Based on the 2021 Turkish series Fatma, Unseen takes the same premise and sets it in Cape Town. Fatma is now Zenzi Mwale, a house cleaner looking for her missing husband, despite how everyone else already wrote him out as a deadbeat convict. Mwale, portrayed by Gail Mabalane, is a sympathetic character, and Mabalane’s restrained performance earns empathy each time her search leads to certain dead ends (pun intended). Even as the show goes into generic territory, the house cleaner’s journey still feels compelling, as the series has a great grasp as to how this thriller’s tropes work, especially for a character whose work and worries mostly remain unseen.

At the center of Unseen is Zenzi Mwale, and her desperate search for her husband leads her to violent detours. Had the series gone with a less skilled actress, her journey would have felt overly dramatic, with the show’s tried and true plot. However, Gail Mabalane’s terrific performance keeps her character as someone to root for. Every look is loaded, especially the baleful glances she gives to the people that dissuade her from picking up her husband, to the people that look down on her. Her character’s reservedness is the same silent calculation women do to ensure their safety. It’s a powerful performance that makes her character and those like her feel seen, even as those around her don’t.