“Kaleidescope” twists and turns minds
Everyone knows what a typical heist movie consists of: a band of criminal friends reunite, they create a foolproof plan, break through a high-security facility for a mind-boggling amount of money, just barely get away with it and split their prize. But what changes when an audience views these events out of order? Apparently everything, according to the Netflix mini-series “Kaleidoscope,” which premiered on Jan. 1. Netflix users received a randomized order of episodes each named with a color. “White” is the actual heist and is the last episode for every viewer. The effect of the out-of-order series is explained well by Netflix itself, who said, “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.”
My order of episodes was “Yellow,” “Violet,” “Orange,” “Green,” which was my personal favorite, “Blue,” “Red,” “Pink” and “White.” The “Yellow” episode begins only six weeks before the heist, so jumping in, everything is a bit confusing. Relationships are already developed and ongoing conflicts are unexplained, but it’s not too overwhelming to drive a viewer away from the show. It’s an extremely easy show to binge, so questions are quickly answered. Looking back on it, I recommend audiences to watch the show in chronological order, which would start you 24 years before the heist, for the least complex story.
Within a large ensemble of actors, Giancarlo Esposito certainly steals the show. Best known for his role as Gus Fring in “Breaking Bad,” Esposito proves that he is no stranger to portraying a criminal mastermind. The rest of the actors are talented, but the script sometimes draws away from their performance and overall audience experience. For such an interesting concept, it’s a shame that the writing can be cliche and somewhat predictable at times.
Introducing a whole new approach for heist shows, Kaleidoscope is definitely a successful experiment. A second season with a whole new cast and improved dialogue would easily find itself in my watchlist.
