Kaleidoscope

The series itself is a delightful mind-bender, one that’s even more satisfying to connect the dots to when you think about how the episodes will play in different orders. But Kaleidoscope doesn’t only rely on the unusual narrative device it uses to snare its viewers. Beneath those shuffled colors is a slick and stylish heist series that keeps the tension building as it skips through timelines.

It’s not saying anything new—it’s not even trying to say anything new—but there are worse things than the warm comforts of TV deja vu.

As thin as these pieces can sometimes be, Kaleidoscope is still entertaining. Garcia and the team have enough misdirects up their sleeve that there are some fun surprises along the way, even if some of them are telegraphed. It’s also admirable how much melancholy and foiled plans there are here, particularly in a genre where it’s easy to lean on empty popcorn fun

In practice, Kaleidoscope feels like a slick but forgettable two-hour movie puffed up into a jumbled six-hour saga. The main advantage of its unorthodox structure is that it helps obscure how generic some of its component pieces really are.

There’s a clockwork energy to heist stories that’s interrupted here. It lacks the right build-up, but I’m not even sure if watching the episodes in chronological order (a quick internet search will pull up that info) would fix the issue. The pacing’s just off.

The puzzle-like gimmick at the heart of “Kaleidoscope” – watch the episodes in any order that you want – can’t conceal how otherwise uninspired this “Ocean’s Eleven”-esque heist series actually is. Chalk that up in part to stiffly written characters, familiar situations and drawn-out logistical sequences. It’s moderately watchable, but all told, color me unimpressed.

The issue with Kaleidoscope, though, is that its design is less an ingenious way of moving storytelling forward than the sort of thing a creator, or a streamer, does because it can...The core product just isn’t very good.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

Having the option to select any episode at random to advance the story held an intriguing appeal. However, I personally chose to follow the events chronologically, so the experience ended up being quite was linear for me and problematically for its results it, the story showed it had absolutely nothing new to bring to the table. This is a story about betrayal and revenge. A thief who was in prison and will collect his debt from the one who put him there. The plot involves a heist, orchestrated by a team of six members, each possessing unique personalities and motivations. You could tell me it's a spin-off of Ocean's Eleven and I would understand and criticize it as such. And I'm talking about the version of Clooney and his gang. The series has merit in its ability to provide entertainment, and Giancarlo Esposito's skillful leadership as the main character shines, even given the relatively modest demands the role made on him as an actor. Beyond these points, however, it's clear why this series flew under the radar upon its release on Netflix earlier this year. Since then, I have yet to find anyone who has seen it. It's an ok show to watch, just adjust your expectations accordingly.

This is basically an elaborate hi-tech heist film stretched into 9 one-hour episodes. The gimmick is that viewers can watch the series in any order and it'll still work. I watched the first 2, then skipped to the final one, then went back to catch a bit of another one. My conclusion is that it doesn't matter, because it's not a particularly interesting movie. Giancarlo Esposito heads the cast, assembling a crew of specialists to steal $7 billion from a highly fortified facility. There are decent action beats, but nothing about the characters or the story seemed anything other than formula.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

Interesting concept that does technically work, but not worth it for the predictable superficial story. It's similar to Black Mirror: Bandersnatch in playing with the medium of television which I appreciate. But unlike Bandersnatch, which doesn't overstay its welcome, you get tired of this gimmick 2 episodes in and you're left wishing the actual plot was any good. It's a waste **** cast.