The promo synopsis for
Kaleidoscope
” (Netflix) leaves a feeling of
déjà vu
.
It refers to dozens of other productions that we saw with the same theme
:
“A professional thief and his gang try to carry out an epic robbery to steal seven billion dollars.
But betrayal, greed and other threats undermine his plan ”
.
Despite such a classic announcement,
the surprises start from the first episode
, a sort of trailer that lasts only 50 seconds.
There it is proposed, in the
Cortazarian way
, that
each installment can be seen in the order that the viewer chooses
.
Each one tells a piece of the puzzle of a robbery that took 25 years
in the lives of its protagonists.
And each of those fragments answers some of the following questions:
How was it planned?
Who was the traitor?
Who came out winning?
"Kaleidoscope" features nine heist-themed episodes, with the viewer choosing the order.
Series about big robberies abound on streaming platforms
, with
Money Heist
as one of its great phenomena.
The big question is
how to tell that story and what things are at stake beyond money
, which in this case is quite juicy.
The team plans to steal the SLS;
it is the most secure private vault in New York and probably the world.
Inside are
seven billion in bearer bonds
, belonging to three billionaires.
The series, which
identifies each episode with a color
, does not work because of the millions at stake or because of the tension of the robbery, or because of finding the answers to the questions of who will betray whom.
Kaleidoscope
is, at times,
magnetic for at least two reasons
: a luxury cast headed by an exceptional
Giancarlo Esposito
(Gustavo “Gus” Fring in
Breaking Bad
and
Better Call Saul
) who plays the leader of the gang and
a story that goes beyond beyond the game of the fragmentation of its episodes
.
In the choral construction of the series, creator Eric Garcia
delves into the deeper nature of some of his characters
.
Just as Breaking Bad is an allegation about imposture, manipulation and how scoundrels human beings can be -far beyond the methamphetamine business-,
here the question is what their characters are looking for with the robbery
.
The series shows the details of a monumental robbery, but in reality it talks about other issues.
Souls exposed.
“It was never about the money. You needed to be rich. Not me
,” Ray Vernon (Esposito) calmly and precisely tells one of his henchmen in one episode.
That phrase -said by an actor of great charisma- summarizes part of the spirit of the series
.
In the episodes
, hearts beat for other reasons than just money
.
There is, just to name a few cases, a father willing to heal the wounds he caused in the past.
A high-profile lawyer and a fan of weapons, with the scars left by the Argentine dictatorship
.
And another man as primitive as he is blindly in love, who only knows how to use force.
Therein lies, perhaps,
the greatest attraction of a series that, however, never fails to honor the tradition of the genre
: there are robberies, betrayals and a bunker to plan the big hit.
But, as the group's
mastermind
says , we are all looking for something else.
It's never just about the money.
File
Rating:
Very good
Thriller
Starring:
Giancarlo Esposito, Rufus Sewell and Paz Vega
Creator:
Eric Garcia
Broadcast:
Nine 45-minute episodes, on Netflix.
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