Marco Polo Recap 'Lullaby'

Season 2 Episode 5

'Lullaby' is easily Marco Polo's best episode of the second season (so far), and a prime example of how Mahesh Jadu's Ahmad so ably stepped up onto the mantle as prime antagonist following the death of Jia Sidao (Chin Han). That Ahmad was quietly working against the man who considered him a son was already well established in the first season, but Ahmad's moves against Kublai Khan have started to become more overt. Perhaps it was because, with the death of the loyal Yusuf, Ahmad was named Vice Regent, and now had control over the vast military resources of the Khan. Perhaps it was because the Khan was weakened by the Song rebellion and Kaidu's challenge to his rule. Perhaps it was because the producers knew there was little chance Marco Polo was going to be renewed for the third season, so they decided it was time for the seeds of betrayal they planted in the first season to flower in the second.

Whatever the reason may have been, we now were given the backstory on how a son as favoured as Ahmad turned against his father and royal family.

A boy with a gift for numbers, Ahmad became a son to Kublai Khan and Empress Chabi after his birth parents were killed and his village destroyed. Twelve years ago, Ahmad turned down the Khan's offer to head the Ministry of Finance for a job as a lowly tax collector. The Khan was initially furious, but he eventually accepted Ahmad's decision with much fondness for his brilliant but stubborn son. And so Ahmad traveled through the silk road, collecting taxes from, amongst others, brothels.

The episode interspersed present day scenes with Ahmad's back story, so that it was startling to see the fresh-faced, guileless lad Ahmad used to be when compared to the dark, bitter Ahmad who roamed through the palace at Cambulac now barely able to control the seething anger within. When the proprietor of a brothel was unable to pay her taxes, she offered Ahmad the services of a girl of his choosing in exchange for more latitude. Ahmad was particularly taken by a lady, Okasana, who hailed from the same village where he was born.

It was after Ahmad and Oksana became lovers that he heard her humming a song he remembered from his childhood. When Ahmad asked her how she knew the song, she said she wrote it for her baby boy. It was then that darkness descended upon Ahmad. The prostitute he had sex with was the mother he thought had died when the Khan's forces arrived.

Ahmad killed Oksana, perhaps to free her from the horrifying life she now lived, perhaps to try and ease the soul shattering pain he must have felt when he realised what had happened, what he had done. Ahmad returned to the Khan a changed man. He had now seen with his own eyes the wretched lives the Khan's conquests lived. He now knew what happened to his mother -- deemed an unworthy addition to the Khan's harem, she was sold to a brothel. The Khan, his wife the Empress, and their entire family may have been good to Ahmad since he was a boy, but that did not change the call of his blood for revenge. This time, Ahmad accepted the offer to head the Ministry of Finance, an office he held until Yusuf's death.

Marco was another captive whom the Khan had began to treat as a son. Marco now found that he had a voice in the Khan's court, and used it, though he knew he was going against Ahmad. Marco opposed Ahmad's plan to send the army south to quell what they thought was a rebellion by the Song. Marco pointed out that Ahmad's advise of executing the boy emperor was what led to the rebellion in the first place. Marco also complained to the Khan that Ahmad assigned his son Byamba to the infantry; Marco counseled that it was better for Byamba to ride with the Khan to Xanadu so the chieftains would see he now supported his father instead of Kaidu. 

Ahmad's voice prevailed, however. By the end of the episode, Ahmad was the sole power left in Cambulac. The Khan rode north with a relatively small escort of seven thousand men. The army of sixty thousand rode south. And, whilst the Khan was away wooing chieftains to back his continued hold on power, Prince Nayan was coming to Cambulac, with the scheming Ahmad waiting for him.

Strays

■ This episode is a dance of three memories: anger (Ahmad), love (Hundred Eyes), and madness (Kokachin).

■ Nergui saw the real Princess Kokachin, who told her she survived and wanted her life back.

■ Apparently, the suicide bombings in South China were part of a deal between Mei Lin and Michelle Yeoh's Lotus. In exchange for orchestrating the bombings, Lotus wanted Mei Lin to give her access to Hundred Eyes. To be honest, this part of the deal confused me, because Lotus was quite able to go in and out of the palace undetected and communicate with a prisoner, Mei Lin. Why couldn't she find Hundred Eyes on her own? Surely, through all the time she spent in Cambulac, Lotus had already heard of the blind monk who was teaching kung fu to the Khan's soldiers.

■ Ahmad was furious when he learnt that Mei Lin had slept with the Khan, though of course she had no choice. Ahmad told Mei Lin that he meant to use Ling Ling as a bargaining chip to get Prince Nayan to back whichever side he chose.

■ Prior to their confrontation, Mei Lin told Ahmad she would be his Empress. 

■ Mei Lin tried to alter her deal with Lotus, to get Ling Ling out of the palace and away from Ahmad and Prince Nayan.

■ Mei Lin did not forget that Marco stood up for her when they arrived back at Cambulac with the boy emperor. Mei Lin warned him to leave Cambulac. When a desperate Mei Lin tried to show him the mural where Ahmad was painted holding the Khan's severed head, they found that the mural had been painted over. Mei Lin again told Marco to leave.

■ Empress Chabi told the Khan that she and Kokachin would accompany him to Xanadu. 'Never again', she told him as she tossed the furs he left in the chambers of Mei Lin.

■ Byamba spotted a cart of gunpowder headed west, which was odd because the war was supposed to be south.

■ Khutulun was furious at her father because she believed he broke her and Byamba.

■ Kaidu's mother performed a ceremony supposedly to rid him of the weakness in their male line.

■ A guard told Ahmad he escorted a stableboy into Kokachin's chambers at the direction of the Empress.

■ Marco voiced his suspicions to Hundred Eyes. Sanga worked for Ahmad. The identity of who hired the assassins who tried to kill the Khan was never uncovered. Ahmad has been giving the Khan bad advise of late.

■ There was a lovely scene, a silent dance between Lotus and Hundred Eyes, that spoke of deep emotion and memory, though they never spoke nor even touched. 

Images from Marco Polo, streamed via Netflix.

Director: Jon Amiel
Writer: Bruce Marshall Romans
Original Air Date: 1 July 2016