In what order should you watch Kaleidoscope on Netflix? The new “non-linear” heist series has just dropped, and streaming it isn’t as simple as just pressing play – so, here’s everything you need to know about the episodes, and what order is best.
Kaleidoscope, starring Giancarlo Esposito and created by Eric Garcia, is an “all-new anthology series” on Netflix spanning 25 years, “following a crew of masterful thieves and their attempt to crack a seemingly unbreakable vault for the biggest payday in history.”
“Guarded by the world’s most powerful corporate security team, and with law enforcement on the case, every episode reveals a piece of an elaborate puzzle of corruption, greed, vengeance, scheming, loyalties, and betrayals. How did the crew of thieves plan it? Who gets away with it? Who can be trusted?” the synopsis adds.
Kaleidoscope has a major USP: it’s designed to be watched in any order, so here’s what you need to know about how to watch it.
Kaleidoscope episodes explained
There are eight episodes of Kaleidoscope, and you can watch the first seven in any order you wish. They all take place at different times before the heist, culminating in an “epic” finale.
Below we’ve listed every episode with their title and time before the heist, also known as the “colors of the Kaleidoscope”:
- Yellow: Six weeks before the heist
- Green: Seven years before the heist
- Blue: Five days before the heist
- Violet: 24 years before the heist
- Orange: Three weeks before the heist
- Red: The morning after the heist
- Pink: Six months after the heist
- White: The Heist, the epic story finale
“All viewers will eventually see all episodes, but the order in which they watch the episodes will affect their viewpoint on the story, the characters, and the questions and answers at the heart of the heist,” Netflix explains.
What order should I watch Kaleidoscope?
While there’s no set episode order recommended for watching Kaleidoscope, there are four different orders to consider – importantly, they all end with White.
Firstly, there’s chronological order, which starts with the earliest and finishes with the latest:
- Violet
- Green
- Yellow
- Orange
- Blue
- Red
- Pink
- White
Secondly, there’s reverse order, which starts with the latest and finishes with the earliest, before ending on the finale:
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- Pink
- Red
- Blue
- Orange
- Yellow
- Green
- Violet
- White
Thirdly, there’s the “given order” – aka the order in which the episodes are presented to you on your individual Netflix account. This could be any order, but it will end with White.
Fourthly, there’s “pick ‘n’ mix order” – aka any order you want, picking random episodes across the series before you reach the eighth and final chapter.
The show’s creator Eric Garcia told Tudum: “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.
“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.”
Why is each episode of Kaleidoscope a different color?
Executive producer Russell Fine told Tudum: “If you take each episode as a color, when they combine together, all those colors make white.
“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.”
Tati Gabrielle, who plays Hannah Kim, said: “When you have to think a little bit harder about the story, about how it all connects, that it’s not just handed to you, that was very exciting for me.”
Giancarlo Esposito, who plays heist mastermind Leo Pap, added: “Here we had all the different colors [of episodes], which resemble a tapestry of Leo Pap’s and the other characters’ lives.”
Kaleidoscope is streaming on Netflix now. You can find out more about the show here.
