King of Stonks

Nice touch: in S1E3, Felix looks at a slide deck on his laptop. The scene starts at 00:28, we can see two slides, and the scene is cut 2 seconds later. The funny thing here is that the slides are based on the PowerPoint Slide Master of the company Wirecard (WCD). It cannot be ruled out that the show used original Wirecard-slides. Especially, the 40% CAGR, the world domination map looks all typically Wirecard from the financial year 2016/17. It stands to reason, that someone familiar with the subject and with mischievous ulterior motive used that old template or even a slide deck from that company.

I really wanted to like this. It's so original and full of ideas. Speed, energy, great acting, it's all there.

But I just can't connect. I hated these main characters so much, it was painful to watch. At times I had to force myself to watch.

Also, everything is so over the top, that I just stay outside. Exaggerated, but somehow not in a good way. The Mafia people, the Hermann brothers, the politician .... so crude, so unbelievable, such caricatures, that it's just not funny any more.

You know, Wolf of Wall street worked because we are WITH Leonardo DiCaprios characters from the beginning. He starts slow, he slides into it, he is kind and good hearted in the beginn, humble even, and corrupts slowly, by money, by fame, by power. That's what drags us into the film. We could be him, it could happen to us. The americans, rhey know how to do it.

None of that can be found in KOS. These types are crooks from the beginning, liars, arrogant and self-impressed, especially the CEO, you hate his guts from the start, what a pretentious solent prick. I cared for nobody. They could all have been shot or jailed, I couldn't care less.

Sorry guys but storytelling just doesn't work this way.

I felt the story was all over the place, and the editing only emphasized that. It felt chaotic at all times, and the story and the characters are shallow and lacking substance, and I think the producer knows that, so they try to spice it up with fast phasing so that the viewer doesn't get too bored.

I didn't miss "depth" - especially not that one permanently pregnant with meaning and underscored in minor by strings, so many German movies and series are dripping with.

Hey, this series is a bit imperfect in some way, yes, but it's entertaining. I was stunned sometimes and sometimes laughing a lot. On the one hand it seems to be very exaggerated behaviours and dialogues, but on the other one especially this feels painfully real knowing quite some bosses and employees and working conditions, which are not very dissimilar to those in the show.

My conclusion: This mini-series is good to binge and doesn't feel like almost five hours length all in all. I'd wish more German productions to be made that way. My dispair and shame regarding the general condition of German film would be less then.

KOS is an entertaining series with full of actions. Felix, the COO, is the machine behind the success while Magnus is the face of the company. The writer crafted a perfect illustration of how stock value and shareholder pressure influences even short term decisions of the company. Financial terms, shorting, options, longs are explained clearly and to the point.

Being a stock exchange guy, I enjoyed the series as it is not far from realities. Needless to say, sometimes it is exaggerated but this is given.

Sheila played her role excellent, Felix is super likeable as well as Magnus perfect character for the job.

I had a great few hours watching the series. I recommend everyone as well.