Sophie Turner Is Exceptional in Prime Video’s Effective Heist Thriller ‘Steal’: TV Review

In this age of late-stage capitalism, the drudgery of working to barely make ends meet can feel like living in a simulation. In Prime Video’s latest thriller, “Steal,” created by Sotiris Nikias, Zara (an impeccable Sophie Turner) finds herself in the middle of the biggest heist in British history. Zara must decide how to untangle herself so she might walk away alive. An enticing drama full of twists and turns, “Steal” is an examination of unbridled greed and how far some people will go to grasp the life they feel is owed to them.

​“Steal” opens on an ordinary day in London. Zara, a mid-level employee at Lochmill Capital, a fiduciary pensions fund, is trying to pull it together after a night of drinking, which has led to a nosebleed and a hangover.  Still, she moves through her morning as usual, showing the latest intern, Myrtle (Eloise Thomas), her desk setup and chatting with her friend and workbuddy, Luke (Archie Madekwe). Her day takes a shocking turn when a violent, prosthetics-wearing band of thieves rushes onto the office floor, machine guns blazing, intent on holding the entire company hostage. Under extreme duress, Zara and Luke, both members of the lower-level trade processing team, are ordered to carry out an unsanctioned trade. When the dust finally clears, the heist team pockets £4 billion of U.K. citizens’ hard-earned pensions.

In the aftermath of the chaos, Detective Chief Inspector Rhys Covec (Jacob Fortune-Lloyd), his partner DI Ellie Lloyd (Ellie James) and financial crimes investigator Darren Yoshida (Andrew Koji) investigate what happened. Rhys is convinced this was an inside job, but his personal life makes him a liability to his own case. A gambling addict with a crushing amount of debt looming over him, he soon realizes he may be in over his head, especially when MI5 steps in with their own inquiry into the heist.

​At just six, fast-paced episodes, “Steal” is an intense watch. The series opener sets the pace for a dynamic thriller that reveals itself like an onion, slickly unfurling to deliver various pieces of the maze-like narrative to the audience. Turner and Madekwe are excellent as two twenty-somethings trying to carve out opportunities for themselves in a world that has made living well, joyously and without crushing worries nearly impossible. Moreover, the thieves, especially the mastermind (Jonathan Singer) and rageful Sniper (Andrew Howard), are brutal, volatile and wholly distrustful of one another. Showcasing the other side of the crime from the villains’ perspective adds to the show’s taunt and unsettling pacing.

​Episode 3, “Short Run,” is riveting, offering backstory on Zara and Luke’s friendship and their respective roles at Lochmill. Moreover, the episode also highlights Zara’s strained relationship with her alcoholic mother, Haley (Anastasia Hille). Though the mother-daughter relationship isn’t a central component of the story, it does put a spotlight on a generation of young people left floundering even after following the “right” path in a world eroded by millionaires and billionaires, boldly determined to stay on top, no matter the cost.

​Still, there are a few highly convoluted choices sprinkled throughout the series that detract from its effectiveness, particularly in the middle episodes. Zara moves with reckless abandon as she tries to determine what’s really happening at Lochmill, forcing the audience to question her sense of self-preservation. Meanwhile, DCI Rhys becomes personally entangled in the investigation, undermining the show’s authenticity. However, the central theme of “Steal” is how far people will go and how much they are willing to endure when large sums of money are at stake.

​“Steal” works well because of Turner’s fantastic performance. At the core of the series is an unimaginable conspiracy that upends the whole British financial ecosystem. However, the unsettling nail-biter is really about the discontent bubbling just below the surface of society and the extreme things human beings are willing to do to give themselves a chance at the lives they think they deserve.

All six episodes of “Steal” are now streaming on Prime Video.