Kleo Season 2 Ending, Explained: Who is Kleo’s Father?

For its second season, the German show, ‘Kleo,’ delves into the mysterious past of its titular character as chaos erupts around her after several official and unofficial spy agencies collide in their attempts to possess the ever-elusive red suitcase. After the coveted Reagan-Honecker pact ends up getting stolen from under the Americans’ hands, it launches another hunt. However, this time, Kleo Straub, the former Stasi assassin, has a more personal motive to go after the suitcase as it promises to reveal secrets of her forgotten childhood. Therefore, the ex-agent finds herself teaming up with Sven Petzold again as enemies—new and old—emerge to foil her plans.

Season 2 charts the unraveling of yet another conspiracy ripe with thrilling and dangerous missions. Yet, the stakes remain high as each new turned stone brings Kleo closer to understanding her origin. SPOILERS AHEAD!

Kleo Season 2 Recap

Kleo’s choices in the last season land her in an unsatisfactory position as she returns to her grandpa’s place—turned away from her mother, whom she gave up the red suitcase for. As such, she’s surprised to see Brigitte turn up at her door the next day with donuts in her hand. However, minutes into the reunion, Kleo realizes something is wrong with her mother, whose fake cheeriness suggests someone has an eye on them. As the older woman is leaving, she informs her daughter that she is being threatened and has to go into hiding for a while. Afterward, the agent digs around her house and finds that someone has bugged the place. Furthermore, she also finds a hidden message in the donuts, pointing her toward the red suitcase for answers.

Meanwhile, the red suitcase—which a BND officer previously traded off to the American government—gets stolen in a targeted explosive accident. Naturally, Kleo arrives at the crime scene in disguise and runs into Rose Carmichael, a CIA Agent assigned to retrieve the suitcase. Since it contains polarizing documents confirming that the American government covertly funded the GDR, it automatically remains an object of interest for several parties. Therefore, due to the CIA’s added desperation to keep their nation’s secrets, Carmichael proposes a deal to Sven and asks him to spy on Kleo for her.

Even though the opportunity is promising for Seven, he turns it down since he previously lost Kleo’s trust after going behind her back with BND. Still, he can’t help but continue working on the case with the help of his friend, Freddy, the cop. Simultaneously, Kleo’s investigation takes her to Aunt Margot’s house, where she learns that Uwe is still alive and working with the former Stasi officers. Soon, her paths also converge with Sven again, who wants to work together once more. Nonetheless, Kleo only uses him to learn his findings about a Stasi agent’s likely involvement in the explosion before kicking him out again.

Nevertheless, the duo’s paths cross again as they arrive outside the KGB headquarters for different reasons. Kleo again uses Sven to learn how the agency is hoarding missing files about the Stasti. Afterward, she takes a KGB officer hostage and infiltrates the HQ to steal the files. Still, things inevitably go south, and Sven comes to her rescue. Through the files, they figure out that a Stasi Agent, The Bear, is hiding in a former safe house with the suitcase. In the meantime, Nikolai stages several assassinations and becomes the chief of the KGB, increasing his proposed threat.

While Sven remains clueless about The Bear’s safehouse, Kleo’s past with the Stasi helps her track down the agent. Still, Sven manages to tail her with the CIA’s help, converging their paths yet again, forcing them to look for the Bear together. Eventually, after a few misadventures, Sven stumbles across the red suitcase after unwittingly hooking up with its owner—Kimberly, a.k.a. The Bear. As such, after an invigorating chase, Kleo manages to get information out of Kimberly, learning about Operation Ludsch, whose comrades have the pact documents.

What is Operation Ludsch?

The constituents of the red suitcase have the ability to produce world-bending consequences. The documents reveal that during the 80s, America financed the German Democratic Republic, or East Germany, despite their known animosity. The agreement was made in an effort for the former country to keep its influence over Europe by ensuring the existence of a perpetual enemy. At the same time, the latter got to save itself from bankruptcy. Naturally, the deal would hold drastic complications for the global political environment if the details ever came out to the public.

For the same reason, former Stasi officials, like Margot, were intent on keeping the suitcase hidden from everyone, including Kleo and the BND. Yet, season 2 reveals another reason for Stasi’s interest in the suitcase. Margot and other GDR officials like her aren’t pleased with their current political situation. For the same reason, they employ their Agent Kimberly/The Bear’s help to steal the pact from America and deliver it to them. Margot and her co-conspirators have formed a secret alliance with Operation Ludsch as their central goal. The Stasi agents are working with the KGB to create one single Soviet Republic of Germany with the USSR’s collaboration.

The pact would help them gain political power over their competitors, allowing this dream to happen. The Operation had been the brainchild of Kleo’s grandfather, Otto, and the current chief of the KGB, Nikolai Zhukov. Nonetheless, things take a turn when a third party steals the pact in the middle of Kimberly’s drop and the Stasi’s planned pick-up. Furthermore, an impulsive instance of anger from Uwe leads to the murder of multiple high-ranking officials involved in the Operation, including Margot. Consequently, the Stasi side of the Operation steadily falls apart. Nevertheless, Nikolai emerges victorious after having used a famed Stasi Agent, Ramona, to intercept the pact, bringing it directly to him.

