User reviews

Dark humour. Often farcical killings. A German mix between Nikita and Kill Bill.

Jella Haase is very good here.

The choice of music scores is spot on.

Entertaining and fun.

I may be biased as I am a middle aged German. I am used to a lot of bull from my country. But this one has a nice pace, good story, some slapstick, it is well thought through and has a great production value. It is way over a believable state but it is totally entertaining to watch.

A wild ride with good actors.

I hope the localizations can translate this to a wide audience. Just relax and have fun.

This eight part German comedy-drama opens in 1987. Kleo, an assassin working for East German State Security, the Stasi, goes on a mission to West Berlin where she kills her target in a night club. The authorities there believe the dead man overdosed but a single policeman, Sven, who saw Kleo prior to the death believes it was murder and provides a sketch. Nobody takes him seriously but a copy of his sketch makes its way to the East. Here Kleo finds herself arrested on trumped up charges. She is jailed and remains there until the wall comes down two years later. Once released she is determined to get revenge on all those who betrayed her and determine why they did it. Meanwhile Sven sees her picture among files of recently released Eastern political pictures and it determined that he will arrest her for the 1987 murder.

I really enjoyed this series; it blended drama with humour successfully and is set at an interesting time in German history; the short time between the wall of the wall and reunification of the two Germanys. The humour doesn't get in the way of the drama; much of it is provided by Kleo's accidental housemate Thilo, a perma-stoned West German, who claims to be from the planet Sirius B, planning to introduce techno music to the East before returning home, and at other times is fairly subtle, like the squeaky footwear Kleo wears on one job. The drama works too; there are plenty of tense moments and even a degree of tragedy. The cast is solid; especially Jella Haase as Kleo, Dimitrij Schaad as Sven and Julius Feldmeier as Thilo. Overall I'd certainly recommend this.

These comments are based on watching the series in German with English subtitles.

This is a tremendous surprise. For me it's one of the most entertaining shows I've watched on streaming, be it Netflix, Amazon Prime or HBO Max. Excellent writing, acting and direction. The actress playing Kleo is very, very good. Plus good production quality - locations, costumes, cars... And it's not just a comedy thriller about a killer trained by the former GDR, it's an accusation of that dehumanising political system and how it ruined lives and corrupted characters. Highly recommended.

Went into this with no expectations, just the usual of Netflix's reprints of global content, hits and misses.

Off the first episode, I thought, Cold-War spy thriller, I'm still in. Then they started the real exposition. I definitely felt some, Villainelle, in the protagonist, but how else can you present a slightly sociopathic Eastern Bloc assassin on a revenge quest?

Well. With. Wit. Daft. Surreal. Nostalgia. Heartbreak. Quirk. Pathos. Spies. Misdirect. Socialist. Comedy.

Each episode raises the stakes in thriller AND dark comedy.

Worth a binge. Hopefully, Netflix won't pull this show from a second season--it's definitely setup for one.

I am a big fan of the Deutschland-83, -86 and -89 shows that have been released on Amazon Prime in the past years. Those shows are about the Stasi, the secret service of East-Germany. This in the times just before and after the Berlin Wall fell.

In Kleo - released by Netflix - you get a similar atmosphere of the above-mentioned Deutschland-shows: the look-and-feel just transports you back to the end of the 80's and beginning of the 90's.

What is however totally different is the dark humour that is included in Kleo. The screenwriters clearly were inspired a lot by the movies of Quentin Tarantino. I see especially back elements of Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill.

When I started to watch the show, I really was very sceptical during the first episode. I honestly have to admit that during the first 15 minutes I had no clue of what to make of this show. But when I was in the second episode, I was sold to the show. It is absolutely a more than worthwile watch.

I should also note the surprising good acting of the main actor Jella Haase. She really does an outstanding job. This since she had to play al lot of different roles as a assassin in disguise. I truly enjoyed how she played all those different roles...

Throw together Kill Bill, Killing Eve, the 80s, the 90s, rolled up blazers, techno space ships, a red suitcase, Jellla Haase, Dimitrij Schaad, and East Germany.

Mix it all up, shake it well, add some sunshine, palm trees, and over-the-top flame-throwing, and you come over to the other side of the Berlin Wall. With delight, excitement, entertainment and pure fun.

This is a wonderful retelling of parts of life in East Germany and some secrets that are just shy of being true. Maybe what you see is true. And maybe not. But then again when you're rolling with the punches with such mirth does it even matter?

To not watch this show is a mistake you must not make. Ignore Kleo at your own peril.

Auf Wiedersehen.

