Kaleidoscope - Non-linear heist drama

[JohnC]

Netflix are to release this on 1 January. It's 8 episodes and the non-linear aspect is that it doesn't matter what order you watch them in and different people will be served different orders. Might be interesting to see how that works in reality.

 

The idea came from when $70bn of bonds went missing during Hurricane Sandy. The creator thought "What if it was actually a heist using the storm for cover".

 

Stars Giancarlo Esposito, Rufus Sewell, Paz Vega, Tati Gabrielle, Peter Mark Kendall, Rosaline Elbay, Jai Courtney, Niousha Noor, Jordan Mendoza, Soojeong Son and Hemky Madera.

 

 

[cassidy]

Has it been ruined by the Rick and Morty heist episode will be the proof of the pudding. 

[Monkeyboy]

Anybody watched this yet?

 

My episode order is... yellow, green, violet, blue, orange, red, pink, white.

 

I assume everyone has white as the final one. There's a 50 second black intro as well.

[Sidewaysbob]

On 22/11/2022 at 20:56, cassidy said:

Has it been ruined by the Rick and Morty heist episode will be the proof of the pudding. 

 

yes.

 

All heist movies have now been ruined.

 

We started with yellow, then started blue i think. Realised there was a timeline and went online to get it.

I'm all for being able to watch things in any order. But if relationships suddenly change for no reason, it messes with my OCD. 

 

So far, its good, It makes more sense when the timeline is in place i think.

 

 

[Stig]

We're only 2 episodes in but so far it's been Yellow, then Green. I like the idea of it being a different order for people.

[Gotters]

3 in and enjoying it, but can't help but feel it would have been better just filmed exactly as is and put together in a single edit that they actually wanted.

 

it's a gimmick and nothing more, doesn't add anything to your enjoyment as a viewer, in fact it may detract depending on your random order as think we've had a middle 3 eps leading up to the heist (yellow/green/blue) and will now have to watch 2 of the earliest back story to get to the actual event.

 

kind of clever to make it work but elicits a big 'so what' in terms of making the show any better. 

[Thor]

And finished, really enjoyed this. The weakest episode was Violet, which I decided to watch after two episodes because I knew it would struggle with bad effects/make up. 

 

As for the finale, I would indeed recommend leaving White until last despite it not being chronologically last. It really does work as a finale. 

[Sidewaysbob]

And I'm going to say leave red and pink to last and watch it in chronological order. 

 

I thought the ending was pretty stupid with action taken by characters that made no sense. Despite watching it in order. 

 

Spoiler

I have to assume the cop was killed because she refused to stop investigating the triplets. 

 

But why they bumped off Ray when his daughter took the bonds and gave them exactly what they wanted, no idea. 

 

It was hinted at that they were bad ass, but they didn't do anything to deserve the title. Other than being rich. 

 

Ultimately, I was rooting for Salas because all he did was not run back into the burning building with Ray. He sorted his life out, became a successful buisness man and gave Rays daughter a job and a life. 

 

He wasn't a bad man, just a bit if a coward in one occasion. 

 

Oh, and breaking out of prison with a key carved from soap was stupid. 

 

I would also have shot Bob on day one out of principle. He was an idiot from start to finish. And as it turned out, Ray and Stan could have cracked the safes. So what was the point of Bob? 

 

 

[Gotters]

seems the random order has left us red/pink as the final 2, not sure how much they seed things to do this, would be daft to show the actual heist then take you back for the back story.

 

the earliest episode is quite poor, mainly for how the older actors are 'de-aged', not by clever CGI but by nasty cheap nylon looking wigs and caking on thick thick makeup which in 4k looks pish. Add in Giancarlo Esposito walking like a man in his 60s whilst playing a younger man in a bad wig it's quite shoddy.

 

still enjoyable guff and looking forward to the final couple

[Commander Jameson]

@Sidewaysbob regarding one bit in your spoiler.

 

Spoiler

I thought that it was Stan who liked Ray in the end, rather than the triplets.

 

[Steve McQueef]

I'd have straight up murdered Bob, so help me. 

[Thor]

@Sidewaysbob - Regarding the last point of your spoiler.

 

Spoiler

This is clearly explained in the scene when Bob visits Ava Mercer at her house, and she explains that the only reason they're keeping the colossal dickhead around is that he's married to Judy, who they absolutely need for her explosives expertise. 

 

@Commander Jameson That's not the impression I got, I thought it was...

Spoiler

... just a hitman, who could have been commissioned by anyone, the Triplets or Salas. 

 

 

On a different note, I know everyone hates Bob, but I found him thoroughly entertaining as a character. I don't really rate Jai Courtney, but I thought he was great in this. 

[Tequlia]

I quite liked it, yes it has issues if you think too much/too long but tbh as dinner background for a few evenings it was fine.  I imagine there were permutations that didn't work as well with some episodes not as strong as others.

 

On the Bob point, I was left wondering why his wife (Judy?) put up with him at all, was that really explained?  I know she seemed to get hot every time he punched someone/something but was expecting something a bit more considered.  Maybe I was thinking too much though.

[pledge]

Little surprised this is a fairly positive thread, I thought it was pretty dismal. The gimmick only worked in that it tricked me into watching it.

[Stopharage]

33 minutes ago, pledge said:

Little surprised this is a fairly positive thread, I thought it was pretty dismal. The gimmick only worked in that it tricked me into watching it.

I'd agree. It's mildly diverting and full of inane plotholes with some astoundingly dumb decisions at some points. 

