‘Kaleidoscope’ Review: A Crazy Gimmick That Mostly Works

Netflix is the number-one streaming service for a reason. When other streaming services have a hard time releasing something each month, Netflix just releases a plethora of content every single week. Not everything is a knock-out, of course, but that is how they keep the people engaged. If you don’t like one thing, there are countless other options for you to see, not only from America but from around the world. Kaleidoscope is just Netflix’s newest offering and one that tries to do something different with the medium.

Kaleidoscope is a TV series created by Eric Garcia, a writer with plenty of experience in Hollywood, having penned many films in his career. The show also counts Ridley Scott as one of its executive producers. The show stars Giancarlo Esposito, Rufus Sewell, Paz Vega, Rosaline Elbay, Jai Courtney, Tati Gabrielle, and Peter Mark Kendall. The series tells the story of Leo Pap, a man who escapes from prison to commit one last heist against his greatest enemy. To do it, he will recruit the help of several other characters with their own stories.

The first thing to talk about Kaleidoscope is its presentation. The show takes the format of a normal TV show but adds a gimmick to it. You see, the series’ episodes are not numbered, but instead, they are color-coded. Because there is no order to the way you can watch the show, Netflix has made that every single viewer of the show will watch the episodes in a different order. Some people will watch “Violet” first, while others will watch “Yellow” first. This, according to the creators, allows for each viewer to have a different experience and yet, experience the same story as well.

It all seems very gimmicky, and it is. Gimmicks can add a new level of freshness to an experience, be it, a book, a show, or even a video game. However, while gimmicks can be cool, they are mostly empty of meaning. This is the case with Kaleidoscope. Why? Because the story that is being told here is pretty basic. We are dealing with a classic heist story, nothing more or less than that. The result is a story we have seen many times before, with all its twists and turns.

So, does the color coding add something to the show? Not really. It is just a fun thing to do, but the story is executed in such a way that every episode just feels like part of the same story and nothing else. Non-linear storytelling was something new and fresh a couple of decades ago, but not anymore. Even Quentin Tarantino, who basically made the style popular in cinema and television in the early 90s, has stayed away from it in his latest movies, opting for something more linear and less twisted.

Looking at the entire plot, it all comes off as just a very entertaining heist film, but nothing more than that. Because we are talking about a show of eight episodes trying to do something that movies do very well in about just two hours. It is not surprising that the show feels a bit slow, and like it is just running around in circles for a while. There are definitely entire episodes that are not needed to understand what is happening. For example, an extensive flashback of the main characters, but the series still feels the need for it to make it to eight full episodes.

The cast is pretty great. The show is basically led by Giancarlo Esposito. The actor is always a delight to watch, but he has mostly served in supporting roles, until now. It is very nice to see him up his game and basically become the main character in the story. Paz Vega, also makes a very good impression by playing one of those cool characters that everyone would want to be in real life. Courtney on the other hand brings lots of energy to the tale, but he is basically doing another depiction of Captain Boomerang, gone too soon from us in the latest Suicide Squad.

Visually, the show also has that “Netflix look” with sets and exteriors with maybe a bit too much illumination. It certainly makes things look not real or at least not part of this world, but not in a stylized way. Which is a shame. It would have been cool if the narrative gimmick would have also translated into visuals that also felt a bit more experimental. However, everything is done in a very effective but boring way. The show lacks personality when it comes to the visuals, but also on the story side, so at least it is consistent.

In the end, Kaleidoscope does something different, and it should be applauded for that. Does the gimmick add to anything? Not really, sometimes it becomes too predictable because of the same nature of its non-linear storytelling. Having Esposito as the show’s lead is fantastic and while generic when it comes to its narrative, the show remains entertaining and a good watch for these first days of the new year.

SCORE: 7/10