That actor absolutely killed it with his character, Sven. It was for me the star of the show. He is so expressive and his comedic timing is spectacular. Why Hollywood didn't take better notice of his talent, I don't know it yet. He had a small part in Killing Eve, but I think he deservs more notorious works in the mainstream. I hope to see him in more English speaking productions. Another performance that I found amazing was the deranged character of Uwe. I wish he had a longer participation in the series, his parts were very short between scenes. Last but not least is the main character Kleo, with a strong resemblance to Villanelle in Killing Eve but a bit less psycopathic. An excellent performance from Jella Haase.

Ok all right I was trying to be cute with the title but yes this is a really good and highly entertaining cold war spy series, do not shy away from English voice dubbing or you will miss out.

The East/West era sets are amazingly accurate and the script does really well with conveying actions as well as words. Netflix did good on this one.

There is a revenge journey and you must travel with her, it will be a good journey. There is no dragging storyline between episodes, each ine leaves you wanting to see the next one, it is very binge worthy.

I also have a new obsession with Kleo aka Jella Haase, she is very captivating :)

My one refrain through the years has been 'unplanned and unintended sequels of one-season shows are uniformly bad and awful and there is no exception', that's been true especially for Netflix series, I have yet to see one that had a non terrible sequel. And I kept telling myself that that's it, I will never watch a Netflix sequel again, but I thought Kleo had such a good season, it was creative and beautiful and bright and well written, I thought the next season, no matter how unintended, had to be at least as good.

It wasn't. The characters became caricatures, the plot is non existent, it looks like a cheap knock off of a cheap knock off of Tarantino. It was one of the worst sequels I have ever seen, and I've seen my share.

But this is the last time. Even if they make another awful season, I'm never watching any Netflix sequel again. Promise.

I wasn't sure what to expect, I had hoped it would be along the line of Deutschland series but this is not anything like it. It is not to be taken seriously. Something kept me watching it through to the end though even if parts were far fetched, didn't relate to the main story and not needed. 6 episodes instead of eight and those parts trying to hard to be funny removed would have made it a 9/10 and a much better series.

Had to say I came across this whilst bored the other day, enjoyed it a lot, dark humour, captured the 80's quite well. Loved the lead actress.

Quirky like an 80's Killing Eve, binged it all.

It's a dark political comedy beginning in the late 1980s in East Berlin, just before the collapse of East Germany.

Kleo Straub (Jella Haase) is a young assassin who works for a special section of the Stasi (internal state security). On assignment, she kills someone in a nightclub in West Berlin. Soon thereafter, she is arrested by the Stasi and imprisoned. After the collapse of the wall and gaining her freedom, she sets out to determine what happened and why she was imprisoned.

Meanwhile, a low-level West German policeman, Sven (Dimitrij Schaad), who witnessed the nightclub assassination, pursues Kleo to seek justice. He gets so focused on following Kleo that he loses his job.

Through the episodes, we meet many characters from Kleo's world, including her former boss, Andi (Vladimir Burlakov), and her highly-placed grandfather, Generaloberst Otto Straub (Jürgen Heinrich). In addition, we meet competing spies/assassins and former high officials in the East German government.

As the bodies pile up, everyone is in pursuit of a red suitcase that holds deep secrets of international importance. The series ends ambiguously enough that a second season could follow.

The story moves briskly and entertainingly. Jella Haase is not a typical heroine type; observers who have compared her looks to a young Angela Merkel are persuasive. There are distractions. For example, Sven's friend, Thilo (Julius Feldmeier), seems to be a distraction. It's a decent watch if you like dark political humor.

I was looking forward to season 2, eventhough season 1 had lots of loose ends and unnecessary scenes (tangents) and dialogues.

However, season 2 started with expanding of plot and adding more and more plot twists, more characters and more loose ends.

Instead of looking into season 1 and see what worked and build on it, writers (or producers) decided to double down on everything. The result is unwatchable mess and recycling the stories, conflict, mystery and drama.

It reminded me of another German series, Dark, started great and after first season you needed a manual or at least a diagram to follow the plot.

Oh, well, it's Netflix after all...

Who could imagine .....a timeless piece created!

First frame , and it envelopes you with intrigue.

Costumes , locations , music , actors .....everything thoroughly peaks !!!!

A true golden spy thriller.

The first episode of this show gets off to a slow start but it's worth waiting for this series to warm up. It's not the cleverest, all stuff I've seen before but repackaged well enough that it feels refreshed and fun. Great actors even though a few were given hackneyed characters and scripts. My kind of show and one I stumbled upon after starting multiple shows and films that were so boring I quit less than halfway through. I'm only on episode 5 so maybe there will be some surprise twists but I don't think so, thus far heavy foreshadowing has taken the wind out of the metaphorical sails of any potential aha moments. Still, very enjoyable, something you can easily get sucked into. I probably found this more enjoyable than is warranted because watching in German with English subtitles made it fun for me (because I love languages/etymology and regret only getting to take one semester of German in middle school).

