Netflix's Kaleidoscope: Series creator explains unique episode structure

Netflix's much-anticipated heist thriller series, Kaleidoscope, is all set to hit the streaming platform on Sunday, January 1, 2022. The series is about a notorious criminal and his gang looking to perform a heist. However, things get complicated after greed and betrayal among the members lead to the disruption of their plans.

One of the most unique things about the show is that it has no episode order. Viewers can watch the first seven episodes in any order, but everyone will end up in the same finale that focuses on the main heist. Series creator and EP Eric Garcia told Netflix's Tudum that,

''There are five episodes that take place before the heist, two episodes that take place after the heist, and then you get the white episode (finale).''

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Kaleidoscope creator and EP talk about episode writing, among other things

Eric Garcia further went on to explain during his interaction with Netflix's Tudum that when viewers watch the finale episode of Kaleidoscope, they learn the ''true answers'' to all the clues and hints from the previous episodes. He said (obtained via Netflix's Tudum),

''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. You really find out everybody’s true motivations. It’s almost like a skeleton key.''

As per Tudum, the experience of watching the show mirrors the series' plot as viewers need to carefully look for clues and hints provided in each episode and then try and figure out the whole plot. There is no specific order to watch the episodes, and your interpretation of the story will be based on how you've watched the show.

Another fascinating aspect of the series is that each episode is named after a color. These include Yellow: 6 Weeks Before The Heist, Green: 7 Years Before the Heist, Blue: 5 Days Before the Heist, Violet: 24 Years Before the Heist, Orange: 3 Weeks Before the Heist, Red: The Morning After the Heist, Pink: 6 Months After, and White: The Heist.

Russell Fine, who serves as an executive producer of Kaleidoscope, told Tudum that when you consider each episode as a color and combine them, ''all those colors make white.'' He explained (obtained via Netflix's Tudum),

''Each of the colored episodes would also then have colors within them, so I wanted to make sure that every episode had at least seven questions in it that were answered by at least one of the other episodes.''

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In brief, about Kaleidoscope plot and cast

Kaleidoscope is a heist thriller that focuses on a notorious gang of criminals who try and conduct an epic heist, but things do not go according to their original plan. Here's a short synopsis of the series, as per Rotten Tomatoes:

''A master thief and his crew attempt an epic heist worth $7 billion, but betrayal, greed and other threats undermine their plans.''

The show features Breaking Bad star Giancarlo Esposito in the lead role as Leo Pap, along with Paz Vega, Rufus Sewell, and many others playing significant supporting roles.

Don't forget to watch Kaleidoscope on Netflix on Sunday, January 1, 2023.