Sorry, I Do Not Believe 'Kaleidoscope' Can Be Viewed In Any Order
Picture this: you’re sitting on your couch and watching the tail end of a traditional heist movie. Think Ocean’s Eleven. Or The Hot Rock. Then your mom walks in and asks you a million questions about what’s going on because she just started watching the movie, too. Who is that man that got shot? Did the heist already happen? Wait, I thought she was in love with that other guy?!
This is what it’s like to watch Netflix’s Kaleidoscope—a new, eight-episode heist series that claims it can be watched in any order. Where the streaming experiment largely fails, however, is that viewers who receive something closest to resembling chronological order seem to be having the best viewing experience. This is because—as much as the series tries to fight it— Kaleidoscope is a linear narrative.
Let me explain. The episode titles, which are all named after colors, take the viewer throughout various stages of a billion-dollar heist. The “Green” episode takes place seven years before the heist, “Blue” happens five days before, “Pink” goes down six months after, and so on. No matter what order you watch the series in—which Netflix randomly assigns—everyone will end on “White,” the actual heist itself. Much like the bland idea of a kaleidoscope that only shows you one color at a time, however, the series could get a bit boring if you’re someone who saw every character’s fate... before backtracking for another seven episodes just to see how they all got there.
Still, I genuinely believe Netflix gave me the one true order for the best viewing experience: Green, Yellow, Violet, Orange, Blue, Red, Pink, and White. Starting seven years ago, “Green” is the perfect beginning. It introduces us to most of the characters and their specific skill sets, which felt vital moving forward. “Yellow” begins the heist planning; Violet goes 25 years into the past to explain why Giancarlo Esposito’s character wants to even take on this particular heist; “Orange” introduces the FBI character trying to stop them; “Blue” takes us right up to before the heist; “Red” is the morning after the heist; “Pink” jumps six months later; and “White” finally shows viewers the damn heist. Phew.
When you watched Kaleidoscope in different orders and now they’ve spoiled it for you pic.twitter.com/KxQEsHFiAv
— Strong Black Lead (@strongblacklead) January 2, 2023
I can see what Netflix was going for here. If you started at “Orange,” would you possibly root for the FBI character because she feels like your chosen lead? Would learning the central betrayal in Esposito's backstory be more exciting early or later on? But jumbling up all of the plot threads feels more like I’m playing a video game called Storyboarding Simulator than experiencing different points of view. This isn’t a choose-your-own-adventure story like Bandersnatch. It's not even a follow-your-favorite-character story.
Kaleidoscope is a linear story about Esposito’s thieving character, Leo. Simplifying the plot so that you’re not confused no matter where you start isn’t the same experience as going down the wrong path. Or even rooting for a villain until you find out he’s been a bad guy this entire time. That, honestly, would have been incredibly cool—but all of Kaleidoscope’s narrative structure does is decide how quickly you’ll be able to fill in the gaps of one guy's story. I ended up having what seems to be the optimal viewing experience with Kaleidoscope, simply because it played as close to chronological order as possible. A good story is a good story, and there’s a reason they’ve mostly been told in chronological order for over 100 years. I shouldn’t feel like I’m doing origami in my mind.
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