Kaleidoscope (American TV series)

Kaleidoscope
Genre	Heist drama
Created by	Eric Garcia
Starring	Giancarlo Esposito Rufus Sewell Paz Vega Rosaline Elbay Jai Courtney Tati Gabrielle Peter Mark Kendall
Music by	Dominic Lewis
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of episodes	8
Production
Executive producers	Eric Garcia Russell Fine Fred Berger Brian Kavanaugh-Jones Justin Levy Ridley Scott David W. Zucker Jordan Sheehan Clayton Krueger Garrett Lerner
Producers	Kalen Egan Brad Carpenter Christie Colliopoulos
Production location	Bushwick, Brooklyn
Cinematography	Niels Alpert Eric Moynier
Editors	Ken Eluto Joe Hobeck Elizabeth Merrick Gary Levy
Running time	34–56 minutes
Production companies	Nano Chameleon Automatik Entertainment Scott Free Productions
Original release
Network	Netflix
Release	January 1, 2023 (2023-01-01)

Kaleidoscope is an American heist drama television miniseries created by Eric Garcia. The eight-part series centers around master thief Leo Pap (Giancarlo Esposito) and his crew attempting an epic heist worth $7 billion, but betrayal, greed and other threats undermine their plans.

Kaleidoscope was released on January 1, 2023, by Netflix, and consists of eight episodes which can be watched in any order; the introduction "Black" explains the concept of the show, while the episode "White" is intended to always be the series finale.

Cast and characters

Main

• Giancarlo Esposito as Leo Pap, a career criminal and the leader of the $7 billion heist.
• Rufus Sewell as Roger Salas, a former thief who now runs a corporate security firm known as "SLS" that prevent criminals breaking into vaults, and Leo's former partner-in-crime.
• Paz Vega as Ava Mercer, a lawyer and a weapons specialist who is part of Leo's crew
• Rosaline Elbay as Judy Goodwin, the explosives specialist of Leo's crew
• Jai Courtney as Bob Goodwin, Judy's husband and the safe cracker of Leo's crew
• Tati Gabrielle as Hannah Kim, Leo's daughter who works as the head of digital security at SLS.
• Peter Mark Kendall as Stan Loomis, a smuggler who was Leo's cellmate in prison few years ago and is part of Leo's crew

Recurring

• Jordan Mendoza as RJ Acosta Jr., the driver of Leo's crew
• Hemky Madera as Carlos Sujo, Roger's right-hand man
• Soojeong Son as Liz Kim, Hannah's younger adoptive sister and roommate
• John Hans Tester as Stefan Thiele
• Niousha Noor as Nazan Abbasi, a FBI agent
• Bubba Weiler as Samuel Toby, Nazan's FBI partner

