Netflix has been taken over by one of its limited series as it intrigues everyone of its non-linear pattern where you can watch it in no particular order but in the end, the story is the same, only the perspective of the viewer changes. Here's every episode of Kaleidoscope explained!
Warning: This article contains spoilers for Kaleidoscope. Read at your own risk!
Every Episode of Netflix's Kaleidoscope Explained
The year 2023 opened for Netflix on a high note as the release of Kaleidoscope toppled down Wednesday as the top series on the streaming platform and why not watch it when it offers an uncanny experience that other shows couldn't offer?
See, Kaleidoscope can be watched in no particular order which means you can randomly pick any episode to start and end with. It is all up to the viewer on what episode to watch first because in the end, the narrative would still be the same.
Kaleidoscope is really one of a kind but all of its episodes are connected to each other, even indicating the timeframe on when it exactly happened with the heist as the reckoning point of it all. Here's the explainer for every episode of the intriguing Netflix series.
Kaleidoscope Yellow Episode, 6 Weeks Before The Heist Explained
The Yellow episode of Kaleidoscope introduces all the players in the intricate game of the heist which starts with Hannah Kim, making a woman who works for Stefan Thiele, fall in love with her so that she could plant devices to steal Thiele's assets in a bank. She ghosts her afterwards.
Hannah Kim did this on behalf of SLS, the company of Roger Salas, which offers the most secure vault in the US, and the acts of Hannah just proved to Thiele how unsafe his assets are in a different vault. Really, it's a nice way to prove a point to their client.
Then, there's Leo Pap who is planning for a heist and he couldn't do it alone so he sets out a list on who would be in his team to pull off the impossible. For supplies, he goes to Stan Loomis, his former cellmate in prison, and while Stan doesn't want to be involved anymore, the $7 billion dollar price tag made him say yes.
As Leo needs a chemist for explosives, Stan connects him to someone from his past: his ex-girlfriend, Judy, who is now married to Bob Goodwin. Judy is the daughter of a world-renowned chemist, thus, her interest in chemistry, but she and her husband is quite a tandem. Bob Goodwin could be of use, too, he's a safecracker.
Then, Leo goes to Ava Mercer, a lawyer who has some tactics under her sleeve, and a whole arsenal under her basement. Being a weapons specialist, Ava knows they need a driver, and Leo has his eyes on RJ Acosta, an auto mechanic who seems to know a lot about cars. RJ completes the uncanny bunch to pull off the heist.
Meanwhile, Hannah is back at home, and she shows her adoptive sister, Liz, that she is pregnant. See, Hannah works as the head of digital security at SLS, and it turns out she's connected to Leo, too, being the seventh man of the team, their insider.
Here's the heist: the team would have to rob the most secure vault of SLS where the unregistered bearer bonds worth $7 billion are stored in. The bonds are owned by the "Triplets," three of the wealthiest in the whole world, but to do so, the team would need funds.
Thus, here comes the bright idea of Bob: the Diamond way. To fund their heist, a small heist has to be performed and they rob various jewelry stores. It all went as planned, that is, until Bob's greed, comes in everyone's way. Bob sees a butterfly bracelet he couldn't let go, thus, getting his right hand shot.
Meanwhile, Roger Salas suspects that there is someone in his company that compromised their security so in order to avoid eyes on her, Hannah plants an evidence to Andrew, an innocent but annoying co-worker, and that resulted to Andrew being fired. Hannah, then, tells Leo, she's in on the heist.
This episode introduces all the characters and their roles in the heist, their personal issues, and their motives as to why they joined Leo in the first place. Here, their ways are uncovered and revealed which later on, comes in handy in understanding their actions in the next episodes.
Kaleidoscope Orange Episode, 3 Weeks Before The Heist Explained
It all starts with Nazan Abassi attending a drug addiction support group and it turns out, she's an FBI agent who has been recovering from drug use. With the news of the Diamond Way heist all over the news, someone from Abassi's past turned up: Ava Mercer.
Ava Mercer took a shot after Bob's hand was shot. In the investigation of the Diamond Way heist, Ava's fingerprints are found on one of the shell casings on the scene. The name of Ava rings a lot of bells to Abassi who used to handle the case of Ray Vernon before, but Ava got the best of Abassi.
See, that time when Abassi was investigating Ray Vernon's case, she was using drugs, and Ava revealed this, thus, Abassi's life went into shambles -- losing custody of her newborn child, almost losing her job, and having to undergo recovery from drugs.
