Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
Long review short: If you were entertained by season one of the Netflix series ‘Kleo’, you will most likely enjoy season two too.
Jella Haase reprises her titular role of the James Bond-like Kleo Straub, a former Stasi (secret police of East Germany) assassin, who goes on a killing spree to eliminate those who betrayed her after she is freed from prison. In season one, her vengeance mission gets intertwined with the hunt for a red suitcase, which contains explosive state secrets. By the end of season one Kleo kills most people on her ‘hit list’, and while she could’ve chosen to simply retire into the sun and ‘chill’, season two puts her back on the hunt for the red suitcase, which goes missing again.
Kleo Season 2 is a lot more exaggerated, but it retains the same stunning retro cinematography that makes it a visual thrill. For instance, Kleo walks into a fortified Soviet Union building to steal some papers with no plan B, which is ridiculous as hell, but of course, she miraculously escapes. Oh well, we should know from Season 1 that Kleo is all about letting logic slide a bit and just enjoying the wild ride our protagonist takes us on. This time, she receives a personal warning from Soviet KGB officer Nikolai Zhukov to back off from locating the red suitcase. However, he also shows her a token from her childhood that further intrigues her and solidifies her interest in it. Meanwhile, the CIA approaches police officer Sven Petzold (Dimitrij Schaad) to win Kleo’s trust, as apparently “she’s the only one” who can get to the case (which was weirdly funny—what is she, Superwoman?), but he refuses. Instead, Sven apologizes to Kleo and begs her to let him become her partner in crime again. What unfolds next is madness involving the KGB, the CIA, a bunch of double agents, and a whole lot of people who want Kleo dead. This includes the pig-headed Uwe Mittig (Vincent Redetzki), a former Stasi comrade Kleo kills at the end of season one, but he is shown to survive and vow revenge.
Spanning six episodes, Kleo’s investigation once against takes her outside of Berlin, from Belgrade to Moscow, she has a hell of an adventure. And amidst all the guns, blood, deaths that ensues every time Kleo goes somewhere, there’s her new best-friend Thilo (Julius Feldmeier), the perpetually stoned DJ, who moves into her house with a new girlfriend called Ciana, who claims she is from the planet Sirius B. It’s hilarious how the writers manage to seamlessly blend Thilo’s wacky antics with Kleo’s more dangerous escapades, and their friendship is very amusing.
From reaching out to her estranged mother (Anna Stieblich), uncovering unsettling family secrets, and going against one of the most powerful man in the KGB, Kleo accomplishes a lot more than is humanely possible in a matter of few days. Jella Haase remains the undeniable standout of the show, seamlessly blending Kleo’s larger-than-life persona with relatable vulnerability. Whether it’s her signature pout when things don’t go her way or the exaggerated sad smile she uses to mock others, Haase makes Kleo intimidatingly unreal and human all at once.
While the climactic story twists in Kleo season two wasn’t as surprising, or entertaining, it’s all the other ingredients that makes the show come all together – the actors, the vivid cinematography, and an excellent soundtrack. The finale ends with an interesting cliffhanger that leaves fans with a promise of a possible season three!
Rating: 7.5 on 10. Watch Kleo on Netflix.
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