Guest starring

• Patch Darragh as Andrew Covington
• Max Casella as Taco

Episodes

Title	Directed by	Written by	Original release date
"Yellow: 6 Weeks Before the Heist"	Everardo Gout	Eric Garcia	January 1, 2023 (2023-01-01)
Hannah tests the security of a vault for a potential client. Ray Vernon, now Leo Pap, and Stan meet with Judy and Bob to plan the heist. Ava tells Ray she wants to be part of the heist and they recruit RJ, an auto mechanic. Hannah show her roommate sister a positive pregnancy test. The heist crew rob a jewellery store in order to fund the big heist, stealing bearer bonds worth a billion dollars from a trio of bankers known as "the triplets". Bob stays behind in order to steal a butterfly bracelet and as a result he gets shot in his right hand. Roger Salas suspects that someone on the inside has compromised company security. Carlos empties Andrew's bag, finding a USB stick. Roger fires Andrew. Salas makes Hannah senior VP, and she tells her father she's in on the heist. It turns out Hannah planted the USB stick.
"Green: 7 Years Before the Heist"	Robert Townsend	Evan Endicott & Josh Stoddard	January 1, 2023 (2023-01-01)
Ray writes a letter to Hannah and carves a soap butterfly. Judy brings laced lollipops and SIM cards into prison. Ray has problems with an illness. Stan gives Judy the butterfly. Judy tells Stan that her supply of SIM cards has dried up. Ray and Stan hatch a plan to escape from prison. Ray escapes and steals the prison doctor's car. Ray meets with Ava and his daughter Hannah. FBI agent Abbas investigates the prison break, and steals a prescription pad from the prison doctor. Agent Abbas interrogates Ava. The charred body of Ray Vernon is found in a burnt-out car belonging to the prison doctor. Ava gives Ray a new identity, Leo Pap who died as a child in 1970. Hannah reads her father's letter, where he tells her that her boss Roger Salas is not who she thinks he is.
"Blue: 5 Days Before the Heist"	Everardo Gout	Garrett Lerner	January 1, 2023 (2023-01-01)
Ray breaks the heist down into seven steps, including getting and using a fake SLS security truck to drive into the SLS building. RJ acquires the RF signal from an SLS security truck. Ray breaks into Roger's home office, secures his fingerprint and tampers with his eye drops. "The triplets" tell Roger they want to move the bonds out of his vault. Roger receives a threatening email and telephone call from someone called Graham Davies, who requires more than four million dollars. A problem with the security software is found. Hannah reassures Roger that it must be just a glitch and not a back door, as the system was installed seven years ago. Roger has problems with his eyes, Stan poses as his eye doctor and scans his eyes. Roger suspects Andrew is behind the extortion attempt and confronts him. Later Carlos kills Andrew in his store. Ray resists an urge to kill Roger in a sauna. Ray finds a way around the missing back door by using the looming storm. The heist is set in motion as the episode ends.
"Orange: 3 Weeks Before the Heist"	Mairzee Almas	Kate Barnow	January 1, 2023 (2023-01-01)
FBI agent Nazan Abassi attends the meetings of a drug addiction group and investigates the jewellery heist. Ava Mercer's fingerprints is found on a shell casing. Ava and Bob sell the jewellery to a fence. Ava has a brief encounter with Roger and rents a floor in the same office building as SLS. The heist crew try to figure out a way to the vault. The FBI interrogates Ava. Ava comes home and is unable to find Teresa, her old nanny. Agent Abassi attempts to recruit Ava as a mole. Abassi fears she won't get custody of her son. Abassi tells Ava that she might be able to get Teresa released from ICE custody. Teresa and Ava are reunited. Agents Abbas and Toby kiss. Ava cries in a car, and then tries to get back in with the crew.
"Violet: 24 Years Before the Heist"	Robert Townsend	Ning Zhou	January 1, 2023 (2023-01-01)
With the help of Graham (Roger Salas), Ray breaks into a home safe belonging to a wealthy banker but is trapped inside. Ray spends some time at home with his wife Lily and daughter Hannah, and opens an auto parts store. Ray meets with his fence, Ava. Roger "Graham" and Courtney eat dinner at the home of Ray and Lily. Graham and Ray steal some diamonds from a Christmas charity auction. Graham starts a fire which to leads Ray's arrest and Lily ends up in the hospital.
"Red: The Morning After the Heist"	Russell Fine	Eric Garcia	January 1, 2023 (2023-01-01)
Episode "Red" starts with the final scene of the episode, in daylight, with Stan, Ray, Judy and Ava aboard a red and white boat. In a voice-over Ray says that he doesn't know when the plan fell apart. In the next scene it is dark, and Ray arrives at the warehouse. Then we see Ray in the flooded vault, and then leaves the SLS buidling. Then Judy arrives at the warehouse, and asks where Ava and the bonds are. Judy states that FBI arrived before the alarms went out, so there must be a rat among the heist crew. Stan then arrives in a Lyft. Roger and Hannah arrive at the SLS building, and he tells her to check the video feeds and alarm logs. The last six hours have been wiped. Roger is annoyed by some bees. Roger, Hannah and Carlos discover that the vault is filled with water. FBI agents Abbas and Toby show up at the SLS building. Roger won't let them in without a search warrant. Agent Toby states that Ava is in the ConEd truck and can be tracked using traffic cameras. A diver finds Stan's glasses by an empty safe. Roger recognizes Stan as the man who gave him his eye exam. Carlos visits Stand’s mother and wife posing as a detective in an attempt to find Stan. After Stan’s mother inadvertently mentions a way to find Stan, Stan's mother and wife are shot. Carlos traces Stan's location using “find my phone". Ava shows up at the warehouse in a stolen truck containing the bonds. Ava tells Judy that Bob is dead. Most of the bonds turn out to have been replaced with colored paper. Judy, Ray, Stan and Ava face off the warehouse in a Mexican standoff, which is interrupted by Carlos and crew storming the building. Judy tells Carlos the location of the rest of the bonds, they're in a storage locker in Bensonhurst. But the key is in the warehouse office, in a safe behind a pull-down bed. Ray is hiding in the bed and shoots Carlos. The FBI storms the warehouse, finding several dead bodies. Hannah watches as Glen the FedEx man pushes a cart of boxes out of the SLS building, and then meets her sister nearby in a car. Agents Abbas and Toby present Roger with a search warrant. The vault has now been drained of water. Abbas notices that the safes are empty, Roger replies that the contents were moved to a safe location because of the storm. With the FBI agents present, Roger opens his personal safe and is shocked to find the stolen necklace in the safe; placed there by Ray. Roger then states that he wants to speak to his attorney.
"Pink: 6 Months After"	Mairzee Almas	Kalen Egan	January 1, 2023 (2023-01-01)
FBI agent Abbas presents the facts of the case. Salas serving 20 years in prison for grand larceny, identity theft and murder. Ray is living in Ohio with Ava and coping with Parkinson's disease. Bob visits Salas in prison, proposing that they get revenge. Unable to speak, Bob uses Macaw, a speech synthesis app. Salas will give Bob $20,000 provided he kills Leo Pap. Bob recruits two men to help him. They kill Zanetti, Ava's fence. Stan and Judy are living in South Carolina and trying to get out of the country. While they are running a wine scam, Judy thinks she sees RJ. Stan tries to sell a piece of butterfly jewellery, but fears the buyer might know its origin. Agent Abbas receives a tip from the buyer and heads to South Carolina. Bob and crew show up at Ray and Ava's house in Ohio. Ray gives Bob the rest of his money. Bob then drives to South Carolina, where he is shot by the FBI on the beach. Meanwhile Ava shoots and is shot by one of Bob's crew, who has also shot her nanny. Ray is back in New York, where he calls Hannah who shows him his granddaughter, Lily. Ray visits Salas in prison. Abbas is poisoned and collapses on the street. Her partner clears out her office. In the final scene Ray is walking through a underpass, pulling a suitcase and is followed by an unknown man. We hear a gunshot; it’s Roger’s son.
"White: The Heist"	Russel Fine	Eric Garcia	January 1, 2023 (2023-01-01)
During the heist the gait detection chamber is filled with bees. Ray walks through the chamber, he has a white mask on his face and a face recognition machine accepts him as Roger Salas. Judy drills hole in the floor of a water tunnel. Ava misdirects the FBI agents to the 59th floor of the SLS building. The agents then discover a surveillance system feeding a false surveillance feed of SLS. Judy loads all the bonds into an elevator. Hannah moves the bonds into the mailroom below, where she and her sister remove a few bonds and place them with colored paper. The rest of the bonds are put in FedEx boxes. Hannah then puts the cart back in the elevator and sends them down, where RJ loads them into the now Con Edison truck. Bob removes the key to the vault, almost trapping Stan, Ray and Ava. Bob and Judy go to the truck and Bob punches RJ. RJ then shoots Bob in the butt, RJ is then shot by Judy. Stan sees Bob and Judy talking about the killing of RJ. Out on the street, Judy strangles Bob. Ava drives away with the truck, but is stopped by agent Abassi. Abassi promises to get Teresa back. The agents then shoot at Judy, who drives away. Bob performs an emergency tracheotomy on himself. Carlos is about to kill Ray, but Hannah hits him in the head and falls into an office pond. Liz calls Hannah, and Ray hears Liz talking about the bonds. Hannah explains that "the triplets" let her use the bonds and that they would be even richer because of the insurance on them. In return the triplets would let her father live. In a flashforward from the chronologically last episode Hannah tells her father that she has named her newborn baby Lily. Hannah and Ray show each other where they're brave, just as they did when Hannah was a child. Hannah then leaves. After finding the key, Ray places a necklace stolen from the Christmas charity auction in Roger's personal safe.

