TV Review: Kleo (2022)

Kleo (2022) created by Hanno Hackford, Bob Konrad, and Richard Kropf

Kleo (Jella Haase) is an East German Stasi assassin who goes on a kill in 1987 at a West German nightclub. The hit goes fine except when she returns, she is accused of betraying her country. She was just pregnant and planning on cutting back on her deadly lifestyle. Jail is too much of a cut-back, especially when none of her friends, comrades, or family do anything to stop the sentence. Her grandfather is a high-level Stasi officer and her boyfriend is her handler. Both fail to do anything to protect her from imprisonment. In jail, she loses the baby. A few years pass and the Berlin Wall falls. She is summarily released. She goes back to her grandfather and tries to find out what happened. Kleo starts a murder-filled revenge spree in the newly united Germany.

While the show has a lot of action and drama, it seems primarily to be a comedy. The serious and heart-breaking premise shifts into an absurdist near-farce. A West German police officer, while off-duty, was at the nightclub and is sure the death was not an accident but a killing. He is obsessed with the case even though he works in Fraud, not Homicide. His boss is barely tolerant of him and his partner pokes fun at him a lot. He's more like an annoyance than a nemesis to Kleo, though eventually they wind up working together. Kleo gets a weird roommate who thinks he's from another planet and can only return to his space princess if he creates a groovy nightclub. Kleo's boyfriend is now married with a very pregnant wife who is a bit jealous and mistrustful. Kleo shows up at their apartment and pretends to be a maintenance worker but really is interested in getting information from her ex. A lot of comedy and action follows, including trips to other countries where Stasi leaders have fled. The conspiracy gets broader and less plausible as the series concludes but the show is so bizarrely entertaining that it's hard to look away.

Recommended, though it is not for kids. Also, it is a German production, so there's lots of subtitles to read.

As this is published (March 2023), the show is only available streaming on Netflix.