The series 'Steal', which at first glance presents itself as a crime thriller about a 'theft of the century' and financial corruption, seemingly an anti-capitalist statement against inequality, actually reinforces the existing military-capitalist order. It hides the 'Epstein class' behind a sacrificial figure, justifying this class with murder, normalizing the role of the military broker, and ridiculing intellectuals and resistance leaders in the guise of Darren Yoshida, leaving individual theft as the only rational horizon.
Significant Haste
The project was announced in May 2024 under the name 'Haven', and filming began in London that same month. The creator, Sotiris Nikias, previously wrote crime novels under the pseudonym Ray Selestin but had no experience as a television screenwriter. Nevertheless, for his debut, Amazon and Drama Republic brought in directors Sam Miller and Hattie MacDonald, and cast Sophie Turner, known from 'Game of Thrones', surrounded mostly by a television and less prominent cast. Turner reported that she met Sam Miller after reading the script. Her participation in the project was driven not by Nikias's reputation, but by the industrial package assembled by the production company Amazon and the director. Her presence serves a clear function: to lend authority, market appeal, and promotional power to a text that conceals its main message until the final moments.
The war between Israel and Iran began on June 13, 2025, and the United States entered it a week later. Months later, the final title, official images, and release date were announced, after which it premiered on January 21, 2026. This period, along with the completion of work on the project, underscores the haste mentioned below.
Yoshida is present from the beginning, yet he is given almost no human dimension: he does not establish relationships, advance conflict, or possess a past or personality. During the first five episodes, the evil is distributed among Milo, Gold, mercenaries, MI5, and the financial network. Then, in the final minutes, all these threads suddenly cease, and Yoshida becomes simultaneously the architect of the entire operation and the bearer of a political manifesto. It gives the impression that the original antagonist was removed, and a new mission was attached to the body of a minor financial investigator—a mission that also erases the initial role of this secondary character.
The Epstein Class and the Individual Body
'The Epstein class' is not the name of a small group around Jeffrey Epstein. It is a transnational class at the center of the world order, connecting politicians, capitalists, bankers, military brokers, military figures, media operators, and celebrities through a common network of money, bodies, war, and entertainment. The Epstein case became a symbolic embodiment of this class: one person found himself at the center of a scandal, was eliminated through an ambiguous death, while the main network remained untouched.
Milo Carter-Walsh plays the same role in 'Steal'. He is the only relatively well-developed embodiment of this class: he possesses money, connections, and access; he doesn't need money, and he is prone to villainy wherever risks can be calculated, but his actions never achieve moral clarity. He is then killed and presented as a mid-level organizer of the theft. His body absorbs the audience's moral outrage, allowing the financial, political, security, and military network behind him to remain unnoticed. The body is sacrificed; the class remains.
Gold: Whitewashing the Military Broker
Sir Toby Gold, head of an arms company and military broker, is a silent, embodied representative of Israel and the most obvious member of the 'Epstein class' in the series. However, the text does not place him at the center of moral decay. The stolen money goes into accounts linked to him; he is questioned, provides several documents, and exits the plot. Peter Mullen's imposing presence lends him power, reality, and audacity, but the narrative is not directed against him. The military broker, possessing vast wealth and hidden networks, becomes a natural part of the world.
Elsewhere, an MI5 officer, played by Anna Maxwell Martin, intimidates Zara in a short scene, threatening her with counter-terrorism legislation and effectively forcing her to choose between the police and the security apparatus. Even in an appearance lasting only a few minutes, the state is endowed with character, power, and agency. Gold also has character. Milo has a body. The only alternative—revolutionary Yoshida—does not become a character and does not even conclude as a type.
Yoshida: Resistance Leader as Caricature
In Yoshida's sloganistic, barren voice, he speaks of millions of starving people, tax havens, and a system that fails ninety-nine percent of the population. His language is close to the intellectual tradition of David Graeber and Yanis Varoufakis. His method of action also resembles resistance, defense, and revolutionary leaders: long-term planning, secret network, infiltration of enemy structures, indirect command of operations, and the creation of a patient, parallel infrastructure. The laptop containing a virtual bank is a compressed image of Gaza's tunnel sovereignty: an alternative, hidden, and mobile order that must survive under pressure from a stronger force.
'Steal' unites radical thinkers and resistance leaders in the form of Yoshida, and then condemns him, without even taking the time to make him a character worthy of serious consideration. Rhys calls him youthful, naive, and responsible for the deaths of others, while Zara rejects both his project and his money. The message is clear: do not trust Graeber, Sinwar, Nasrallah, or the Iranian martyr; anyone who plans to change the world is, at best, mistaken, and at worst, the creator of victims.
The Finale: Individual Theft, Yes; Collective Transformation, No
The finale concludes the ideological apparatus of the series. Zara and Rhys refuse Yoshida's 10 million pounds because accepting this money would mean joining his project. Moments later, Zara retrieves Milo's 20 million pounds, and they decide to start their 'exciting' life with this 'clean' money. The problem is not the dirty origin of the money, but its connection to collective action. Money used to change the existing order is contaminated, whereas the same money used for personal salvation becomes the hero's reward.
On the level of slogans, 'Steal' stands against corruption; on the level of characterization, it mocks the resistance leader and the anti-capitalist thinker; on the structural level, it supports the normalization and power of the military broker and security apparatus; and on the ethical level, it replaces individual theft with collective transformation. Its ultimate message is simple: do not change the world, do not trust alternatives, take your share and leave. At this moment, the anti-corruption entertainment turns into soft propaganda for the 'Epstein class.'
