Kaleidoscope, Netflix

In what order should you watch Kaleidoscope? Netflix's new "non-linear" heist series has just dropped, so here's what you need to know.

“The idea is that when you watch the white episode, you’re learning true answers to things that have been hinted about beforehand and afterward. - White - Violet They all take place at different times before the heist, culminating in an “epic” finale. Who can be trusted?” the synopsis adds. In what order should you watch Kaleidoscope on Netflix?

'Breaking Bad' star Giancarlo Esposito leads in a heist thriller series that can – for the most part – be watched in whichever order you like.

And it’s an effective portrait, wholly enjoyable as a twisty thriller in the mould of The Italian Job or Gambit. And placing that final episode – which depicts the moment of the heist – as an enforced climax entirely undermines the conceit. This can be viewed as totally normal, thoughtlessly linear television – but with the added frisson that maybe something clever is happening, just out of view. I’m not overly enamoured with this sort of gimmick, which sits somewhere between the slog of ergodic literature (like Mark Z Danielewski’s House of Leaves) and the silliness of a Choose Your Own Adventure. Kaleidoscope’s working title was Jigsaw, and almost all the press for the show has featured the fact that the episode order is randomised. Look at how the snowy whiteouts of Nordic noir, or the persimmon plains of the American West, use colour to orient the viewer.

Kaleidoscope star Giancarlo Esposito has opened up about the best way to watch Netflix's latest hit drama.

The idea of the show baffled fans at first but the series promises to make sense no matter which way viewers decide to watch the show. Interesting.” Interesting. However, in a new interview, Kaleidoscope stars Giancarlo Esposito and Tati Gabrielle revealed the best way to binge-watch the new Netflix series. In a recent interview, Esposito and Gabrielle shared the ideal way to binge the new series and they have very differing views. [Netflix's ](/latest/netflix)new heist drama has taken viewers by storm.

To pull off the job, Leo gets together a crew that includes Ava Mercer (Paz Vega), Judy Goodwin (Rosaline Elbay), Stan Loomis (Peter Mark Kendall), RJ Acosta ( ...

It feels like the intended effect of Netflix randomizing Kaleidoscope’s episodes was to compel friends to urge each other to continue the show so they can reach the next big episode or moment. Even the heist itself, which has an hour devoted to it but still mostly manages to be about walking from one place to the next, can’t find a way to be exciting or slick. And nothing about the show or its characters has even the ounce of the charm it would take to make following them through this byzantine shuffle of episodes anything other than a drag. Kaleidoscope’s pacing feels nonsensical, which might seem like it’s the obvious fault of the random order. None of these glaring issues can be attributed to the randomized order. It relies on characters who know more than we do, who hold back the ace up their sleeve, obscured from even the audience, for just the perfect hand. Rather than any kind of actual personality for the characters or anything else that might make you care about them, we get first-day-of-class fun facts like one character liking the play the drums or another wanting to retire to the beach. Just like a great heist, a great heist movie requires perfect timing, giving out character reveals at just the right moment, knowing when the story needs a new complication, and throwing shocking twists in at exactly the right moment for maximum audience impact. Depending on the order of your episodes, when we meet Leo he’s either about to break out of prison, or he’s dead set on revenge via the biggest job he can think of: hitting his former partner who now runs a security company with a high-tech underground vault. Meanwhile, every side character just seems like more trouble than they’re worth, with most of them feeling like they’re at best one Google search smarter than the audience about everything from safe cracking to explosives. Unfortunately, the show never really makes a song worth listening to, and mostly feels like a din of out-of-tune instruments, no matter what order they’re in. While this format is almost interesting at first blush, its problems become clear with a little more thought: There’s nothing fundamentally interesting about learning things in a random order.

Kaleidoscope arrives on Netflix on Sunday (1 January) with its unusual premise prompting raised eyebrows and questions from many viewers. The crime drama – ...

“What is the best order to watch Kaleidoscope?” questioned one viewer on Twitter. Netflix states that the “order in which [viewers] watch the episodes will affect their viewpoint on the story, the characters, and the questions and answers at the heart of the heist”. It follows a group of masterful thieves, led by Breaking Bad star [Giancarlo Esposito](/topic/giancarlo-esposito), who work together to pull off an elaborate heist.