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‘Steal the Stars’ offers an incredible story

I’ve been searching for the past month for a new fiction podcast to obsess over. Last month’s Podcast Picks detailed “Dreamboy.” Having successfully binged the show and fallen in love with Dane and his surreal, yet grounded circumstances, I was heartbroken when it ended.

So I scoured unhelpful listicle after unhelpful listicle touting the same lamely written podcasts. Being a devout podcast consumer, I have developed a taste for the finer podcasts in life — the kind that have to tick off several boxes to even make me listen past the trailer.

Essentially, what I want from a fiction podcast is it to feel like I’m watching a film with my eyes closed. If it’s a good film, everything in it is calculated and purposeful, and that’s what “Steal the Stars” is.

I’m Christopher Cizek, and this is “Podcast Picks.”

“Steal the Stars” is, as of right now, a 14-part sci-fi cyclone that begins empty but quickly devours and displaces everything in its path.

Written by Mac Rogers, “Steal the Stars” revolves around protagonists Dakota Prentiss and Matt Salem, two government employees of Quill Marine, a secret compound guarding and studying — “X-Files” fans guessed it — a crashed UFO, the “harp” and the lone alien inside. If you’ve heard of Roswell, New Mexico, “E.T.” or any other extraterrestrial story, the UFO and the alien aren’t surprising. What is, however, is the “harp,” which is perceivably the power source of the UFO. In the finale, Prentiss learns this is not the case, but you’ll just have to listen to find out.

As if this situation weren’t sketchy and complex enough, throw in Prentiss’ and Salem’s forbidden love — Quill Marine’s punishment for “office” romances is six years incarceration and reassignment. Essentially, once you sign on with Quill Marine, you don’t sign off. If you’ve ever heard of zero tolerance, Quill Marine has negative-one tolerance.

The podcast is a constant tug of war between Prentiss’ and Salem’s dedication to their jobs and their do-or-die desire to escape. Though this story is supernatural and features innumerable sci-fi elements expected in any sci-fi story — alien-energy-retardant suits, government cover-ups, murder for the sake of secrecy, madness/hysteria and anything else Fox Mulder and Dana Scully have experienced — the creators ingeniously crash the spacey podcast, grounding it using everyday dialogue and genuine human interaction.

Any great story puts an ordinary person in extraordinary circumstances. Although Prentiss and Salem have extraordinary clearances, their love and mannerisms make them ordinary people. A strong theme throughout “Steal the Stars” is the protagonists’ fight for normalcy through abnormal means. SPOILER ALERT. To lead a normal, peaceful life, the need to abnormally steal an alien corpse and sell it to the Chinese. SPOILER OVER. It’s a riveting story that I binged in two days.

“Steal the Stars,” no matter how loud I could praise it, has its shortcomings. The ending is such a fantasy cop out. Everything before the last fifteen minutes is pure gold. Have you ever seen James Cameron’s “The Abyss?” It ends with the protagonist coming face to face at the bottom of the abyss with a jellyfish angel thing. It feels wrong. I’m not saying Prentiss or Salem links up with a jellyfish angel, but the finale wraps everything up too nicely.

“Steal the Stars” tears at the fabric like any good sci-fi story should, but all of the rips and opened seams are too-perfectly mended through writing that throws sci-fi in the trash and goes full fantasy. Not cool. But not all things can end flawlessly. I heard on NPR that “Game of Thrones” ended poorly. That was a smash hit — like “Steal the Stars” is a smash hit for me — but no matter how great something is, that doesn’t make it impervious to a pitiful ending.

If you’re looking for an incredible story and don’t mind being let down in the last 15 minutes, “Steal the Stars” is absolutely for you. Find it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and wherever else you go for your podcast fix.

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