the betrayal of the fact that he has been alive and he has been following her. Watching her from afar and not a part of her life. So you have these incredibly massive, quite Shakespearian stakes at play, all in this one scene.
And I don’t think it liberates her or unburdens her, I think it ignites her. I think it gives her a whole new purpose in life to now uncover this part of her existence that she didn’t know about. And answer that question of why did he do it? I think it ignites her, but that is part of who she is as a character. She is not a character that really sits back.
Di Novi: It certainly starts a new chapter to maybe find him or figure it all out, and it is exciting in a way. You see it in her face at the end when she is going to Athens. That is kind of what she is going for.
Moss: And there is satisfaction in knowing that she was right. Because I think she always knew that something was amiss. She always knew that there was something she was being lied to about. So there is deep satisfaction in what she finds.
We finally get confirmation that Imogen did have a daughter, who has since died, with Michael. It feels like sharing that would have been the best way to connect with Adilah from the start, and she is given every opportunity to use it. Why do you think she guards what could have been her biggest asset?
Moss: Good question. I think that it is just too deep. It is too painful, that is the simple answer. In order to live the life she has to live, in order to play the 100 strangers and be adventurous and facile and quick and all the things she needs to be good at her job, that is the one thing that is too painful to give away to this world. It ties back to how I see Imogen as an actor. It is about what you choose to use and what you don’t. Sometimes things are just too close to home to to give away.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
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