The Trap Review
Director: Isabel Kleefeld
Date Created: 2026-10-13 18:32
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The Trap Review: Directed by Isabel Kleefeld and based on Melanie Raabe’s novel, the German psychological thriller Die Falle stars Friederike Becht as Lisa Konrad and Hans Löw as Robert Lenzen, alongside Josephine Thiesen as Anna, Matthias Brandt, Miriam Ohlmeyer, Malaya Stern Takeda, Anna Schudt, and Michael Klammer. The Netflix series has six episodes, each running approximately 45 minutes.
The Trap Review
Netflix’s The Trap revolves around Lisa Konrad, a woman who has been hiding away from the world for ten years since witnessing the terrible consequences of her younger sister Anna’s murder. This crime traumatised Lisa so deeply that she can never go back to the normal life she was leading before the tragedy. Everything changes when Lisa sees reporter Robert Lenzen on TV and is certain that he is the same person she saw near Anna’s place the night the crime took place.
Unable to provide evidence that her hunch is true, Lisa decides to get revenge on her own. She invites Robert to her house for an interview, planning to force him to tell her the truth about his involvement in the murder. However, as she gets ready to confront him, Lisa’s memories, fears, and imagination start mixing in a very complicated way, making the viewers question if she is on the track of the truth or going mad.
The first thing that attracted my attention to the character of Lisa in the Netflix series The Trap was the ambiguity of her situation. She is not only a woman searching for the one who murdered her sister. She is the woman whose life was influenced by the trauma of her past, and the chance to confront the killer becomes too tempting for her not to try. Lisa’s conviction that Robert killed her sister gives her an incentive to act after years of hiding.
At the same time, her suspicion and obsession with finding the truth make her more and more desperate. It is easy to understand the need for answers; however, I was disappointed to see how often her unstable mental state is used by the series as a means of developing the plot without any progress in her research. The portrayal of Lisa’s emotional instability by Friederike Becht has been successful to a large extent. There are occasions when her determination appears genuine, especially when she persists in not giving up on her suspicions although having very few supporters around her. On the other hand, her fear and confusion make her an unreliable person to trust for guidance through the mystery.
I appreciated the way Lisa was portrayed as being vulnerable but capable of making life-threatening decisions at times. She believes herself in charge of her life for the first time in her life, while her obsession with Robert threatens the feeling of being in control. Regrettably, however, Lisa’s actions were not always justified by the writing in the series. Robert is just as critical to the story since the drama arises from whether or not he is actually a threat or just the victim of Lisa’s mistrust. Hans Löw adds an element of uncertainty to the character, making his exchanges with Lisa very intriguing to watch.
The preparations he makes for an interview that can potentially change the rest of his life also add an interesting connection between both characters. They both approach the interview with their respective preconceptions, and neither of them seems prepared to let things unfold at random. In my mind, I wanted their psychological duel to be the major power of the 2026 The Trap series, with each conversation shedding light on something new that made the other rethink their stance. Sadly, sometimes Robert seems more suspicious than mysterious.
Lisa becoming the bait is what gives the potential to make the Netflix German series The Trap a good thriller. She realises that her accusations may not be enough and tries to set up Robert so he can give away his secrets. It is interesting to see how someone who had years of feeling like they had no power designs an event on their own.
However, I did not find her planning very convincing since there was something more promising about the idea. Lisa’s plans were mostly based on her guesses about Robert’s character rather than the specific plan. It seems like the story is trying to portray them as intelligent people locked in a battle of wits, but fails to do so.
A further issue concerns how the series treats Lisa’s memory and uncertainty. It seems that the mixing of Lisa’s memories, her fears, and possible reality adds an interesting aspect to the mystery at the beginning. The visual effects are also used to create an ambience in which certainty appears difficult. I like the concept of putting the audience in doubt about Lisa’s perception of reality rather than presenting every fear as real. Nevertheless, the frequent visits to Lisa’s internal struggles start to become irritating at some point. Each time one wants to see an important revelation, the plot returns to the same old memories and fears.
The secondary characters could have been used in order to develop the plot further. For example, Norbert Rudow, Lisa’s publisher, played by Matthias Brandt, and Sophie, played by Miriam Ohlmeyer, who is an invented character in the series. Norbert is significant for Lisa’s life as a writer. Lisa is both a successful author and a woman bound by her sister’s death. The character of Sophie plays an important part in the further development of the series and the description of Lisa’s psyche and the confusion between reality and imagination. But I wanted to see the series develop the role of those characters a bit better rather than focusing so much on Lisa’s suspicion and conflict with Robert.
However, the six-episode structure has its own drawbacks as well. The plot of the German series The Trap contains sufficient details to create an interesting psychological thriller about grief, guilt, and the dangerous desire for closure. However, in the middle part, the pace seems to become too stretched. I keep receiving reminders that Lisa might be wrong, although there is not enough new information in the plot to make this point intriguing. In consequence, the suspense becomes less effective, while the final confrontation should account for all the events of the story.
Netflix The Trap Review: Summing Up
Overall, the 2026 series The Trap is quite mediocre. There was enough of Friederike Becht’s acting to keep my interest, and even the question revolving around Robert helped with that, but the monotonous storytelling, unbalanced characters, and the long-running investigation prevented the show from turning into a really good psychological thriller. While I understand what it tries to achieve in terms of unreliable memory and the consequences of grief, the main mystery fails to keep me interested.
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