IR TV Review: STEAL [Prime]
The aspect of optics always plays a part in how a game is played. Of course, greed holds a big aspect within that. With "Steal", a new UK thriller series starring Sophie Turner, the angle is a heist where the texture points towards an inside job but one where everyone knows where everything is played. The key with a story like this, even over six episodes is to get the audience to trust in the characters and try and understand why or why not they might be capable of such a thing. As with most aspects, there are some ulterior moves going on below the surface. Zara (Turner) seemingly gets pulled in by Luke (Archie Madekwe) who she may or may not be involved with to help with some unsavory characters for a bit of cash. The flashbacks paint a certain story across the board but after the heist is over and done, the movement does seem a bit too cut and dry, which is because it is only the tip of the iceberg.
Enter DCI Rhys (Jacob Fortune Lloyd) who seems to have more than one monkey on his back. Lloyd also starred in the recent "Three Musketeers" movie out of the UK so this is a nice counterbalance to that. Rhys walks the line, not because he is a bad guy but because he hasn't found his balance. Zara tends to find herself in all the wrong spots even though she is trying to play it smart. Turner plays it cool enough to give us a glimpse that Zara might be slightly ahead but always seems to have the rug pulled out from underneath her at the last minute. Her relationship with her mom and the transactional nature of that really gives her motivation a bit of a jump. The ongoing perspective is that no one really expects too much of Zara. This pisses her off since she really thinks she is capable of so much more but no one gives her the chance (or maybe even cares). Meanwhile the investigation into where the money actually was lifted takes on an interesting double edged nature since it involved the pension fund for a lot of UK retirees (which would seem like is a pretty big deal in the UK).
Rhys ends up having a financial crimes investigator who used to work for a big corporation help him track down where the money actually jumped to, sometimes off the book. Meanwhile MI5 has one of their own assigned to the case who seems to think something else is going on and looks to Rhys as a possible culprit because of some of his off duty shenanigans. Everyone of course has something to hide This of course leads back to Zara whom Rhys undeniably finds attractive if not a little lost which is both true and false. The reveal plays to a certain basis of psychological and societal intent. However as always what keep the fire going in a series like ttthis is a wild card who doesn't play by the rules who possibly doesn't understand all the pieces on the board and thereby threatens to crumble it all. "Steal" wants to come off as not simple in its intent and works pretty well for a thriller while not overextending itself in its action. The beginning and ending episodes bookend the action well while the intermingling episodes keep enough tension to bring viewers back. "Steal" is an effective thriller series for the digital age focusing more on character than set pieces while still keeping its eye on the ball. B
By Tim Wassberg
