Having enjoyed the German series Kleo and Murder Mindfully on Netflix, I had high hopes for the streaming service's latest German series, Cassandra. And I've not been disappointed.
Both Kleo and Murder Mindfully, have a beautiful mix of drama and dark humor. Cassandra is just the same. From the opening scene of the six-part limited series you know things will get seriously creepy and draw you in.
The sci-fi thriller starts with a carefree man driving along in the 1970s when he's shocked to see a car has crashed into a tree. He gets out of his car and notices a woman apparently dead on the car bonnet. Then he spots a bloodied woman and a baby on a back seat. "She's here," says the woman and points at a robot lurking nearby.
In the present day, a family approaches an overgrown house, that’s clearly not been lived in for years. The little girl asks her mum why there are televisions everywhere and she replies: "It's an intelligent house. It means that a computer that was connected to it was able to help the homeowners around the house."
We learn the family is fleeing a tragedy and trying to rebuild their lives. The son, Fynn, discovers a robot, just like the one involved in the car crash, and starts working on it. You're screaming at the telly don't fix that robot!
The poor little girl, Juno, is suffering from nightmares and this situation is unlikely to improve when in the middle of the night she's woken by Cassandra, our robot, staring at her! "Creepy, but kind of cool,” is how Fynn describes Cassandra. We’d go more with creepy and kind of terrifying! We know Cassandra isn't the happy-go-lucky robot she portrays as we see her calmly suck up a rat, leaving its bloodied corpse behind.
The family goes about their lives with Cassandra watching their every move. But what’s Cassandra's story? And is she a real person? Who's the real villain in all of this?
It taps into society's fears over how much our tech is watching and monitoring us. Talking about her character, Cassandra, and the script's appeal, German star Lavinia Wilson says: "I thought the female characters were great. I thought the equality was great. I thought the twist was great. I thought it's surprising, that’s exactly what you want when you watch a series, that something happens that is unexpected and yet satisfying, so I’ve rarely been so taken by the story before it even started. I really wanted to do it."
It all makes for an enjoyable thriller, even if it's not quite in the league of Kleo, which I rate as one of the best series on Netflix. If you've not seen Kleo then it’s a must if you’re into spy thrillers. Star Jella Haase is amazing as East German assassin Kleo Straub, who's out for revenge in true Killing Eve style. OK, Cassandra's not quite that good, but it's still very different from most of Netflix's offerings and highly worth a watch. Meanwhile, Netflix has also just added another great series, this time from Sweden, which you also might enjoy. Called The Åre Murders, it's a stylish piece of Nordic Noir based on two books by Swedish author Viveca Sten.
Cassandra is on Netflix now.
