Zach Goodier
Marco Polo is a Netflix exclusive series about the
adventures of a young Marco Polo as he journeys with his father to the Far
East. As his father pays homage to
Kublai Khan, in an attempt to gain favor in order to establish trade
rights. However, the Khan is displeased
with the trinkets he offers. In an act
of desperation, he decides to gift Marco to the Khan, who takes a liking to Marco's cleverness. Marco is left a prisoner in
the Khan’s palace, who quickly becomes tangled in the intrigues of the court,
as well as the increasing tensions with the Song to the south, which is being
influenced by corrupt officials under the control of the corrupt Chancellor Jia Sidao.
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| Marco, our young, foolhardy adventurer. |
Story:
The story is fairly believable here. I’m not an expert on this historical period,
but from a laymen’s standpoint, it seems believable enough. There is an attempt to make Marco a bit of an
action hero at times, but these scenes are few, and he never starts school Kung
Fu master in any fight scenes, which keeps the credibility intact. Marco is very much an outsider who is
abandoned for the sake of his father’s eagerness to establish himself.
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| Jia Sidao has ambitions to start a war with Kublai Khan in order to defeat the Mongols and expand his own corrupt power base, but he isn't a fool. He uses intrigue, cunning strategy, and his own martial arts prowess to give himself a major edge. |
Marco feels very dejected at first, but soon begins to grow
roots within the Mongol community, and gain favor with the Kublai Khan
himself. This is both his blessing, and
his curse. The Khan’s enemies soon
become his, and even fellow members of the Khan’s court, as well as his family,
start to set their sights on the foreigner who quickly starts gaining influence
in the court. A lot of the intrigue here
feels reminiscent of Game of Thrones,
with friends and foes on both sides of the conflict.
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| Marco quickly rises to Kublai Khan's trusted advisor, which is both a blessing and a curse, as his fast friendship draws envy and suspicion from some of his fellow advisers. |
Characters:
Every character has a story, and an agenda. While some men are simple, and
straightforward, others are cunning and shrewd.
This keeps the viewer on their toes a bit as they try to figure out what
characters are friends to Marco, and which ones might lead him down a more
dangerous path. Some plots are followed
on-screen, but others take place off-camera, making the viewer try to figure
out who the culprit(s) might be, and how it might involve our reluctant hero,
Marco.
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| Even after extensive training, Marco is no Kung Fu master, but he gets a good start, and his training does give great insight into the Kung Fu mentality. |
Marco does a good job of seeming both a cunning man, and a
lost one. He struggles to fit into this
foreign land and learn its’ customs. But
as he does, he is able to apply his clever nature more and more to adapt to his
new station and serve the Khan, to both the joy and loathing of those around
him. However, Marco can seem rather
reckless at times, for such a cunning man.
This can be refreshing, but also breaks the immersion a bit, as the Hollywood
drama factor sometimes takes hold when Marco stands up to men who can, and
under the circumstances should, have him killed. It’s these moments where it fails to live up
the Game of Thrones-type heights
that the show seems to aim for. When
characters have plot armor, it removes a lot of the suspense when the characters are put into dangerous situations.
Some supporting characters, like Thousand Eyes and Kublai’s
son and heir offer some interesting characters to follow when Marco is
off-screen, and Marco’s budding romance with Princess Kokachin offers both
perils and opportunity for Marco, despite his status as a prisoner. However, all of the Khan’s advisors, as well
as the dangerous minister, Jia Sidao, do keep the story moving along, even if there
are sometimes too many detours along the way.
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| There are a lot of times when I felt Marco was pushing the limits too far, and he probably shouldn't have been able to just walk away like he did. |
Visuals:
The costumes are all very well done, with court officials
looking regal, the Khan looking lavish and imposing, and beggars looking poor,
while not being stuck in the rags. There
are a few battles in this series, but the lack of casting means they never
quite feel up the scope with how epic they should appear. Sometimes lackluster CGI shows off a massive
city, and the battles scenes might comprise a dozen or so actors fighting it
out. It’s moments like these that the
budget starts to show, and the epic story starts to feel somewhat flat in its
rendition.
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| Battles should be a very cool affair, and while they certainly do allow some great fights on an individual level, they often disappoint in the larger scope of things. |
Overall:
This is a good series, without a doubt, just not great.
There are a few exceptional characters, like Marco and Thousand Eyes. However, many of the others only have moments
here and there, and the show fails to supports it’s epic story with epic
scenes. It always feels like it’s aiming
for the heights reached by fantasy epics like Game of Thrones, and it’s an admirable goal to aim for, but the
budget and casting doesn’t allow this show’s grasp to go out as far as its
reach. That being said, there is still plenty of story to enjoy here, even if
it’s not rendered in the most believable of ways.
I’m hoping future seasons offer a larger budget if they want
to do more battles and special effects.
And I also hope the story does more with the Western influence growing
in China. This might make Marco’s character shine more as he is torn between
his heritage in the West and the life he has begun in the East.
Good:
-Solid story based around real events.
-Both the lead and supporting characters fill their roles
well.
-Plenty of opportunity and anticipation for future seasons.
Bad:
-Underwhelming visuals at times.
-Not quite as epic or surprising as it seems to strive for.
Scully Rating: 8 out of 10