Who is Nikolai Zhukov? How is He Related to Kleo?

From Nikolai Zhukov’s initial introduction in season 2, the character remains a point of mystery and intrigue. Although his interests also lie in the central red suitcase and its documents, he showcases a specific interest in Kleo, bugging her house at the first chance he gets. His connection to her mother is also revealed when he visits the assassin to threaten her. The particular interaction between Nikolai and Kleo leaves both the audience and the protagonist with many questions. Something about the man makes it impossible for the trained assassin to pull the trigger, as his presence brings back long-buried memories of Kleo’s childhood with her parents.

For the same reason, one can’t help but wonder about Nikolai’s connection to Kleo after he hands her the seahorse pendant her father gave her when he was still alive. Even though she doesn’t remember much about her parents, Kleo remembers her mother sharing news of her father, Fabian’s death in a car accident. Nevertheless, her only memories contest the same as she retains fragments of her past where she witnessed her father, Fabian, getting shot in the head. During her investigation into The Bear, Kleo learns a different version of the truth from a family friend, Rada, who tells her that Fabian died after defecting from East Germany.

Eventually, the real truth only comes out when Kleo and Sven visit Brigitte at her hiding spot. Brigitte reveals that Nikolai shot Fabian, the man who raised Kleo, right in front of her when she was a child. Nonetheless, as a result of the trauma, she erased the memory from her mind, compelling her mother to create a different story about her father’s death. Afterward, Otto helped Nikolai escape the consequences of the murder, and the two created Operation Ludsch together. Thus emerges the real reason behind Kleo’s intrinsic connection to the pact. Kleo is actually Nikolai’s biological daughter and, therefore, has an advantage that can help her stop the KGB chief. Shortly afterward, Nikolai deploys a bomb on the safe house, killing Brigitte and enhancing Kleo’s motivation to foil his plans.

What Happens to the Pact? Does Kleo Burn it?

After Nikolai kills Brigitte, Kleo resolves to end her biological father and his plans herself. As such, she reaches out to a former colleague in Moscow, Natasha, who can help her break into the KGB headquarters. By then, her relationship with Sven also mends enough for the former to trust the latter and agree to collaborate with him on the mission. Despite the revelation of their blood relation—and a short visit to Nikolai’s mother, who tries to urge Kleo to side with her son—the assassin remains steadfast in her decision to kill the man and informs him about the same.

The next day, Natasha helps Kleo sneak into the KGB HQ by planting poison gas in the building, allowing the other woman to slip through as a disguised firefighter. Even though she doesn’t find the pact there and ends up in a near-death altercation with Uwe, she also learns about the document’s possible location at the Monument to the Conquerors of Space. From there, Natasha once again comes to Kleo and Sven’s rescue, supplying them with disguises to slip into the Tower. Inside the building, the duo finds the pact hidden in a safe that ends up being unlocked by Kleo’s birthdate.

However, while Kleo and Sven’s entrance strategy into the Tower was sound enough, they had no way of escaping from the establishment. There, Carmichael—who followed the assassin, knowing she would lead him to the pact—ends up offering them a deal to help them escape in exchange for the pact. Still, it becomes useless after Nikolai arrives on the scene and kills Carmichael with one gunshot. Thus, Kleo finds herself facing off against her father in one final showdown. Nikolai is confident his daughter won’t be able to shoot him due to her complicated emotions.

Kleo is aware of the same. She pulls an expected move and burns the pact for the same reason. In retaliation, Nikolai—who has no qualms about killing his daughter—shoots at her. As a result, Sven jumps up in front of Kleo to save her from the shot, taking the bullet for her. The instance triggers something in Kleo. So far, she hesitated in killing Nikolai due to her complicated past with him, where he fulfilled the role of her father for a short while. Consequently, it’s hard for her to dispose of him despite the awful things he has done.

However, his attack on Sven—one of the only people alive who genuinely knows and cares for Kleo—becomes the last straw. Thus, the assassin pulls the trigger and kills her father on the spot. Moreover, the burning of the pact ends up only being a ploy since she had kept the actual document hidden in her socks. Ultimately, Kleo kills Nikolai and also manages to swap the pact for herself.

Does Sven Die?

Although Sven’s brave sacrifice leads to Nikolai’s end, it leaves the dreadful possibility of his own death. Despite their differences throughout the season, Kleo and Sven’s bond remains evident as the duo continue caring for each other. Nevertheless, while Kleo is much more conflicted about her feelings, Sven has realized he’s entirely in love with the woman. For the same reason, he constantly turns down opportunities with the CIA for her and ultimately takes a bullet to save her life. Yet, as it would turn out, the bullet didn’t entirely take, leaving Sven alive.

Before their confrontation, Kleo had pinned a fake medal of bravery to Sven’s uniform. In the end, the metalware—which was meant to be a comic relief—ends up saving Sven’s life as the bullet coincidently hits him right on top of it. Consequently, he doesn’t die, left unharmed by Nikolai’s shot. Funnier still, Kleo actually had a plan for her own safety, a bulletproof vest, when she challenged her father. However, she hadn’t anticipated Sven would dive in to save her life. Therefore, by doing exactly that, Sven proves he truly cares about her, leading Kleo to trust him again. As such, the duo inevitably ends up together again.