Simon and Meret appeared to be just like any other couple; they ran a small restaurant, lived modestly, and cared deeply about their daughter, Nina. But when the past resurfaced, the life they’d built for sixteen years started to fall apart. We soon discover that Simon and Meret weren’t ordinary people; they were ex-spies. There was someone out there who wanted them dead because of an incident in Belarus. As Netflix’s Unfamiliar progresses, we find out what really happened in Belarus, and why the couple had to be eliminated. For Simon and Meret, the objective wasn’t just to protect themselves; they had to first safeguard their daughter, who had no clue that her parents were ex-spies. Nina becomes a crucial character on the show, because everything that happens revolves around her. In this article, I will take a close look at the ending of the six-episode series and delve into the possibility of an upcoming season.
Spoiler Alert
Who was the mole in BND?
Josef Koleev wanted Simon and Meret dead before his wife, Valeria (Vera), became the new Russian ambassador in Berlin. Josef was a high-ranking GRU (Russian intelligence) officer, and he’d led several covert operations in Germany, so naturally he had been a target of the BND for quite some time. Valeria lacked diplomatic experience, yet the fact that she was being considered for the position suggested that she was just a cover for Josef to operate freely in Berlin. Now, although this was something that the German government suspected, they needed a solid reason to stop Valeria from being appointed as the ambassador, and it was BND’s job to find one. To help the German intelligence officers understand the threat they were dealing with, Gregor Klein, the former head of BND, was brought onboard. Sixteen years ago, Gregor had come up with a honey trap plan to convince Josef to work as a double agent. He’d appointed Katya for the job; she developed a romantic relationship with Josef and got pregnant. Josef had assumed that he would move to Berlin with Katya, but Gregor soon clarified that he expected Josef to head back to Moscow and work for BND. Josef was taken by surprise when he realized that Katya had been working for Gregor, and it was all an elaborate trap. Now, Josef was already married to Valeria at the time, so he obviously couldn’t afford for his secret to be revealed. Moreover, if the GRU found out what he’d gotten himself into, they would track him down and kill him.
Gregor held Josef at gunpoint, but somehow Josef managed to shoot Gregor, and he tied Katya to a chair and force-fed her poison to kill her and their unborn child. Josef had assumed that Gregor and Katya had died that night, but thanks to Simon and Meret, they both survived. Josef didn’t know that Katya was still alive, so his targets were Gregor, Simon and Meret, the only three other people who knew what had happened in Belarus. Josef had appointed professional killers to get to his targets, and he also had a mole in BND who constantly kept him updated. The mole was responsible for exposing Gregor’s safe house location, and that eventually helped Josef to find him and kill him. By the time Simon reached the spot where Gregor was dropped off by Josef’s men, he discovered that Josef had slit Gregor’s femoral artery, and it was impossible to save him. Before Gregor took his last breath, he told Simon that there was a mole in BND.
In Unfamiliar’s ending, we discover that Ben, who had recently replaced Gregor, was the mole. Julika, a BND analyst, deduced that there was a mole, especially after Josef tracked down Gregor’s safe house location. To protect himself, Ben framed Alice, a BND agent. Since she could speak broken Russian and was at the scene when Josef and his men showed up to confront Simon and Meret, Ben implied that she might have a connection with Josef. Julika was in love with Alice, so at first she refused to believe Ben, but eventually she figured it wasn’t completely unbelievable. Alice had tried to explain that the only reason why she chose not to shoot Josef and his men was because she didn’t have backup, and since Julika wasn’t an agent but an analyst, she couldn’t rely on her to not miss a shot. Towards the end, we discover that Ben had killed Alice and made it look like a suicide. The series does not get into the details of how he managed to get it done, though he later admitted that it had been quite challenging for him.
Did Josef Koleev die?
