There is nothing unusual in flashbacks in story telling. Kaleidoscope offers apparently thousands of permutations of how to watch this story with each colour coded episode representing a period in time. Having watched the entire series now it's hard to say whether this is a good thing or bad thing but i suspect that the viewers enjoyment or otherwise may depend on the order they are presented to you.
My experience was that there are some excellent episodes but also some very poor so episode to episode is very inconsistent. The overall story is familiar to any heist tale, including the usual aspects were you have to suspend disbelief. That's not a bad thing in heist movies and not a particular criticism. Overall though the end, that is the White Episode we are instructed to watch last, left me feeling flat and disappointed. There were two reasons for this. The first being that you already knew who was backstabbing who, and who amongst a team of thieves, were the most trustworthy so there were no surprises during the final heist. The second reason was that there were two episodes you had already watched where we learn what happens to all the protagonists. Consequently, there is no tension as to whether the beside is successful or not and so it peters out to a predictable end.
For me the random order of episodes didn't enhance the story telling in any way but as I say that may be due to the order I was presented with to watch.
My experience was that there are some excellent episodes but also some very poor so episode to episode is very inconsistent. The overall story is familiar to any heist tale, including the usual aspects were you have to suspend disbelief. That's not a bad thing in heist movies and not a particular criticism. Overall though the end, that is the White Episode we are instructed to watch last, left me feeling flat and disappointed. There were two reasons for this. The first being that you already knew who was backstabbing who, and who amongst a team of thieves, were the most trustworthy so there were no surprises during the final heist. The second reason was that there were two episodes you had already watched where we learn what happens to all the protagonists. Consequently, there is no tension as to whether the beside is successful or not and so it peters out to a predictable end.
For me the random order of episodes didn't enhance the story telling in any way but as I say that may be due to the order I was presented with to watch.