Kublai Khan and Marco Polo on the steppe. Photo by Phil Bray for Netflix
Marco Polo has all the makings of a great series. There's intrigue, politics, battles, betrayals, assassins in the night, discussions of tax policy, executions, angst, torture, and gorgeous male and female bodies thrown at each other in epic martial arts battles and sex—sometimes simultaneously. Unfortunately, it also has a scrawny white guy named Marco Polo wandering through the scenes, often moping and confused.Sometimes, Polo makes little descriptive statements about the world and everyone reacts as if he's just done something amazing. Kublai Khan treats him like a son, Mongol noblewomen have sex with him on the steppe, and a blind kung-fu master teaches him martial arts, all for no convincing reason. Netflix's Polo is just a boring white-guy character who exists to lead the narrative action.Maybe Polo will develop into an interesting character once he learns more kung-fu, has sex with a few more steppe princesses, and generally stops moping about the Mongol capital; more likely, he'll be like " Piper Chapman" in that other Netflix Original, Orange is the New Black: the least engaging character in an ensemble of talented actors and good storytelling. Luckily, the historical drama woven into Marco Polo, which focuses on the growing pains of the Mongol Empire, is interesting and provides plenty of drama to delve into, at least when Polo isn't there to mess things up.The show opens in the late 13th-century as the Mongol ruler Kublai Khan is preparing to extend his domain over all of China. He already rules the north, but the southern Song dynasty and their walled city of Xiangyang still hold out against the Mongol threat. Some of the Mongols, especially the Khan's brother Ariq, are worried that Kublai is going to make the Mongols too Chinese. They are especially concerned that Kublai's son is not a "real" Mongol. Plots thicken, Mongols wrestle, and men get drunk on fermented horses' milk served from a ladle fashioned from an elephant's scrotum. Rebels rebel and are quashed (spoiler: Kublai Khan is going to win).
Advertisement
Advertisement