Ava has been called by the FBI and boy, this woman is prepared. She slides away by telling the FBI that her guns were stolen two months prior and the records checked out, but while that is a case-closed, Abassi gets a newfound obsession over Ava Mercer.
Ava Mercer goes to her fencer for the heist they had at Diamond Way, and Bob joins her. They get enough money for everything they need, including a floor on the same building of the SLS.
Abassi sends the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement to get Teresa, Ava's nanny, and Abassi gets Ava to be her mole in the heist of Leo and the others in exchange for the freedom of Teresa, the closest to a mother Ava has.
See, Abassi becomes obsessed, so much that she will go off-book to get what she wants. Meanwhile, it shows the emotional side of Ava, too, and that she isn't as tough as other think.
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Kaleidoscope Blue Episode, 5 Days Before The Heist Explained
Leo explains to the team that they need to do seven jobs first to get on with the heist. They need to get a fake SLS security truck so that they could clone the trucks of SLS to be able to get in the facility undetected.
Meanwhile, Stefan Thiele invites Roger and Hannah over a party where the Triplets are waiting for Roger, demanding that Roger moves the bonds away from their vault and launder it for them because the source of the bonds are questionable.
While Roger is at the party, Leo breaks into his home where Leo retrieves a fingerprint of Roger, and puts a chemical on the contact lenses of Roger for another step in their plan.
Roger, on the other hand, received a phone call and an email from a certain "Graham Davies," with a threat of exposing him, and then, their security team detected that there is a back door to the vault. That "backdoor" issue was sorted out but that means Leo and his team would have no way out.
Roger gets his eye examination which turned out to be Stan posing as an eye doctor who, not only scanned his eyes, but his whole face so that they could copy it being a key to opening the vault. Roger proceeds to Andrew who is, in fact, behind the threats, thus, Andrew gets canned by Carlos in his own store.
Meanwhile, not having a way out, Leo gets the urge to kill Roger while in the sauna of the same building. However, there's something in Roger's words that gave Leo a way to pull off the heist -- using the storm that is on its way to New York City. Now, their plan is back and they found another way to get out.
This episode sheds light on Roger and his perspectives in life. He is not so great as the man everyone thinks he is and his vulnerabilities are also explored. It's plain and simple: the rich could get whatever they want and those who are richer gets to stay in power.
Kaleidoscope Green Episode, 7 Years Before The Heist Explained
Ray Vernon is still in prison where he carves and he struggles to write a letter to his daughter, Hannah. Meanwhile, Judy brings SIM cards, and laced lollipops to prison where Stan Loomis distributes it to the other prisoners in quite an obvious way that he gets on the radar of a notorious gang in prison.
Stan gets mauled before Ray steps in so that Stan learns his lesson. Later on, Ray gets a convulsion and that sends him to the prison clinic where it has been determined by his doctor that he is exhibiting symptoms of Parkinson's disease.
Determined to get out of prison, Ray crafts a plan which involves breaking and repairing the car of the doctor to duplicate a key, drugging all the prisoners with mushrooms, and getting to the clinic to facilitate Ray and Stan's escape. In the end, Ray did escape, but Stan has to stay behind so that Ray could get out undetected.
Ray steals the car of the doctor, meets with Ava to help him fake his death, and gets a new identity: Leo Pap. Agent Abassi steps in as the FBI investigator of the prison break and this is where she meets Ava for the first time.
As for Ray, he tries to reconnect with his daughter, Hannah, and he finds out that Hannah now works for SLS, the company of Roger Salas, a man who Ray is very much familiar with. Ray warns Hannah of the true colors of Roger Salas, that her boss is not the man everyone thinks he is.
This episode clearly establishes the friendship of Ray and Stan being cellmates in the past and how Stan is a loyal friend to Ray that after all those years, he trusts Ray to join the heist. Also, it shows Ava Mercer's capabilities, and establishes her connection to Agent Abassi.
Kaleidoscope Violet Episode, 24 Years Before The Heist Explained
Ray Vernon and Graham Davies are partners in crime, literally, as Ray breaks into the safe of a wealthy man while Graham poses as Ray's eyes on the outside and as a distraction on the wealthy guy. There, Ray takes a watch from their target and gives it to Graham later on.
Ray meets with Ava, a law student, who fences the jewelries they steal, and converts it to money. Ray gets home to his wife and daughter, Lily and Hannah. Planning to stop with the illegal, Ray gets an idea to start his very own auto shop.
Life back then for the Black people involves a lot of white supremacists lording over them and when Hannah gets in trouble in a country club where Lily works, the club manager fires Lily on the spot.
