''Kaleidoscope'' is an American heist

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...

television

anthology series An anthology series is a radio, television, video game or film series that spans different genres and presents a different story and a different set of characters in each different episode, season, segment, or short. These usually have a differ ...

created by

Eric Garcia Eric Garcia may refer to: * Eric Garcia (writer) (born 1972), American writer * Eric García (footballer, born 1993), Spanish football midfielder * Eric Garcia (basketball) (born 1994), American basketball player *Eric García (footballer, born 2001 ...

. The eight-part series, unique for its shuffled order, centers on master thief Leo Pap (

Giancarlo Esposito Giancarlo Giuseppe Alessandro Esposito (; born April 26, 1958) is an American actor and director. He is best known for portraying Gus Fring in the AMC crime drama series ''Breaking Bad'', from 2009 to 2011, and in its prequel series ''Better Ca ...

) and his crew attempting an epic heist worth $7 billion, but betrayal, greed and other threats undermine their plans. ''Kaleidoscope'' was released on January 1, 2023, by

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

Cast and characters

Main

as Leo Pap / Ray Vernon, a career criminal and the leader of his heist crew, who aims to rob the SLS vault *

Rufus Sewell Rufus Frederik Sewell (; born 29 October 1967) is a British film and stage actor. In film, he has appeared in '' Carrington'' (1995), '' ''Hamlet' (1996), ''Dangerous Beauty'' (1998), '' Dark City'' (1998), ''A Knight's Tale ''(2001), ''The ...

as Roger Salas / Graham Davies, Leo's former partner-in-crime and the CEO of "SLS", a corporate security firm *

Paz Vega María de la Paz Campos Trigos (born 2 January 1976), known professionally as Paz Vega (), is a Spanish actress. She became popular for her performance in comedy television series ''7 vidas''. Her film credits include ''Sex and Lucia'' (2001), ...

as Ava Mercer, a lawyer, Leo's closest friend and the weapons specialist of Leo's crew *

Peter Mark Kendall Peter Mark Kendall (born May 11, 1986) is an American actor with a career in stage, film and television. He is known for playing the role of Hans in FX's ''The Americans'' and Richard Onsted in CBS '' Strange Angel''. Education Kendall received a ...

as Stan Loomis, Leo's former cellmate and the smuggler for Leo's crew *

Rosaline Elbay Rosaline Elbay ( ar, روزالين البيه; ) is an Egyptian stage and screen actress, producer and writer. She is known for her roles as Judy Goodwin on the Netflix series '' Kaleidoscope,'' Amani on the Hulu/ A24 Films series ''Ramy'', and ...

as Judy Goodwin (née Strauss), Stan's ex-girlfriend and the explosives specialist of Leo's crew *

Jai Courtney Jai Courtney (; born 15 March 1986) is an Australian actor. He started his career with small roles in films and television series before being cast as Charlie in the action film ''Jack Reacher'' (2012). He has gone on to star in ''A Good Day to ...

as Bob Goodwin, Judy's husband and the safe cracker of Leo's crew *

Tati Gabrielle Tatiana Gabrielle Hobson (born January 25, 1996) is an American actress. She is known for her roles as Gaia on The CW science fiction television series '' The 100'', Prudence on the Netflix original series '' Chilling Adventures of Sabrina'', M ...

as Hannah Kim (née Vernon), Leo's pregnant daughter who works as the head of digital security at SLS **Austin Elle Fisher portrays a young Hannah Vernon

Recurring

* Jordan Mendoza as RJ Acosta Jr., the driver for Leo's Crew *

Hemky Madera Hemky Madera (born January 26, 1977) is an American actor. He began his acting career in the Dominican Republic television production ''Grandes Series Dominicanas'' in which he took the leading parts of the mini-series ''En La Olla'' and ''Tri ...

as Carlos Sujo, Roger's right-hand man and fixer * Soojeong Son as Liz Kim, Hannah's adoptive sister * John Hans Tester as Stefan Thiele, one of "The Triplets", a trio of billionaires who entrust $7 billion worth of

bearer bond A bearer bond is a bond or debt security issued by a business entity such as a corporation or a government. As a bearer instrument, it differs from the more common types of investment securities in that it is unregistered—no records are kept o ...

s to SLS *

Niousha Noor Niousha Noor ( fa, نيوشا نور) is an Iranian-American actress. Career Noor has appeared in numerous TV shows and films, including playing Donya on HBO's '' Here and Now''. In 2020, Noor starred opposite Shahab Hosseini in IFC's psycholog ...

as Nazan Abbasi, an

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and its principal Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement age ...

agent focused on investigating Leo's Crew * Bubba Weiler as Samuel Toby, Abbasi's FBI partner

Guest starring

* Patch Darragh as Andrew Covington, the former head of digital security at SLS, and the unnamed father of Hannah’s baby *

Richard Masur Richard Masur is an American character actor who has appeared in more than 80 films. From 1995 to 1999, he served two terms as president of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG). He is best known for Nick Lobo on ''Rhoda'' (1974-1977), Stanley Uris in th ...

as Dr. Wagner, Leo's doctor during his incarceration *

Tina Benko Tina Benko is an American actress and acting teacher known for her roles in film, theatre, and television. Early life Benko was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Career Benko was nominated for a Lucille Lortel Award for her portrayal of Jacq ...

