Kaleidoscope – “Pink” Recap & Review

Pink

Kaleidoscope’s pink episode picks up six months after the heist. Bob is still alive, as it turns out, but he has a nasty scar across his neck. Nazan is making waves at the FBI and recaps everything that’s happened at the heist, going on to mention how Leo is the mastermind behind the SLS vault being cracked. She also mentions the Triplets and Roger’s part in all this. He’s serving time for grand larceny and murder.

Bob shows up to see Roger, who communicates through text to speech. He points out he’s part of the crew and suggests Roger hand over 50k and in exchange, he’ll get them the guys behind this. He also brings up how he can get revenge for Roger too. Instead, Roger bargains at 20k and he’ll get the rest… if Bob kills Leo. So naturally, Bob is joined by a couple of goons who like the sound of that cash to help him out.

Stan and Judy are still running their scams together and have made a nice little profit for themselves. Both of them are attempting to bury their demons under a litany of crimes. Like a modern day Bonnie and Clyde, right? They offer to sell up counterfeit wine to a seller in the lounge but Stan gets cold feet at the last second.

Leo’s condition is deteriorating with the Parkinson’s starting to hit him hard. While he goes to physical therapy, Ava is there to watch over him. She even encourages him to get back into heists again, pointing out the Midwest has a good place they can hit. She doesn’t want him to stop.

Stan rings though on the back of attempting to pawn some jewellery and it seems his cover has been blown and he’s been spotted. As a result, Stan gets cold feet and rings Ava and Leo, worried that they might be outed too. And unfortunately, he’s right.

Leo receives a letter from Hannah and can hardly process the news that she’s got a child before Ava rushes in and declares they need to pack their things and go. The FBI is heading down to Folly beach and it seems they’ve figured out the pawn shop Stan used. However, the guy behind the counter doesn’t out Stan, given he’s a different cashier, and for now they’re in the clear.

When Bob and his two goons show up at Ava’s place, a shoot-out ensues, eventually leading to Bob blindsiding her and knocking Ava out. When Ava regains consciousness, she finds Bob sitting in front of her.

After dispatching Zanetti earlier in the episode, Bob smirks and demands answers. He wants Judy and his $100 million. When she refuses, Bob has her tied up and begins doing the rounds, searching the place thoroughly. Leo is nowhere to be found but Teresa is. Ava’s grandmother hacks at him with an axe but she’s quickly stopped. Both of them are held up at gunpoint as a result.

Leo eventually does come out of hiding and hands over everything he has. Stan is obviously nowhere to be found, given he’s off in South Carolina.  Leo tries to encourage Bob to stop, pointing out that he’s a ghost and he should just start over in his life. When Bob refuses, Leo is forced to organize a meet with Stan and Judy for him, promising to give them some money. The meet spot is the Smashing Crab, a seafood joint.

However, all of this is a big ruse, as Bob shows up and is shot dead by Nazan and Toby when they arrive and corner him on the beach. As he drops dead, so too does Ava as Bob’s goon fatally shoots her. Leo is shocked and viciously murders the goon. Through all this carnage, Judy finds Bob’s bag which happens to hold the Bonds and decides to take off with it.

Meanwhile, Leo makes the call he always promised to Hannah, facetiming with her. Next, he shows up in prison to see Roger and reveals that Bob is gone. Leo tells Roger to leave Hannah alone and the pair have a big talk about justice and revenge, something they both have in common with one another.

As the episode closes out, Nazan is greeted by someone in the street who asks for directions. They shake her hand but as they walk off, Nazan suddenly collapses in the middle of the road. With the case now over, Leo is followed after leaving the prison and he’s shot dead by someone behind him.

The Episode Review

So the events that transpired after the heist are laid out properly, with Bob now 100% dead and great pay-offs for Roger, Leo and Ava too. All of these characters have had a decent amount of coverage, while Nazan – despite being a side character – has been developed rather well too. Although that part of the end is definitely a point of contention.

Although this has been billed as a show you can watch in any order, it really does feel like the series needs to be watched in linear chronological order to get the best feel of the story. There’s a good deal of repeated information each episode too, intending to keep audiences in the loop with what’s happening but I can’t help but feel some of the episodes – like this one jumping in six months after the heist – lacks the emotional weight if you watched this one first.

We’ll have more to say when this one is all said and done but in the end, Kaleidoscope has been a decent enough experiment in desperate need of some refinement.