Troubled with a huge debt, Graham visits Ray for help. After his wife lost her job, Ray knows he has to do something so that their newly-opened shop could thrive and that he could bring food to their table. At the country club, Ray gets an idea to steal jewelries at the charity auction of the place.
During the auction, the boss of Lily calls her in to help with the papers that the others couldn't settle. As for Ray and Graham, the plan didn't go well. Ray is short on time so he accidentally left a tool on the table that leads to their detection. Graham buys time for them by starting a fire.
While they could have easily escaped, Ray sees the car of Lily and comes back for her. Graham follows him but when Ray sees Lily struggling, he asks Graham to help his wife but Graham walks away. Ray rushes to Lily but it is too late for her.
At the hospital, Ray is with Hannah and as the cops walk in, Ray knows it is time to say goodbye to his daughter. He sends Hannah away with Ava whom he asked to give Hannah a new start in life while Ray is apprehended by the cops.
This is the episode that explains the vengeance plot of Ray against Roger Salas whom he used to know as Graham Davies. Ray's revenge is not only because he got into prison and had to send his daughter away from him, it is because Graham didn't save Lily when he could.
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Kaleidoscope Red Episode, The Morning After The Heist Explained
It starts with Ray telling everyone how he didn't know where all their plans fell apart. Ray leaves the building to go to the garage where they planned everything and there's Judy who is troubled because the FBI knew about them before the alarms were triggered so she concludes they have a mole.
Then, Stan brings the storm to them. He gets there through a booking application, one which could detect their hideout. Meanwhile, Roger and Hannah arrives at the SLS to see the vault now flooded and their security cameras being wiped out.
FBI Agents Abassi and Samuel show up but Roger asks them for a warrant first before letting them in. During the search, Stan's glasses are found near the empty safes and Roger immediately recognizes it to be his eye doctor's glasses, thus, these are traced back to Stan.
Carlos goes to Stan's shop where his wife and mother are killed, and Carlos finds the location of Stan and the others through the "find my phone" app.
Meanwhile, Ava arrives at the warehouse where she exclaims that no one is there but the truck and the bonds are. She also reveals she saw Bob dead on the street. She gets a graze on her shoulder and while they are scrambling through the bonds, they find out that it is stacked with colored papers which means they wouldn't get the money.
In time, Carlos and his goons arrive and a standoff happens. Still, Leo and his team gets the upper hand and they managed to eliminate the threat in front of them and run to a nearby speedboat to escape.
The FBI agents are back to Roger the next day after, now with a search warrant where they get to check all of Roger's assets including SLS after Abassi connects Roger to Graham Davies, the real name of Roger, and of course, Roger lets them in.
The vaults are now drained of water and he explains that the minor water damage made them move their client's assets to a much safer place. When it is time to open Roger's safe, they are shocked to see a necklace that has been stolen decades ago and Roger excuses himself to speak with his attorney.
This episode establishes that Leo and his team were also robbed, that their efforts are for nothing because all they stole were colored paper stacks. Trust becomes a hard commodity within them, too, but in the end, they only have each other to lean on.
It is also the same episode which explains why Roger ends up in prison, the necklace that is found on his safe is one which has been missing for decades, from the auction that he and Ray robbed.
Kaleidoscope Pink Episode, 6 Months After The Heist Explained
Roger Salas is now in prison where he will serve 20 years for murder, grand larceny, and identity theft, and Ray and Ava are somewhere in Ohio where they are dealing with Ray's Parkinson's disease which worsened over time.
Roger gets a surprise visitor: Bob Goodwin, who is using a speech synthesis app, and he partners up with Roger for revenge. The only condition of Roger is to kill Ray Vernon. Bob gets two goons, kills the fencer of Ava, and gets the location of Leo and Ava.
Meanwhile, Stan and Judy are in South Carolina where they are defrauding others for money. Badly needing it, Judy gives Stan the butterfly bracelet from the Diamond Way heist, the one that Bob gave her, and Stan goes to a jewelry store to have the bracelet valuated for money.
That didn't go well, because Stan and Judy are now under the radar of the FBI because the store staff alerted them. Stan calls Leo for help.
Bob and his goons arrive at Leo and Ava's place and all of them, including Teresa, are held hostage. Leo forges a deal with Bob as he points to Bob the location of Stan and Judy, at a beach in South Carolina. Thus, Bob goes there only to die in the hands of the FBI waiting for him at the beach.
