Merlin Rewatch: The Dragon's Call

Season 1 Episode 1

I have been wanting to do a proper rewatch of Merlin, starting from the first episode to the finale. Merlin is one of my go to shows when my mental health isn't great, so I do rewatch a few episodes a year. When I created this blog, primarily meant as a place to post some of my work since 2013, I thought it might also serve as space for one of my favourite activities when I have free time, rewatching. 

Marco Polo Recap 'The Heavenly and the Primal'

Image from Marco Polo, streamed via Netflix

Season 1 Episode 10

As someone who grew up with a constant thirst for grand historical epics, the first season finale of Marco Polo was quite satisfactory. There was a battle that started outside the walls of Xiangyang. There was that haunting music played by some soldiers one night before the battering from the trebuchets Marco designed began. There was a beautifully choreographed kung fu battle between Jia Sidao and Hundred Eyes. Near the end, we were finally given a closer look at the mural Ahmad has been supervising all season long, the one that chronicled the triumphs and tribulations of the khanate, the one that also showed him holding the khan's severed head, his face as serene as it always was.

Marco Polo Recap 'Prisoners'

Image from Marco Polo, streamed via Netflix

Season 1 Episode 9

When the time came that Yusuf realised someone else could better serve his Khan, in a way he no longer wished to, he decided his life needed to end. 'You are released from prison, but I am truly free', he told Marco, who was condemned to die, who was saved by the sacrifice of the Vice Regent's life. Yusuf once spoke of his role to Marco, that of a servant who spoke truth. It was heartbreaking that his final act of service to his Khan was a massive lie.

Marco Polo Recap 'Rendering'

Benedict Wong as Kublai Khan. Image from Marco Polo, streamed via Netflix

Season 1 Episode 8

A prisoner of the Khan at the beginning, Marco eventually found himself almost an advisor to the powerful ruler of the Mongol. Like Nergui, there was a reason why Marco did not feel a compelling need to leave; he was comfortable in his service to the Khan. He certainly did not intend to give the Chinese prisoner he spoke to false hope; Marco saw the Khan as a fair ruler, a man on whose lands people were free to worship their gods, and where they could ply their trades. As time passed, it was almost as though Marco had forgotten how the Khan himself murdered a servant for the crime of hearing Marco lie.

Marco Polo Recap 'The Scholar's Pen'

Image from Marco Polo, streamed via Netflix

Season 1 Episode 7

When Hundred Eyes and Marco went on a perilous journey to attempt to assassinate Jia Sidao, Hundred Eyes correctly read that Marco had begun to identify with the empire that held him captive.  'I fear your mind has followed your body into bondage', Hundred Eyes told his erstwhile pupil. Had Marco truly begun to believe in the righteousness of the Khan's cause? Or had he almost unwittingly begun to view the Khan as a father after his own father sorely disappointed him?

Marco Polo Recap 'White Moon'

Image from Marco Polo, streamed via Netflix

Season 1 Episode 6

Olivia Cheng's Mei Lin was one of the several standouts in Marco Polo's fairly strong line-up of characters, save for its lead. Mei Lin was a royal concubine who was also a phenomenal warrior. With her brother Jia Sidao already firmly entrenched in the corridors of power of the Song Dynasty, Mei Lin felt she had no choice but to obey his commands, even when he sent her as a spy inside Cambulac. Jia Sidao held the life of Mei Lin's daughter in his hands, and for that Mei Lin was willing to undertake a suicide mission in an attempt to assassinate the Khan's beloved wife Empress Chabi.

Marco Polo Recap 'Hashshashin'

Image from Marco Polo, streamed via Netflix

Season 1 Episode 5

'Their army hides behind walls for fear of extermination, a wall that has defied us for 70 years. Our men will die for no reason save the ego of the man ordering the breach. Ego, not armies, destroys empires.'

The fifth episode of Marco Polo may have focused on the ancient order of assassins that nearly killed Kublai Khan, but at its core, it was a tale of the slow horror of uncertainty when the head of a powerful empire was suddenly not around as the centre of its strength.