Steal Review: An Over-Complicated Heist

Warning: This review contains spoilers for the entirety of Steal Season 1.

Steal tells the story of Zara, whose boring day job gets a lot more exciting when gunmen show up demanding the transfer of 4 billion pounds into accounts of their choosing.

As the thriller progresses, we find out more details about this heist. Some of the information adds some drama and excitement to the mix, revealing a bit more about our characters.

Learning that Zara and Luke were involved, for instance, makes them a lot more interesting as characters. They aren’t just people we are following because they were unluckily chosen to assist in the heist. They were approached by the thieves and paid for their cooperation. 

This reveal adds a bit more dimension to their characters and some unexpected motivations for both Zara and Luke. Going into Steal, you think you know who Zara and Luke will be, and it’s refreshing to have the show start to change course slightly.

Now, not only do they want to keep their involvement under the radar from the police, but also to keep their money. People will do a lot for five million pounds, as we see through both Zara and Luke’s actions throughout the season.

Speaking of Zara, she’s the highlight of the entire series and really the only reason to watch this show.

She’s a fascinating character and not at all what you initially expect her to be. Steal shares slowly throughout the six episodes just how much she’s been underestimated by almost everyone in her life.

It’s not hard to sympathize with her, especially as we see how she can do so much more at her job and in her life. Watching her play those around her to get what she wants is extremely rewarding.

Through Zara and Luke, we are able to learn things about the thieves separate from what the cops and their investigation are able to show us. Unfortunately, Steal takes things a bit too far by unnecessarily spending time with the thieves.

We don’t learn anything new from their solo storyline, nor do we gain anything from Luke’s abduction. It would have been far more beneficial to not spend time with them at all until Zara is confronted with a handcuffed Luke and a random thief in her home.

Then, we could have either been told everything we see through Luke’s time being abducted, or we could sit in the dark, metaphorically, as we try to decipher the exact relationship between Luke and this thief — is Luke going to sell out Zara? Can she trust him?

Overall, the heist is too complicated for its own good. The show keeps adding layers to this mystery and throwing in more and more players — the police, Zara and Luke, MI5, the thieves — there’s too much going on.

Steal spreads itself too thin trying to give every storyline its due. This causes some things to fall flat or feel rushed. The one thing the show should’ve nailed but didn’t is the reveal as to why the heist happened in the first place.

Darren orchestrated everything to expose how the rich hide their money. He’s making a statement that, unfortunately, gets lost in the chaos that is this season.

The decision to slowly reveal things through media coverage is a neat concept, but it gets drowned out when there’s so much else going on.

A bigger focus on those revelations leading up to Darren’s confession would have been hugely beneficial. Because while we all love a good, shocking twist at the end of a thriller, it shouldn’t be more confusing than exciting.

Darren being the mastermind is surprising, but the more you think about it, the more it makes sense.

Steal shows us how smart he is multiple times throughout the season, and so when Rhys unmasks him, so to speak, everything clicks into place. This is also what should have happened when Darren explained his motivations, but it’s not.

It’s an underwhelming reason because it feels as if it came out of nowhere. If Steal had simplified (ahem, cut) other storylines throughout the season, then it could have invested a bit more time into laying the groundwork for the financial activism twist at the end.

Steal does an alright job at keeping you entertained throughout its six episodes, but ultimately, it delivers a mediocre heist thriller.

Stray Thoughts

• Did anyone actually want the romance between Zara and Rhys?
• I was (and still am) skeptical about the intern. There is too much focus on her, and there must be some reason why.

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Steal is now streaming on Prime Video.

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