After years of being kept in the dark, Valeria finally found out about her husband’s infidelity. She couldn’t believe that Josef was considering reuniting with his daughter, and she quickly figured that his intentions could destroy her political career. She’d already been appointed as the Russian ambassador to Germany, and she refused to let Josef come in the way of her long-term goals. Valeria spoke to her father, an influential diplomat. She informed him that she planned on divorcing Josef, and she didn’t want him in Berlin. But her father made it clear that he couldn’t afford to send Josef back to Moscow. Josef handled the ‘StarFish,’ code word for the mole in BND, and therefore it was extremely crucial for him to have Josef in Berlin. Valeria was under the impression that ‘Starfish’ was dead; she’d been told so by Julika. When she informed her father about it and implied that the mole was a woman, her father was surprised. He clarified that their agent was a man, which meant that he had managed to cover his tracks and framed someone else as the mole. Valeria finally succeeded in striking a deal with her father; she suggested that, henceforth, she would like to be not just the ambassador, but also the handler, which meant they could get rid of Josef altogether.
After her father agreed to the deal, Valeria met Josef and informed him that it was time for him to head home. He was obviously disappointed, but he agreed to the deal nonetheless. Valeria advised him to get dressed, and when he stepped out wearing a black suit, Valeria’s assistant informed him that the transfer had been arranged, and asked him to wait in an adjoining room. Josef soon realized it was a ploy when he saw his father-in-law seated in the room. A man entered with a gun in hand, and his father-in-law stated that Josef should’ve died sixteen years back, and he must count his blessings for surviving longer than he should’ve. He was reminded that he had to pay the price of his failures. Considering we don’t see the man shoot Josef, it is impossible to confirm that he was killed. Josef’s murder will surely help Valeria and her father to put an end to the Belarus chapter. Although it is suggested that Valeria’s father planned to kill him, there is a possibility that Josef managed to get away with it. Perhaps Josef had explained that killing him wouldn’t really solve their problem. His daughter could show up at their doorstep some day, or Katya could go public about their affair, which could result in a scandal. It would bring unnecessary attention to Valeria, and the scandal could possibly put her political career at risk. So, maybe Josef had agreed to silently retreat home and never return, but only after he’d taken care of anyone who could try to jeopardize his wife’s career before they formally separated. Valeria’s father would want Josef to clean his mess, so he might as well give him another chance.
What is Katya’s plan?
Meret didn’t know that Katya had survived. After Simon saved the baby, Meret drove Gregor to a hospital and carried the infant with her. Simon instantly realized that Meret had fallen in love with the baby girl, so he chose to not disclose to Katya that her baby survived. He instead created a fake grave to convince Katya that her baby was dead and he’d already buried her. Katya had spent sixteen years of her life not knowing that her daughter was alive. Simon chose not to discuss with Meret that he’d managed to revive Katya as well. He knew she wanted to keep the baby, and he’d also realized that the child could fix their broken marriage. So, Simon offered Katya a new identity and advised her to start her life afresh.
Sixteen years later, Simon and Meret discovered that Katya was in Berlin. She’d called up Simon to tell him that she’d met with an accident with the cops, and she feared that if they dug too deep into her past, they might find out her real identity. She’d traveled to Berlin to confront Josef after she saw him on television with his wife. She wanted to remind him of the dark past that he seemed to have forgotten about. Soon, Katya found out that her daughter was alive and that Meret and Simon had adopted her. She was furious when she learned that Simon had kept the truth from her. Although Simon tried to justify his decision, stating that Nina’s chances of survival were far greater with them than with her, it wasn’t a good enough reason for Katya. She believed she deserved to know the truth as the birth mother, and she should’ve been the one to make the choices. For 16 years, she lived with this constant guilt, and even after she finally met Nina, Simon and Meret begged her not to disclose the truth yet. They asked her to wait and promised to tell Nina everything at the right time.
