Eat-the-rich TV is everywhere these days; how weird to find it on Amazon Prime, but perhaps the boss wasn’t paying attention. With the first-rate British series Steal, the mystery/thriller genre is infiltrated by this topical theme, which takes place in the offices of Lochmill Capital, a pension fund management firm in London. Zara Dunne (Sophie Turner) is a low-on-the-totem-pole trades processor in the bullpen, unfulfilled by day and desperately partying at night. Zara’s life turns upside down when an armed gang takes over Lochmill’s offices. She and her colleague Luke (Archie Madekwe) are enlisted to facilitate a daring digital heist — of over four billion dollars. Zara’s quick thinking and calm under pressure helps the staff of Lochmill emerge unscathed, and she’s hailed as a hero. But there are deeper layers to the mystery, which soon embroil Zara, Luke, and DCI Rhys Covaci (Jacob Fortune-Lloyd) in a far-reaching criminal plot that has broad, world-changing ramifications on the global economy.
Steal is an urgent, splashy crime thriller full of twists and suspense, its dramatics anchored by rock-solid performances from the leads. Especially effective is Turner, who displays riveting leading-lady presence as a smart, capable victim who rises to the occasion under intense pressure. Following a nerve-wracking “bottle show” pilot, it takes an episode or so to find its momentum as the canvas expands, but ultimately the narrative clicks along with Slow Horses-esque complexity and pace, adding new levels of intrigue as it progresses. It culminates in an unpredictable, explosive finale that satisfyingly wraps up its inherent societal critique without ever losing sight of Zara’s individual story — which, in a way, is a microcosmic one that encapsulates the frustrations of surviving late-stage capitalism. Great stuff.
