Netflix’s German Original Series’kleo‘ is one of the least commented of 2022, or at least one of the least talked about being extraordinary. On the one hand, it has been in the top 10 of the local charts during its first weeks. But internationally there has been a silence that is not consistent with its combination of action, drama and black comedy, although it managed to sneak into the fourth position of the most popular non-English-language series on Netflix. .
Perhaps one of the impulses to break the ice was the praise of Stephen King, the quintessential horror writerwho has become a content prescriber on Twitter, commenting on ‘Kleo’ that it was “a breath of fresh air. The series is exciting and a lot of fun. However, I wonder where Kleo got the money for her flight to Majorca. Ba, just enjoy it”
KLEO (Netflix): What a breath of fresh air! Suspenseful and also very funny. I wonder, though, where Kleo’s money came from. Flying off to Mallorca mustn’t have been cheap, even in 1989. Oh well–just enjoy.
— Stephen King (@StephenKing) August 25, 2022
A punk series and an actress in a state of grace
The series is set in Germany, between 1989 and 1990, during the fall of the Berlin Wall, the series follows an undocumented Stasi assassin, Kleo Straub, who works for the Ministry of State Security with her grandfather, when she kills a businessman in West Berlin while on a mission, though not long after, she is arrested by the secret services for “false claims” and is reported by everyone she knows, including her own grandfather. She’s sold.
Kleo spends three years in prison before being released, finding a world very different from what she remembers. The wall has come down, there is a political and social change, which has led to the dissolution of “the company”, the government agency for which he worked. She also finds a Berliner named Thilo living in his old apartment, and his partner, Andi, who was also the father of her baby, has moved in with someone else.
Here we meet Sven, the West Berlin police officer who pursued Kleo in the nightclub murder, who also has an eye on her. He soon discovers that the conspiracy against him is much bigger than he could have imagined, and a sinister red suitcase seems to be the missing piece of the puzzle. Kleo embarks on a revenge crusade, a manhunt that takes her through anarchist Berlin, makeshift electronic clubs and Mallorcan country estates.
Few who point to Tarantino manage to hook like Kleo
Although ‘Kleo’ follows the same line as ‘Killing Eve’, in terms of the perspective of the female killer, details of black comedy and even the aesthetics. It is something darker and more delusional, almost Tarantinian, than mixes modern Berlin’s own punk rock and alternative culture with the murderous plot of ‘Kill Bill’, and despite not having a spectacular budget, manages to always be full of action, spy suspense, drama, very violent and creative murders, always splashed with blood and humor.
Although the story can be quite tragic at times, lThe series works like a light refreshment thanks to the great Jella Haase, her performance humanizes the character and makes the audience sympathize with her even when she is a scary character, probably one of the coolest in a recent series next to Christina Ricci in ‘Yellowjackets’. As terrifying and dangerous as she is vulnerable, part of her story could also carom with ‘Black Widow’ and ‘Red Sparrow’.
Despite its modesty, there is a good production design to represent the reunification of the two Germanys, the fashion style and cultural details that give it a different atmosphere, in the vein of movies like ‘Gundpower Milkshake’ or ‘Nobody’. . But the key here is the attractiveness of the character and his background, which even in not so brilliant chapters always has some macabre and badass occurrence worthy of applause. Maybe that’s why Netflix has given it a second chance and we’ll have more next year. Don’t waste it.