In Unfamiliar’s ending, Simon and Meret tried to take down Josef and his men, and in the process, Simon was injured. Although her parents had asked her to leave, Nina wanted to wait for them at the parking lot. Katya stayed by her side. Meret had handed Nina a flash drive that contained the truth. When her parents didn’t show up, she became anxious and decided to watch the video. She found out that her parents were ex-agents, and their lives were far from ordinary. They chose not to include the fact that Nina was adopted, possibly because they had recorded the video six years ago and Meret didn’t know at the time that Katya was still alive, plus they didn’t want Nina to find out what had happened in Belarus. At the end of episode 6, Katya was almost about to tell Nina that she was her birth mother, but Simon and Meret showed up, and she didn’t get the time to tell her the truth. At the hospital, Meret asked Katya to wait a little longer; she wanted to tell Nina the truth at a better time. But clearly, Katya refused to wait anymore. At the very end of “Unfamiliar,” Katya contacted Julika and made her an offer—she gave away Meret and Simon’s location in exchange for safe passage for her and Nina. Katya was frustrated with doing the right thing, and she perhaps realized that there wouldn’t ever be a right time to tell Nina the truth. She wanted to rip the bandage off already, and take what belonged to her. Amidst all this madness, Nina had no clue what was going on.
Will Simon and Meret reunite with Nina in season 2?
After Simon was admitted, his aneurysm was treated, and he was already doing much better than before. Meret finally felt hopeful; she told Simon that as soon as he was discharged, they would move out of Berlin. Simon struggled to get over the guilt of stealing someone else’s child, and while he’d made the decision sixteen years ago, it had never stopped bothering him. He finally admitted that he did what he did because he wanted to save his marriage, and after all these years, he realized how wrong he had been. While Nina brought happiness into their lives, there was no denying that, as a couple, they didn’t ever recover. Simon loved Meret, and he was ready to do anything just to be with her, but clearly Meret had fallen out of love with him. She adored him, but there was no denying that she didn’t feel romantically attracted to him. They ultimately decided to part ways.
Meanwhile, when Meret stepped out of the room to find Nina, she figured that her daughter had gone missing. She soon noticed Katya leaving with Nina in a black car. She realized that Katya had chosen to take Nina away from them, and as she attempted to stop the car, cops surrounded her. Simon had followed Meret out of the hospital room, and he was arrested as well. Ben showed up and announced that they were being arrested for the murder of Jonas Auken. He was the private henchman Josef had hired to get rid of Meret and Simon, but as luck would have it, Jonas and Meret had previously crossed paths, and they’d fallen madly in love with each other. Although time had passed, they continued to deeply care about one another. Now, we already know that neither Simon nor Meret was responsible for Jonas’ death; it was Josef who’d killed him when he found out that he’d been helping Meret. But proving the facts will be complicated for the duo, and it is likely that Ben intends on ‘using’ these retired agents to carry out tasks off the book.
You can’t help but feel bad for Nina; she deserved to make her own choice. While I can understand Katya’s desperation, abducting a sixteen-year-old isn’t really a good decision. Even if Nina finds out that Meret and Simon aren’t her biological parents, there is a possibility that she would want to go back to them anyway. The relationship that they shared would continue to be important for her. It is likely that she would want to have an honest conversation with them, but I don’t think she would decide to cut all ties. The truth will definitely leave her scarred, and she might want to keep her distance from them for some time, but she will eventually forgive them. Meanwhile, Ben does not seem too happy about Valeria replacing Josef, and there is a possibility that apart from him confessing to killing Alice, they might have some other leverage as well that convinced him to become a double agent. There is no escaping from the mess that he’d gotten himself into, but one can only hope that Julika will find out the actual mole and bring justice to Alice. Also, the Russians clearly have an operation planned apart from helping Josef get rid of his past mistakes. Ben will play a crucial role in executing the operation unless Julika manages to find his secret before it’s too late. Considering the show ended on an abrupt note, Unfamiliar will likely return with an upcoming season.