[Gotters]

I thought this was OK, but probably would have been a better show without the show and just edited as they want to tell the story.

 

My other half thought she spotted something, I didn't notice this 

 

Spoiler

Roger the vault owners son had the same t shirt on as the person who shoots Ray in the park

 

[Sidewaysbob]

Spoiler

That would make sence I suppose. More than the triplets anyway.

 

An insurance if Bob failed to kill Ray. I'm still not sure why Roger would want to kill Ray, but that's just one more plothole. 

 

[Stig]

14 minutes ago, Gotters said:

I thought this was OK, but probably would have been a better show without the show and just edited as they want to tell the story.

 

My other half thought she spotted something, I didn't notice this 

 

  Hide contents

Roger the vault owners son had the same t shirt on as the person who shoots Ray in the park

 

 

Just came on to say the same thing. My other half spotted it top.

 

I enjoyed this overall, it was just enjoyable fluff. There was a few things I thought didn't work, but still decent overall.

[strider]

Some good actors in this and the idea is decent enough, but it all felt rather hackneyed and predictable. I enjoyed it for what it was, but I don't think I'd ever watch it again.

[Gotters]

The random order thing can alter your experience

 

Spoiler

we got shown the aftermath of the heist, when they discover the switcheroo, before the heist itself when you see how it happens

 

so we got to chatter a bit about who did it, how, why etc.

 

if you got shown the heist then the aftermath you'd have lost that experience as you see the switch happen, and even if you don't know why at that point you do lose something seeing it that way round

 

[Commander Jameson]

19 minutes ago, Gotters said:

The random order thing can alter your experience

 

  Hide contents

we got shown the aftermath of the heist, when they discover the switcheroo, before the heist itself when you see how it happens

 

so we got to chatter a bit about who did it, how, why etc.

 

if you got shown the heist then the aftermath you'd have lost that experience as you see the switch happen, and even if you don't know why at that point you do lose something seeing it that way round

 

 

I think the heist was the last episode for everyone.

[pledge]

Yep.

[Gotters]

other than this sort of chat the gimmick adds nothing to the viewer experience.

[Fierce Poodle]

The first episode was the most generic load of old bollocks I’ve seen for a while.

[pledge]

Which episode was that? (Edit: Just realised that was probably a joke)

 

The only one I actually liked was I think was Yellow as some action happened. The rest I just lost interest as they barely felt like it would make any difference and really over acted.

[Illyria]

On 04/01/2023 at 21:17, Monkeyboy said:

Anybody watched this yet?

 

My episode order is... yellow, green, violet, blue, orange, red, pink, white.

 

I assume everyone has white as the final one. There's a 50 second black intro as well.

 

Same order here, I thought it worked quite well.

 

On 09/01/2023 at 11:54, Gotters said:

I thought this was OK, but probably would have been a better show without the show and just edited as they want to tell the story.

 

My other half thought she spotted something, I didn't notice this 

 

  Hide contents

Spoiler

 

Roger the vault owners son had the same t shirt on as the person who shoots Ray in the park

 

 

Spoiler

Came here to point that out, thought I was the only one who'd noticed!

 

 

On 06/01/2023 at 10:22, Sidewaysbob said:

And I'm going to say leave red and pink to last and watch it in chronological order. 

 

I thought the ending was pretty stupid with action taken by characters that made no sense. Despite watching it in order. 

 

  Hide contents

I have to assume the cop was killed because she refused to stop investigating the triplets. 

 

But why they bumped off Ray when his daughter took the bonds and gave them exactly what they wanted, no idea. 

 

It was hinted at that they were bad ass, but they didn't do anything to deserve the title. Other than being rich. 

 

Ultimately, I was rooting for Salas because all he did was not run back into the burning building with Ray. He sorted his life out, became a successful buisness man and gave Rays daughter a job and a life. 

 

He wasn't a bad man, just a bit if a coward in one occasion. 

 

Oh, and breaking out of prison with a key carved from soap was stupid. 

 

I would also have shot Bob on day one out of principle. He was an idiot from start to finish. And as it turned out, Ray and Stan could have cracked the safes. So what was the point of Bob? 

 

 

 

Regarding Salas, 

Spoiler

he did not just "not run back into the burning building" - he was right there and potentially could have saved her, but did not even try. If I was Ray, I would also not have forgiven him. It's not just that though, if it was, I could maybe see your point. He's not just a crook who has sorted his life out and is playing it straight, he has a henchman who assassinates people for him, for christ's sake. (And I'm not talking about his son here)

 

All in all I really enjoyed this, it may be generic as all hell but it was entertaining and I found myself looking forward to new episodes, and how they filled the blanks.

A lot of it didn't make sense, but I'm usually pretty forgiving and don't mind having to suspend disbelief. In most cases  (World War Z is an example of a film where I could not handle the amount of stupidity involved to drive the "plot" - or rather action - forward.)

[Sidewaysbob]

I'll give you the evil henchman

[Mawdlin]

I've still got the last episode to watch - White - and have largely enjoyed it but agree that the heist/crew stuff is very generic, queue heist planning music.

 

I think the biggest con is that this is random. It isn't. Putting aside we all get Black first and White last, the order of the other episodes is anything but random.

 

Out of interest, did anyone else get Pink as the penultimate episode? I suspect most of us did. And Green either first or second?

 

Regardless, I still thought the gimmick worked pretty well and lifted this from bang average to watchable entertainment.