Netflix has wasted no time in rolling out their latest repertoire of films and series, giving viewers ample reason to take it easy after party season comes to an end.
One show that’s found itself in the spotlight of colours is Kaleidoscope—one of the most creatively structured productions Netflix has ever put out.
Taking cues from non-traditional story-telling (not unlike the Black Mirror Episode that saw users nudge the main characters’ choices) Kaleidoscope offers us a brightly lit path to a non-linear viewing experience.
A highly detailed, not-just-for-background noise show, Eric Garcia’s Kaleidoscope tells the story of an epic heist married to intricate motives, complex characters, and laser-sharp storytelling.
Doing away with traditional plotting (beginning middle and end) which bares the design of having audiences all witness the same story, Kaleidoscope gives viewers the option to watch the episodes in whatever order of the rainbow they please. This gives every viewer a different perspective of the tale, different emotional reactions, alliances and different pieces of the puzzle at different times.
In fact, it’s believed that there are roughly 40 000 different ways to watch the series, and the episode lineup appears differently to each user. Each episode has its own designated colour and set time period before or after the heist. The only recommended set episode is the finale, ’White’.
How does it work?
You can watch in any order, and each episode will make sense no matter which way the jigsaw comes together. Any episode can be the first episode, and each episode peels back another layer behind the questions you’ll undoubtedly have.
Even the actors read their scripts out of order, with Rosalie Elbay (Judy) expressing that if she had read Pink first she would’ve had a completely different perspective of her character.
The order I watched in was as follows: Yellow, Violet, Orange, Green, Blue, Red, Pink White, based on a critic’s recommendation.
However, many recommend watching it in chronological order which breaks the last episode rule:
Violet, Green, Yellow, Orange Blue, White, Red, Pink
Why a heist?
We all love the thrill of suspense, the impossible becoming possible and a glance into a world far away from our own.
As Garcia himself put it in speaking to MetaCritic:
”There’s such an interesting thing, where we loathe criminals — especially in America, we’re fans of locking a lot of people up — but for some reason, we find heisters fascinating,” says the creator of the new crime drama Kaleidoscope on Netflix. “I think that’s because they, to some degree, use their minds to get around [the problem]. It’s not that they’re taking a gun and robbing a place — although there is a fair amount of that in the show — but at the end of the day this is a game of wits. These are the gentlemen thieves.”
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Feature Image: Shared by @kaleidoscopeseries/Instagram
