Posted by Kaleidoscope is a TV series that landed on Netflix in January 2023. Its particularity is that the episodes come in random order and can be watched in any sequence: it’s on the spectator to reconnect the events and establish what happens. This may be a bit complicated, especially for some aspects of the plot: in this article, we will recap the entire plot of the TV series, providing the best chronological episode order to follow the events.
You can watch the official trailer for Kaleidoscope here on Youtube, whereas you can find a deeper descent into the last episode and the series ending in this article.
Kaleidoscope Season 1: the plot recap in chronological order
Violet episode: 24 years before the Heist
Ray Vernon is a professional thief. He’s married to Lily, who knows about his illegal activities, and they have a little daughter, Hannah. Ray regularly works with a partner, Graham Davies, but after their last job, he wants to change his life: he communicates it to Graham and opens a legal activity, an auto parts store, running it with his wife for months. His wife, Lily, works for a jewelry company, but she gets fired unfairly one day. Ray wants revenge and organizes a theft with Graham, intending to steal diamonds from the jewelry company, keeping it secret from Lily.
Meanwhile, the company calls Lily back to work that night on an urgent matter, and Ray doesn’t know that. The theft ends tragically: they get caught, Graham starts a fire to escape, Ray discovers his wife is inside and runs to save her. Graham follows him: in the last scene, we see Graham watching the scene and deciding to run away, leaving Ray there with his wife. His wife will die at the hospital, and Ray will be arrested. Ava Mercer, the lawyer who helped Ray resell the items he stole, will take care of little Hannah. Graham is free.
Green episode: 7 years before the Heist
Ray is serving his punishment in prison. His cellmate is Stan, who sells stolen sim cards inside the prison: he receives them from Judy, who’s out of jail and gets them from her boyfriend, Bob. Ray discovers he has Parkinson’s, and something clicks inside him: he plans to escape prison with Stan’s help. His plan succeeds, although Stan stays in jail to allow him out (he will be out six months later anyway). Once out, he joins Ava. FBI agent Abbasi investigates the prison break, but she’s not lucid: we will discover later that she has a drug addiction during that period. Ray stages his death and acquires a new identity, Leo Pap, provided by Ava. He also gets again in contact with Hannah, trying to win her trust back (over the last 17 years, he refused to be seen by her, allowing her to forget him and move on). He also discovers that Hannah works for Graham, who now is called Roger Salas and is the CEO of a big security firm. Ray writes a long letter to Hannah explaining that Salas is not who she thinks he is.
What we will discover later: Ava will file an official complaint against agent Abbasi, which will affect her career. Over the following years in the Kaleidoscope plot, Ray / Leo will slowly plan his revenge against Graham / Salas: he wants to steal some bonds from the Triplets, among the most influential individuals in the world, who stored those bonds in Salas’ vault. Hannah is aware of it, but she’s not sure she wants to help: she’s afraid of the Triplets’ reaction.
Yellow episode: 6 weeks before the Heist
Leo is organizing the Heist at Salas’ vault: his crew is composed of Ava, Stan, Judy, Bob, and RJ. Hannah works for Salas, but she stages an information theft that leads Salas to fire Andrew, the senior VP. Hannah takes his place and will give her father the availability to help in the Heist. Leo’s crew needs money: they will steal diamonds and sell them through Zanetti, Ava’s fence. At this point of the Kaleidoscope plot, we also discover that Hannah is pregnant.
What we discover later: while Leo plans the Heist, Hannah will organize a parallel plan to get the bonds and return their value to the Triplets after selling them (which is what they want): with her plan, her father will be safe, and she will receive good compensation for her job from the Triplets. Leo is holding an important gem they stole, a gem easily to be recognized: he will use it later for his revenge.
Orange episode: 3 weeks before the Heist
The FBI investigates Ava because her fingerprints were found where the diamonds were stolen: for safety, she steps back from the Heist. Agent Abbasi releases ICE against Teresa, Ava’s old nanny, who gets arrested for illegal immigration. Abbasi uses it to force Ava to become her mole: she gets Teresa released, and Ava returns to Leo, asking to rejoin the crew.
What we will discover later: Ava will reveal to Leo that she’s an FBI mole. The two will agree to go on with the Heist, and Ava will provide agent Abbasi with only limited information, not enough to arrest them.
Blue episode: 5 days before the Heist
Leo is finalizing the last details of the Heist, which is just fascinating to watch without many explanations about the Kaleidoscope plot: he manages to get Salas’ retina scan, and he obtains a truck to use during the Heist. But there is a significant inconvenience: the backdoor that has been in the vault’s security system for years, necessary for the Heist, is discovered and removed by Salas. He almost gives up and secretly enters Salas’ sauna to kill him. But there, he has an insight: he can use the storm forecasted for the X day to break the system instead of the backdoor. He exits the sauna and starts working on the new plan. Collaterally: Andrew blackmails Salas and gets killed by Carlos, Salas’ sicario.
White episode: The Heist
The Heist takes place with all the expected difficulties. Here we also discover that Hannah is stealing the bonds before they get into the truck: she has an agreement with the triplets, they will get the money from the insurance and also the result of the bonds’ sale through Hannah, and this way, they will spare her father’s life. Bob betrays everybody, he tries to escape with Judy and the bonds, killing RJ. Stan blocks them, and ultimately Judy puts Bob down. Everybody believes him dead, but he’s not. Ava drives the truck with the bonds out of the building and gets shot by agent Abbasi.
Salas sees the heist from his monitors at home. He calls Carlos, who arrives trying to kill Leo. But he’s knocked out by Hannah: here, Leo discovers Hannah’s plan, and he’s OK with it. Before escaping, Leo opens Salas’ personal vault and leaves the gem he held in the last weeks to have him arrested.
Red episode: the morning after the Heist
Leo, Judy, and Stan meet. Nobody knows where the truck is, and they all suspect each other. Suddenly, Ava shows up with the truck and informs everybody that she saw Bob dead. Judy accidentally drops a box with the bonds, revealing that they have been replaced by colored paper. Nobody understands where the bonds are. Carlos arrives, but he gets killed by Leo’s crew. They escape before the FBI arrives. The episode ends with the FBI discovering the gem inside Salas’ vault.
What we will discover later: Salas will be arrested and will serve 20 years in prison. But the Kaleidoscope plot has still a lot to develop.
Pink episode: 6 months After
This is the actual ending of Kaleidoscope, where Bob seeks revenge. We see Judy and Stan again together. The bonds have been successfully sold by Hannah, who’s living a pleasant life with her newborn, Lily (named after her mother). Bob and his crew kill Ava and her nanny Teresa, then meets Judy and Stan, intending to kill Stan and be back with Judy, but the FBI kills him. Judy escapes with the money inside Bob’s car. Stan is just abandoned. Leo is (apparently) killed, and we also know who killed him.
But for this episode, we suggest you read the dedicated article below, where everything inside the Kaleidoscope plot will find the right place in the explanation.
