What's The Best Order To Watch Kaleidoscope?
Streaming has really changed how people consume media. It used to be that if you wanted to watch a show, you had to check out each new episode as it came out once per week. Netflix changed the game by releasing entire seasons at once, allowing you to binge at your leisure. Even with streaming platforms that still release episodes weekly, you can wait until they've all come out before diving in, giving you the feel of watching a 10-hour movie rather than a TV series.
But Netflix has even taken things a step further. It's allowed users to directly interact with programs to change the fate of the storyline. For example, "Bandersnatch" of "Black Mirror" is click-to-play, meaning you decide the protagonist's fate. Starting in 2023, Netflix has taken things even further with its latest heist drama, "Kaleidoscope."
"Kaleidoscope" is unique in that you can watch the limited series in any order you please. It's recommended that you save "White" for the finale, but you can even watch that sooner as long as you don't mind some spoilers. With all eight episodes up for grabs, there are over 40,000 different combinations to choose from, which may seem overwhelming. Fortunately, Netflix gives you an order to take some of the brain work out of it. But is there one true order to experience this show? We're here to guide you through the ins and outs.
Chronological order is the most straightforward
The thing that allows "Kaleidoscope" to jumble its episode order is its structure. Each episode follows a different time period either before, after, or during the heist. That means if you want the most straightforward order, you could go chronologically, which makes the most sense. Suppose that's the way you want to go. In that case, the episode order you want is "Violet" (24 years before the heist), "Green" (Seven years before the heist), "Yellow" (Six weeks before the heist), "Orange" (Three weeks before the heist), "Blue" (Five days before the heist), "White" (The heist), "Red" (The morning after the heist), and "Pink" (Six months after the heist).
Granted, most places recommend saving "White" for last, so you can easily put that at the end if you don't want any spoilers. However, if you want to go a bit more outside of the box, there's always the "ROY G. BIV" order. As you may have noticed, all of the episode titles are colors of the rainbow, so when you feel a little feisty, you can opt for "Red," "Orange," "Yellow," "Green," "Blue," "Pink" (in lieu of indigo), and "Violet." This leaves you with "White" to watch at the very end.
Ultimately, the order in which you tackle "Kaleidoscope" changes how you view the characters and your overall experience with the series. It was designed so that there are no wrong answers, but this being the internet, no one will stop until they find the perfect viewing experience.
What does the internet say is the best Kaleidoscope order?
"Kaleidoscope" was meant to be enjoyed in whatever order you please. It's an experiment of the highest order on Netflix, and if people react kindly to it, it's possible we'll see more like it in the future. For now, we just have a lot of online discussions of people trying to figure out what order is ideal, and some people think they've cracked the code.
Looking over on the "Kaleidoscope" subreddit, u/jdessy says that the best order is "Yellow," "Red," "Green," "Blue," "Violet," "Orange," "Pink," and "White." Each episode has a description of why it ended up where it is on the list. For example, they put "Yellow" first because it's "the best intro episode to watch, to get a feel for the characters, the heist, and the overall plot. You get a better sense of what's going on here." Without giving anything away, the Redditor states there are certain spoilers that come up in certain episodes that are more impactful if you put them further down the watchlist.
"White" appears to be last for every user in the Netflix-generated orders, but something else that's interesting has also emerged. Over on Twitter, @StunningLI pointed out, "Apparently the order is presented on Netflix is not the same for all users but [green heart emoji] or [yellow heart emoji] is always first so I'm guessing that was on purpose." This goes in tandem with what u/jdessy said on Reddit with starting with "Yellow," so it may be a good idea to start with that one and move toward "White" in whatever other order feels right to you.