Netflix brought in the New Year with an interesting show to binge watch. Kaleidoscope is new show intended to be watched in any order. The first seven episodes are able to be remixed however the audience chooses, ahead of a final installment, according to Variety.
As the title of the series implies, colors play a significant role in this heist drama, the creation of author Eric Garcia (Matchstick Men, Repo Men), according to Vulture. Each episode carries the title of different hue, which in turn contributes heftily into the episode’s visual strategy. Aside from the eight-episode season’s finale titled “White,” this miniseries can be watched in any order, or as Netflix puts it, via Vulture, “the order in which they watch the episodes will affect their viewpoint on the story, the characters, and the questions and answers at the heart of the heist.”
The story of Kaleidoscope, according to The Hollywood Reporter, is the story of small band of thieves who use a Category 4 hurricane as a disguise to make off with $7 billion in unsecured bearer bonds. The plot spans 24 years. At the heart is a conflict between master thief Leo Pap, played by Giancarlo Esposito (Do the Right Thing, Breaking Bad), and Roger Salas, played by Rufus Sewell (Dark City, The Illusionist), the head of security company whose holdings include an ultrahigh-tech bank vault in the heart of Manhattan. For personal reasons, Leo constructs a band of at least five criminals, each with their own area of expertise.
If you follow the rules and save the episode titled “White” for last, there is a probability of about 5,040 possible combinations of the seven episodes preceding “White,” and those who break the rules and throw “White” into the mix have a galvanizing probability of about 40,320 possible ways to watch this miniseries, according to Vulture.
Each episode opens with a narrator who sets up what’s to come in the episode, which evokes a sense that any episode could be the first episode. According to Vulture, the experience is more disorienting than illuminating. Depending on which path you take in watching this miniseries, you will have a different perspective on what the show’s deepest mysteries are, whether certain beats play as a setup or a payoff, and which characters may seems more benignant or more nefarious.
Via Vulture, if watched chronologically–viewing order: “Violet,” “Green,” “Yellow,” “Orange,” “Blue,” “Pink,” and “White”–this is probably the clearest path through its story but not necessarily the most satisfying, however, the viewers would be able to instantly learn the history between Leo and Roger, the significance of one of Leo’s employees, and why Leo’s animosity runs so deep.
What order will you watch Kaleidoscope? Stream now only on Netflix.