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| 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.
Having established that this was a fine finale, I'd like to get something off my chest. If the creative decision was to centre the story on a young adventurer who has traveled far and has been exposed to various cultures, who was learned both in books and in life, why was he then written as rather moronic? Did Marco really think that the Khan would simply hand over a princess to him just because the instrument of war he created worked as it was meant to work? Empress Chabi's eyes did not fall on Kokachin as a potential bride for Prince Jingim just because she was pretty, though that could be a factor as well, as that would make it easier for her son to accept another wife. As has been reiterated repeatedly over the course of the season, Kokachin was royalty. It was her blood that saved her from indignity and death when the Khan's armies arrived. It was her blood that gave her gentle treatment within the walls of the Khan's palace, in stark contrast to what other captured women had to endure. Though it was entirely possible that Empress Chabi already suspected her to be an impostor, to the eyes of their subjects, Prince Jingim was to be wed to the sole royal survivor of the Bauyat tribe. The rule of the Khan was strengthened, amongst other ways, via familial ties. Incorporating a member of a conquered royal house into the Khan's own family would further the impression of stability of the dynasty.
It was even more inexplicable that Marco would even consider he had a future with Kokachin given that he barely escaped execution himself. The Khan did not even regard his life to be worth keeping until Vice Regent Yusuf gave up his own to save it. Why on earth would the Khan pass the chance of wedding his son to a princess and keeping his beloved wife happy, for the sake of Marco's feelings? Marco looked at the Khan as a surrogate father, likely because of how disappointed he has been with his own father. That did not mean that Marco was a son to the Khan, else he would never have countenanced Marco's execution on such frail grounds.
To be fair, the rather frustrating love story between Marco and Kokachin only took a handful of minutes in this episode, but given how central they both were to the story (especially Marco), the writing of their side of the tale was rather annoying. It was a good thing, then, that Marco Polo ended its first season on a high note. It was Mei Lin's attempt to find her daughter, and likely escape, that led to her finding the mural Ahmad commissioned from a Song artist. The eyes of the Khan had been on Jia Sidao all season. Jia Sidao was viewed as the Khan's greatest enemy. What he did not know was that the man he treated as a son had been plotting his demise all along.
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| Image from Marco Polo, streamed via Netflix |
Even before the reveal of Ahmad as the Khan's foe, his strength was already severely challenged. He lost thousands of men in his initial attempt to breach Xiangyang's walls. When he refused his cousin Kaidu's demand to lead the army rather than march under the banner of Kublai's house, the Khan again lost a significant part of his forces. Byamba even told Marco to light five fires on the night they camped outside Xiangyang's walls; if all the men lit five fires each, they could fool the Song into thinking there were more of them than there actually was.
It was at this time when he struggled to project strength that Marco gave him a massive win. I saw the Hollywood Reporter article that alleged that Marco Polo represented a $200 million loss to Netflix, over the course of its two seasons. In another article by IGN, it stated that the first season of Marco Polo had a price tag of $90 million. Marco Polo's massive budget was evident in every scene. Money was clearly poured on production design; this was evident both in the assault of Xiangyang after multiple trebuchets firing massive rocks all day and night brought down part of the wall, and in quieter scenes, in scenes within the palaces of the dueling dynasties. Indeed, Marco Polo has been a visual feast all its first season. If only similar care had been taken in the writing of the character the show was named after.
When Kublai Khan sat on the throne that previously belonged to the Song emperor, a minister who until moments before served Jia Sidao bowed to him, already a subject. It was a stark reminder of how many of the people who surrounded the Khan came from villages and families that he conquered. Both Yusuf and Ahmad, two of the most powerful men at the Khan's court, were not born to the life of the revered Gengis. Hundred Eyes, the tutor of Prince Jingim, was Chinese. Just as it was a portrait of the shifting allegiances of men, it was also an illustration of the fragility of the Khan's position. Would faithful service be expected from servants whose villages and families were slaughtered by command of the Khan? The Khan's openness to the conquered paid off with Yusuf. It did not, with Ahmad.
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| Image from Marco Polo, streamed via Netflix |
The first season of Marco Polo was at its weakest when it was centred on its eponymous hero, but it had far too many interesting characters to be dismissed as a disappointment, as I saw a number of early reviewers did. I do acknowledge that I am its target audience, part of the international crowd it was supposedly meant to draw in, already interested in anything with characters in period costumes. Four years after its final episode was released, I hope that at some point we will get to see another historical epic of similar ambitions. The first season, whilst frustrating at times, was a fun ride. Maybe, time permitting, I'll cover the second season as well.
Strays
■ Not to pile on my annoyance with Marco, but it was still inexplicable to me why there was barely any reaction from him about Yusuf's sacrifice. Both the Khan and Byamba pointed out his debt that could never be repaid to the late Vice Regent.
■ There was a ceremony where Kokachin's virginity was tested. Empress Chabi herself redid the test and pricked Kokachin's skin so there would be blood.
■ Jia Sidao marshalled his forces to lure the Khan into attacking the walls of Xiangyang once more. He clearly did not expect the wall to fall.
■ Jia Sidao's short scene with the boy emperor was surprisingly poignant.
■ Prince Jingim was hit by the 13th century version of guns that Jia Sidao surprised the Khan's army with. He survived and had already reversed his opinion of Marco.
■The Khan banished his cousin Kaidu, who declared he would march to the true Mongol capital Karakorum. After fighting with his father's army, Byamba rode to meet with Khutulun and her father's men.
Director: John Maybury
Writer: John Fusco
Original Release Date: 12 December 2014
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