How is the series on Netflix whose episodes can be watched in any order – Il Post

It was released on January 1st on Netflix Kaleidoscope (kaleidoscope), a new series that tells the story of a $7 billion heist orchestrated by a professional thief, Leo Pap (Giancarlo Esposito), who is determined to get revenge on the man who ruined his life for years first. The thing why Kaleidoscope however, it is not the plot that has attracted the most attention, but the fact that its episodes have been designed to be viewed in the order you want, without this spoiling the viewing experience.

According to the Netflix synopsis, in fact, the order that each viewer will choose will influence his “point of view on the story, on the characters and on the outstanding issues at the heart of the robbery”. The experiment of Kaleidoscope somewhat reminiscent of what Netflix had done in 2018 with Bandersnatchthe interactive film in the series Black Mirror which about every five minutes allowed viewers to choose between two different developments in the story, like in a book-game. How Bandersnatch but also Kaleidoscope seems to have somewhat disappointed the expectations created by its innovative and interactive format. “Honestly, it just feels like watching a messy show,” wrote Keith Phipps on Vultures.

Kaleidoscope was produced by Netflix and created by Eric Garcia, already known among other things for having written the novel on which it was based The mastermind of the scam by Ridley Scott. Both Garcia and Scott are also producers on the series.

The title derives from the fact that its eight episodes are not identified with a number (and therefore have no order), but according to a colour: the possible sequences are more than 5,000, but become over 40,000 if you decide to include possible combinations too White, the episode that the creators of the series recommend watching last and which tells the story of the day of the robbery. The other episodes instead (Yellow, Green, Blue, Purple, Orange, Red, Pink) tell various facts covering a period of 24 years. On Netflix the series begins with a very short trailer (Black) to explain the format to those who decide to watch it without knowing anything about it: it is not indicated here White as final.

The plot is loosely based on a true story that occurred in Manhattan, New York, during Hurricane Sandy that hit the United States in 2012: on that occasion a company lost billions of dollars in bonds due to a flood. Garcia said the series tells a story that could have happened: “If I had to do a robbery I would use Hurricane Sandy as a cover.”

Angie Han wrote on theHollywood Reporters what the idea behind Kaleidoscope “It works well, at least in the sense that it’s really possible to follow what happens regardless of the order.” However, he added that claiming this actually enriches the narrative “is a whole other matter.”

Even in his review on Guardianfilm and television critic Stuart Heritage said that ‘once you’ve seen the whole thing and sorted it out in your brain, it’s a pretty good show’, ‘entertaining and at times enthralling’. The frustrating thing and the main limitation of the series, according to Heritage, is exactly what its strong point should be and that is the disorder of the episodes. Since each episode could be the first – and to avoid the viewer feeling that they have lost pieces – the psychology of the characters is not particularly explored and the script fails to create big climaxes or moments of suspense.

“The problem with Kaleidoscope is that its format is not so much an ingenious way of advancing the narrative, but rather one of those things that an author, or a streaming platform, does simply because they can” wrote Daniel D’Addario on variety. And he added: “It seems like a way to make a shoddy show worth talking about.”

D’Addario also points out that the idea behind Kaleidoscope it’s not entirely new. Even the TV series Questionreleased in February 2020 on the American streaming platform CBS All Access (today Paramount +) and in Italy on Premium Crime, was designed so that viewers could watch the episodes in no particular order, but it has never been renewed for a second season.

Another limitation of the series is that the way it is made prevents people from commenting on it while they are watching it due to the risk of spoilers for those who are following a different order. «What happened to TV viewing as a common and shared experience?» commented Heritage: “There is something very alienating in the way that each subscriber will watch this series in an order that will not correspond to that of their friends and family”.

However, there is enough talk about it online. Many critics and series fans are sharing the sequence they think is the best. One possible criterion is to follow the chronological order: in fact, each episode begins with an inscription that places the story in a time frame that goes from 24 years before the robbery to six months after. According to Heritage this is the only way to appreciate Kaleidoscope: to follow the chronological order you must start from Purple and continue with Green, Yellow, Orange, Blue, White, Red, Pink. Though White is thought to be the last, in fact, chronologically ranks before Red And Pink.

But if you want you can look the other way around, or you can start from White, or make any other choice. According to Keith Phipps, the most interesting order, and the one he would have liked to follow, in retrospect, is: Yellow, Purple, Orange, Green, Blue, Red, Pink And White. She, too, Han wrote that she’s glad she started from Yellow.

According to critic Brian Lowry’s review on cnn, Kaleidoscope it should be considered «as another of those experiments which exhausts most of its ingenuity in the initial idea. Hopefully this – coupled with Esposito’s steely charm in a lead role – will provide sufficient reward.”

In fact, one of the best reviewed things of the series is the choice of the lead actor: Heritage says that in one episode «Esposito has a moment of emotion so powerful that everything that comes after – including the ending – seems to fade into the background. By the way, it’s bad luck if you look at it first.’