Marco Polois Netflix’s new sprawling historical adventure series. Clickherefor all of Decider’s coverage andherefor a handy guide to who’s who in Marco Polo’s world.
Marco Polo (Lorenzo Richelmy) is out of jail and in charge of building the Khan’s new trebuchets. Kublai Khan (Benedict Wong), meanwhile, is facing pressure from Jia Sidao (Chin Han) and a court looking to him for decisive leadership. He decides they will march before the Chinese will and that he himself will lead the assault. Kaidu (Rick Yune) is not cool with this. He says he will take his troops back up north, and so Kublai Khan does the sensible thing and he banishes him. BANISHED!This, of course, means that the young warrior lovers Byamba and Khutulun have to be separated until the battle is over.
Since Jia Sidao invented a gun to shoot the Dowager Empress, that means that Jia Sidao can unite all the troops of China under one banner without resistance. Later we learn that Sidao has been able to predict this counter-strategy. So, we’re building towards an epic showdown where Kublai Khan’s forces won’t be able to match Jia Sidao’s unless Marco Polo can get those trebuchets to work. Cool.
The ladies of the court test Kokachin’s virginity by putting a tiny egg up her cooch. If there’s blood on it when it comes out, that means that she had an intact hymen. If there’s no blood, she is not a virgin. At first, there isn’t any blood (because she totally slept with Marco Polo), but then the ruthless Empress Chabi (Joan Chen) shoves in the egg, cuts Kokachin, and produces blood. The Blue Princess has to marry Prince Jingim and I need to thank the feminist movement for ensuring I never have to go through something like that.
Ahmad (Mahesh Jadu) and Mei Lin (Olivia Cheng) continue their flirtatious mind games. Are they going to bone already or what? This is like Outlander without the true love component. Sheesh. Get on with it.
Kokachin and Marco meet in secret and she begs him to run away with her before she marries the prince. Marco is torn. He would like to run away with his Blue Princess, but he knows the Mongols would hunt them until the day they die. Marco thinks if he can win the war for Kublai Khan, they might have a chance to be together. Marco can be dumb sometimes.Marco is so determined to win the Khan’s trust back that he fights Jingim just for the honor of riding into battle with the Mongols.
After Hundred Eyes (Tom Wu) calls it a draw, Jingim, sigh, threatens Marco Polo’s life again and Marco leaves a present from the Silk Road for his beloved Blue Princess. She tears the beads apart in anger.
Empress Chabi tries to convince Kublai Khan to call for peace, but the Khan is too stubborn. He is hell bent on conquering China — even if it means destroying the Empire in the process. And so, Kublai Khan takes his remaining Mongolian hoard and his new trebuchets to the Walled City of Xiangyang.
On the eve of battle, Byamba and Marco have a bromantic heart-to-heart and Jingim hangs with his soldiers like in Shakespeare’s Henry V. The former are accepting that they are officially friends who respect each other and the latter might finally be connecting to his Mongolian heritage.
After hearing that Kublai Khan has a fancy kind of catapult, Jia Sidao orders his archers to open fire on the camp. The only problem is that the arrows fall short of where Kublai Khan has set up his trebuchets. Now is the moment of truth: will Marco’s big ass, fancy slingshots even work?
Nope. Marco orders for more counterweight and Hundred Eyes gets up like he knows something. The trebuchets are reloaded. Now will they work?
Yes! Our young hero is victorious! And he would have to be since the real life Marco Polo lived to a ripe old age and died in Italy and this guy is still in his early 20s and stuck in Asia.Jia Sidao gets the child Emperor out of the city and Kublai Khan gets acupuncture in his tent. It is a long night and it leads to a long day. Finally, in the light of morning, the Mongols break the wall.
Jia Sidao plays it like he’s not scared. He makes tea and calmly predicts the Mongolian army’s movements. Prince Jingim leads one of the first raids. Now that the wall is down, they must contend with the Chinese archers and foot soldiers. Jia Sidao gives a signal and a small group of Chinese ambush the Mongols with GUNS!!! Prince Jingim is shot. He’s down, but not killed. Before a Chinese soldier can chop off his head, Byamba comes to the rescue. Marco calls for a line of men to surround the prince. And he and Byamba charge into the city.
During the invasion, Marco gets distracted by the beautiful architecture and gorgeous ambiance of the palace. His curiosity leads him into the throne room, where Jia Sidao sits on the Imperial throne. Sidao calls him a “round eye” and Marco tells him to step off the throne and surrender to Kublai Khan. Sidao approaches our young hero, ready to fight. This is the mismatched battle we’ve all been waiting for. Who will win? An indomitable warrior and strategist who has mastered one of the greatest forms of Kung Fu or our plucky and lucky white hero?
It looks like Jia Sidao is going to win, but then Hundred Eyes shows up to save the day and Marco (and white Imperialism)!
When Kublai Khan enters the palace, he finds Jia Sidao dead, but the boy Emperor is gone. Still, Kublai Khan takes the Chinese throne and is given the Chinese imperial seal. Jingim and Marco make peace with one another. Byamba returns to his beloved Khutulun and Marco returns home to discover that Kokachin has left the city. It seems that most of our protagonists have won…for now.
Mei Lin kills her way out of Ahmad’s quarters. She sneaks through the palace and tries to find Ling. Instead, she finds the mural that Ahmad has been commissioning all season. It puts Ahmad on the throne, holding Kublai Khan’s head. He asks her if she likes it and she’s all, “Oh, yeah, we’re going to bang and take down Kublai Khan.”
And that’s the end of season one of Marco Polo. I really hope Mei Lin and Ahmad eventually bang and decapitate Kublai Khan because they’re both underestimated, under-loved schemers and I love those kinds of characters.
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[Photos & Gifs: Netflix]