as Jennifer Helman, Abbasi and Toby's superior in the FBI * Whit Washing as Ted Gough, FBI agent assigned to the jewelry heist *

Robinne Lee Robinne Lee (born July 16, 1974) is an American actress and author. She made her screen debut in the 1997 independent film '' Hav Plenty'', and later has appeared in films ''National Security'' (2003), ''Deliver Us from Eva'' (2003), '' Hitch'' (2 ...

as Lily Vernon, Leo's wife and Hannah's mother *

Max Casella Max Casella (born Maximilian Deitch; June 6, 1967) is an American actor. He is known for his roles on the television series ''Doogie Howser, M.D.'', ''The Sopranos'', ''Boardwalk Empire'', ''Vinyl'', '' Cro'' and the voice of Daxter in the ''Jak ...

as Taco, a criminal-for-hire * Craig Walker as Samson, Taco's partner and a fellow criminal

Episodes

All eight episodes can be watched in any order. An introduction ("Black") explains the show's concept. The episodes are listed here in the order listed on Netflix's Tudum page.

Production

Development

On September 16, 2021, it was revealed that

had given an eight-episode order for the series, then titled ''Jigsaw''.

serves as creator, writer, and executive producer, along with EPs

Ridley Scott Sir Ridley Scott (born 30 November 1937) is a British film director and producer. Directing, among others, science fiction films, his work is known for its atmospheric and highly concentrated visual style. Scott has received many accolades thr ...

David W. Zucker David W. Zucker is a television executive and executive producer, best known for producing ''The Good Wife''. He is currently the Chief Creative Officer for Scott Free Productions. He is also the executive producer of notable shows like Eric Gar ...

, Jordan Sheehan, Fred Berger, Brian Kavanaugh-Jones, Justin Levy, and Russell Fine. The series is produced by

Scott Free Productions Scott Free Productions is an independent film and television production company founded in 1970 by filmmakers and brothers Ridley Scott and Tony Scott. They formed the feature film development company Percy Main Productions in 1980, naming the ...

and Automatik Entertainment. It was announced that Everardo Gout and

Mairzee Almas Mairzee Almas is a Canadian filmmaker and television director from Vancouver. She has directed numerous TV shows, including ''Shadow and Bone'', '' Y The Last Man'', '' The Sandman'', ''Locke & Key'', '' Outlander'', ''Impulse'', ''Jessica Jones ...

would each direct two episodes. It was also announced Robert Townsend would direct multiple episodes of the series. The series is structured in a non-linear order so that viewers can choose the order in which they watch the episodes leading up to the finale.

Casting

Alongside the series announcement,

, and Jordan Mendoza were cast.

Filming

Filming began at Netflix Studios in

Bushwick, Brooklyn Bushwick is a neighborhood in the northern part of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It is bounded by the neighborhood of Ridgewood, Queens, to the northeast; Williamsburg to the northwest; East New York and the cemeteries of Highland Par ...

on September 1, 2021. It is the first production at the Bushwick studio. Filming also took place at 28 Liberty in Manhattan's financial district. The series wrapped on March 16, 2022.

Release

The series was officially titled ''Kaleidoscope'' in November 2022 when its release date was set for January 1, 2023. Each episode bears a title associated with a hue or color, which distinctly relates to the main element of that particular episode. The story spans from twenty-four years before the heist to six months after the heist. Netflix tweeted suggestions of different orders in which viewers could watch the episodes; for example, as a

Quentin Tarantino Quentin Jerome Tarantino (; born March 27, 1963) is an American film director, writer, producer, and actor. His films are characterized by stylized violence, extended dialogue, profanity, Black comedy, dark humor, Nonlinear narrative, non-lin ...

film, referencing nonlinear films of his like ''

Pulp Fiction ''Pulp Fiction'' is a 1994 American crime film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino, who conceived it with Roger Avary.See, e.g., King (2002), pp. 185–7; ; Starring John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Bruce Willis, Tim Roth, Ving Rhame ...

''; or as a classic detective story. Netflix's approach of presenting the first seven episodes in any order followed by the White episode allows for 5,040 (7!)

permutation In mathematics, a permutation of a set is, loosely speaking, an arrangement of its members into a sequence or linear order, or if the set is already ordered, a rearrangement of its elements. The word "permutation" also refers to the act or proc ...

s. Watching all episodes (including "White") in any order allows for a total of 40,320 (8!). However, Dais Johnston of Inverse noticed that Netflix's recommended orders always ended with "Red" and "Pink" before "White", hinting at 120 (5!) permutations.

Reception

The

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

reported a 50% approval rating with an average rating of 6.4/10, based on 34 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "While ''Kaleidoscope'' interactive storytelling offers some flashy novelty, its color-coded story strands are unfortunately all in service to a disappointingly pedestrian plot."

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 59 out of 100 based on 14 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

References

External links

* * {{Netflix original ended series (2019–present), state=collapsed 2023 American television series debuts 2023 American television series endings 2020s American drama television miniseries 2020s American crime drama television series American action television series American thriller television series English-language Netflix original programming Nonlinear narrative television series Robbery in television Television series by Scott Free Productions Television shows filmed in New York City