Aaron Velez | Editor-in-Chief
January 13, 2023
Netflix has announced the release of a new series, Kaleidoscope, that takes a unique approach to storytelling. The show follows a group of thieves over a period of 24 years, culminating in a heist, but with a twist: the episodes, each of which is titled after a color, can be watched in any order. To ensure that viewers do not watch the episodes in chronological order, the episodes are randomized across different accounts.
The choice to randomize the order of the episodes, despite being the primary draw of the show, has actually dissuaded some viewers. “I’m reluctant to watch Kaleidoscope because I’ve heard that some of the episodes are confusing if you haven’t seen previous ones even though that’s supposed to be the point of the show,” senior Farah Sumpter said. “But, it seems like an interesting concept.”
Another critique is that the only rule in the entire show is to watch the episode of the actual heist (titled “White” and placed last to avoid confusion) at the very end, even though it is not really the final episode chronologically. In fact, both the episode “Red” and “Pink” take place after the heist one day and six months after respectively. Thus, watching the ultimate conclusion to the character arcs and plotlines before the events of the heist can be rather off-putting.
“I think it was weird to see how all the characters ended up before actually seeing the events of the heist,” senior Tiffany Swart said. “There were a lot of references that won’t make sense until you finish all the episodes.”
Despite these critiques, Kaleidoscope offers a unique and interesting concept, with the various strands of the story ultimately connecting in the final episode, even though the randomization of episodes may be initially confusing. As a lover of shows that aim for more “meta” or unconventional standards, I highly recommend giving Kaleidoscope a try. In an era where Netflix is criticized for producing unoriginal shows that end up flopping and canceling beloved series, Kaleidoscope offers hope for a potential new era of Netflix, where interesting plots and conventions are placed above simple stories of sappy teen love or redundant thrillers.
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