Not always a fan of German drama, this was a wonderfully written story with the most charismatic lead assassin character since The Professional from years ago. Stunning performance from the lead, her compatriot, and her foils. This series was magical, with humor, with heart.

Good story with surprisingly original German humor. Kind of refreshing after some spy movies focusing on too much violence, martial art, none stop gun fights, darkness, drama etc.

Lovely characters throughout the movie, good directing, cinematography, editing. Time flies when you are watching this movie. Able to enjoy history, action, emotion, drama, comedy etc. Whatever a good movie needs to have.

Hopefully they will make a second season, at least looks like they left the option open at the end.

Until then we will possible watch the whole season again, this time with original German with English subtitle:-)

Great series from Germany that owes more than a nod to UK series Killing Eve ( or possibly vice-versa ) . Either way neither suffer from the comparisons and both stand on their own merits . Don't want to give anymore info other than you can look forward to lots of twists and turns as with its British counterpart. Great storyline, plot and performances from the entire cast especially KLEO and her bumbling detective would be nemesis Well worth watching . Plenty of action with thumping soundtrack and a few surreal leaps of fantasy. Not over long and no padding Even if you are someone who is not keen on subtitles you should give it a try . ENJOY.

.... here she plays brilliantly a Stasi killer.

Just a touch into being a comedy without being obtuse.

If one does not take it too seriously, this is all good fun!

"As Episode 1 of "Kleo" (2022 release from Germany; 8 episodes of about 45-55 min each) opens, we are introduced to Kleo, an East German woman with close ties to the East German Stasi (Secret Police) in the last years before the fall of the Berlin Wall. She ruthlessly eliminates a target in West Germany, and then announces to her lover that this was her last Stasi mission as she is expecting. However, out of nowhere, Kleo is accused of high treason and sentenced to jail. Wen she is released 3 years later in 1990, the Berlin Wall has fallen, and she is bent on finding out who betrayed her...

Couple of comments: there are plenty of films and series of what life was like in East Germany and the dirty role that the Stasi played in it all. However, there are in contrast far less movies and series that ponder the question what happened to the Stasi people in the short period (10 months) after the Berlin Wall fell but before East and West Germany's reunification. This series offers to provides glimpse of that, and does so quite well. My description of the opening scenes is quite incomplete but I don't want to give away more than I did, as of course the series is plot-heavy. While there are many serious scenes, there is also a surprising amount of humor in the series, which frankly only add to the enjoyment of this. Last but certainly not least, the production set of this series gives a glorious look at what life was like right after the fall of the Berlin Wall, when it seemed the sky was the limit in the former East Berlin and East Germany.

"Kleo" premiered on Netflix this past weekend. I've seen 2 episodes so far, and I'm looking forward to watching the remainder episodes. If you have any interest in what life was like in Berlin right after the fall of the Berlin Wall, I'd readily suggest you check this out, and draw your own conclusion.

*UPDATE 8/24/22* I've now seen all 8 episodes, and enjoyed it quite a lot. It reinforces the feeling that those 10 months between the fall of the Berlin Wall and the official reunification of East and West Germany were truly a strange period, with the Stasi and the East German state machinery still functioning, even though it was clear that it would come to an end, and the only question was how quickly.

Just like most Netflix series, it starts out great/good and it is getting worse and worse with each episode and a terrible ending... Netflix is trying to make everything at least 8 episodes thus filling them with stupid, pathetic and unrealistic events with idiotic conversations and adding idiotic characters with no purpose at all to fill the gaps rather than making them 4-6 episodes and keeping them enjoyable.

Also, why is it necessary to have pathetic, lunatic, clumsy characters in every series/movie even if it is a drama or a thriller?

Another disappointment although it could've been a good one...

When I started watching the film I was not sure what to expect. A thriller? A comedy? Drama? Sadness? Spoof? Historical significance? Phantasy? A parable? Political commentary? Insight into the east-west divide?

Well, I found all of the above and more.

One has to watch the whole thing to make sense of the film's message. Don't be fooled by the 007 action and some of the comedic elements - the film is dead serious.

Yes, one has to suspend one's disbelief one quite a few occasions, look up some characters (inspired from real life and portrayed with a dose of artistic license), but it is worth seeing every minute of the 8 episodes. In the end you won't know whether to laugh or cry - or just ponder the meaning of the terms "good guys" and "bad guys".

If you like Hollywood fare, this one will probably disappoint you. (The "top 1000 voters" gave it an average of 5.9; the "non-US voters" gave it on average 7.5 . Enough said.)