Well, Bob has some money from Leo, and it seems that Ray knows Stan too well to set up Bob. Stan stops for his lengua and Judy sees the car of Bob parked near the beach where there are guns and money. Judy, now confused, has a choice to make: leave or stay with Stan.
Meanwhile, trying to escape, Leo frees Teresa and Ava but when Teresa gets shot, Ava miscalculates and she gets shot first by Bob's goon. Leo, filled with rage, kills the goon but it is too late for Ava now.
Back in New York, Ray calls Hannah who has now given birth and is living a quiet life. She introduces Lily, Ray's granddaughter, and she gives Ray an invite to her life once more, but Ray wants to visit Roger/ Graham first in prison where they weigh in on everything that happened.
Meanwhile, Abassi dies when a man shook her hand, and Agent Samuel is now clearing up her office.
The last scene shows Ray walking at a park with a suitcase and an unknown man follows him, draws a gun, and a shot was heard. It turns out, vengeance, gets the best of everyone: Roger's son killed Ray.
This closes out the book for all of them: Abassi gets too involved that she wants to look further into the triplets which kills her in the end. In the end, only Judy and Stan are alive and Judy is at a crossroads on whether she will leave Stan or stay with him, and Ray still dies in the end.
Vengeance has been a central theme in the series and this episode explores it the most. Bob is so fixated into his revenge and he becomes reckless so he dies, Ava's emotions gets through first without thinking she could die, and Ray dies in the hands of Roger's son.
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Kaleidoscope White Episode, The Heist Explained
It is the day of the heist and RJ hugs Judy a good luck. As they load the truck, they head out in the middle of a huge storm and Judy gets off to load up the charges in a tunnel nearby. This, when activated, will flood the vault, thus, killing off the heat sensors in the vault.
RJ parks the van and changes its skin. Inside SLS, Leo, Ava, Bob, and Stan get in with a lot of bees to mimic the walk for the gait detection chamber. There, Ray wears the mask of Roger's face and puts an emblem similar to Roger's, both of which successfully gets them through.
RJ fetches Judy who isn't done with the charges yet but with the time constraint, they have to enable it already to let the others in the vault. However, the butterfly bracelet of Judy jams the remains of the charges and that doubles the explosion, leading to a more flooded vault.
As the water gets in, Bob and Stan crack the safes one by one and Ava loads it all up in stacks. Judy arrives to deliver all of the safes to the elevator where RJ is waiting by the loading dock.
Meanwhile, Agent Abassi and Samuel are waiting and they saw what seems like gunshots from the 59th floor. Upon getting there, they realize it was a set up and Abassi finds the computers that feeds the computers a looped footage. Abassi destroys it, thus, alerting Roger.
When Leo gets a text that Roger knows, Leo wants to open Roger's safe, too, and but Bob chickens out so he rushes out to get Judy and the bonds out for themselves. By the loading dock, a heated argument ensues between Bob and RJ and when RJ points the gun to Bob, Judy kills RJ.
When Stan sees Bob and Judy about to flee, Stan gets angry and Bob is fixated on killing Stan. Judy couldn't handle that so she strangles and chokes Bob, leaving him on the road. Surprisingly, Bob is still alive but he has to perform an emergency tracheotomy to help him breathe.
Ava sees the truck with the bonds but no one is there so she takes it, hotwires it, and drives, only to see Abassi and Samuel there. Abasi grazes Ava's shoulder and drives off.
Meanwhile, Leo is in Roger's office where Carlos sees him. Just as Carlos gets the upper hand, Hannah slams Carlos from behind with a fire extinguisher. Ray overhears Liz over Hannah's ear pods saying that the bonds will not move itself and the truth is finally revealed.
Hannah outsmarts them all. She knows of the plan from the start and she reveals it to the Triplets who would surely agree because the event would make them richer as they could declare that the bonds were stolen and they could get insurance from it while Hannah sends them back their bonds.
Liz helped her switch the bonds to colored paper. The only thing Hannah bargained with them is to let her father, Leo/ Ray, live. Ray hustles back to Roger's safe to put a necklace they stole from the charity to make sure his revenge of Roger would go through.
The episode of the day of the heist shows who truly won: it's the Triplets. The rich becomes richer and Hannah actually made a heist within a heist. Hannah points to her father that he couldn't stop doing that so she had to end his heists.
At this point, Leo knows what went wrong. Still, Leo's love for his daughter prevailed. He didn't disclose what really happened and he let the others go on without the money just to be sure that his daughter is safe. Indeed, a father's love to his daughter is one thing no money can buy.
See all these episodes on Netflix where Kaleidoscope is now streaming!