• by Adam Buckman , Featured Columnist, 7 hours ago

Those who fully understand the ins and outs of our globally connected world and how to manipulate and exploit them shall inherit the Earth -- if they can get away with it.

That is the takeaway after watching Episode One of the new Prime Video series “Steal,” which starts streaming on Wednesday.

The “steal” of the story is a familiar one seen in one way or another in countless movie and TV thrillers. 

This “steal” is a high-tech caper of the highest rank - a gang of criminals dressed like everybody else who flocks to the gleaming office towers of London’s financial district every morning, bursts into the offices of a financial firm and then forces executives and staff to engineer the transfer of a vast sum of money to wherever they want it to go.

The amount is in the billions of pounds, and in the show, this transfer can be executed with a show of brutality and then the pressing of a few buttons by a petrified member of the trading desk.

Sophie Turner (above photo right) plays one of the traders, and she is the star of this six-episode series.

Episode One, which runs for only 40 minutes, contains the heist from beginning to end, leaving only the police investigation to eventually catch the crooks.

But if the coming attractions after the episode’s conclusion are any indication, this story will veer into all sorts of unexpected directions.

Prepare to get your money’s worth from your Amazon Prime subscription. Episode One of “Steal,” which the TV Blog previewed on Monday, was so suspenseful and intense that I felt emotionally spent after watching it -- and it was only 40 minutes long.

Will the robbers get caught in the end? That all depends on whether they planned their escapes with the same diligence that they plotted their robbery.

Like other such series, the question of who will win -- the bad guys or the good guys -- will depend on which side has tech superiority. 

In our world and its conflicts, that is exactly where the thin line between success and failure is drawn.

“Steal” starts streaming on Wednesday (January 21) on Amazon Prime Video.