Production

Development

On September 16, 2021, it was revealed that Netflix had given an eight-episode order to a series under the working title Jigsaw. Eric Garcia serves as creator, writer, and executive producer, along with EPs Ridley Scott, David W. Zucker, Jordan Sheehan, Fred Berger, Brian Kavanaugh-Jones, Justin Levy, and Russell Fine. The series is produced by Scott Free Productions and Automatik Entertainment. It was announced that Everardo Gout and Mairzee Almas would each direct two episodes. It was also announced Robert Townsend would direct multiple episodes of the series. Kaleidoscope is structured in a non-linear order so that viewers can choose the order in which they watch the episodes leading up to the finale.

Casting

Alongside the series announcement, Giancarlo Esposito, Paz Vega, Rufus Sewell, Tati Gabrielle, Peter Mark Kendall, Rosaline Elbay, Jai Courtney, Niousha Noor, and Jordan Mendoza were cast.

Filming

Filming began at Netflix Studios in Bushwick, Brooklyn on September 1, 2021. It is the first production at the Bushwick studio. Filming also took place at 28 Liberty in Manhattan's financial district. The series wrapped on March 16, 2022.

Release

The series was officially titled Kaleidoscope in November 2022 when its release date was set for January 1, 2023.

Reception

The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 35% approval rating with an average rating of 5.5/10, based on 17 critic reviews. Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 60 out of 100 based on 13 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

External links

• Kaleidoscope on Netflix
• Kaleidoscope at IMDb