The Colored Kleidoscope: A Three-Dimensional Theft/Revenge Heist Series for Netflix

Netflix might well achieve that in terms of people opting to sample the series with its holiday debut, but the rainbow-hued vision behind “Kaleidoscope” turns out to be more intriguing than the pictures that come out of it.

Color plays a prominent role in this limited series, since each of the eight episodes corresponds with a color – red, orange, white, etc. – instead of a number, allowing the audience to essentially choose their own adventure. Details thus unfold differently depending on when they’re consumed, which in theory personalizes the viewing experience.

The big picture, however, is pretty drab, in a story that plays out over a quarter-century: Leo Pap (Giancarlo Esposito), an accomplished thief, spent nearly two decades in prison, and has now assembled a team to pursue an elaborate heist that will also provide him with a measure of revenge.

The series is centered on Leo (Giancarlo Esposito), a career criminal and the mastermind behind a plan to steal $7 billion in bonds from a seemingly impenetrable vault in New York. To steal the money,he assembles a team of experts to steal the money as part of a long-running revenge plot. Because the show covers such a large span of time, you get to see Leo and the rest of the crew — which includes everyone from a hot-headed safecracker (Jai Courtney) to a chemist who loves to experiment with new concoctions (Rosaline Elbay) — at various points in their lives.

The main episodes take place at different points in the history of the gang, from the events before the robbery to the aftermath.

Created by Eric Garcia (who in addition to heist movies has cited “Pulp Fiction” and “Memento” as sources of non-linear inspiration), the freedom to snap the component parts together in different ways joins interactivity, a la “Black Mirror’s” “Bandersnatch,” among TV tricks employed to try serving what amounts to old wine in a new bottle. It has the effect of decreasing the interest in the characters, who go through some things, without getting much of a response.

The underlying story, in which Leo is pining for his daughter who was not his, has an element of sappiness. While the careful planning of the robbery adds a dash of fun to the show, it fails to provide the same satisfaction as it would in the more expansive series format.

Ultimately, consider this another one of those exercises that exhausts most of its ingenuity on the basic concept, hoping that – coupled with Esposito’s steely charms in a leading role – would provide enough of a payoff.

The Robbery of Roger and Leo in The Dark Side of the SCSI: How Do You See An Episode? (Extended Abstract)

The order you watch the episodes doesn’t change how the story plays out. There’s no interactive element here. How you see an episode changes with the order of the show. If I had watched it in the other direction, I would know more about the history of Roger and Leo, the security expert he is trying to rob. At least in the order I happened to watch it in, the nonlinear structure worked quite well. The center of the stories is the theft itself, which provides all the necessary information so you can understand why certain events are important.