Mild spoilers ahead, please read at your own caution!
I had saved Netflixs' Marco Polo on my watch list for about a year before I even thought to watch it.
Having only the vague knowledge that the real Marco Polo was a traveler and that it was a game we played in the pool as kids, I watched this show not really expecting anything terribly exciting. But now being five episodes deep, I conclude that this show is somewhat of a hidden gem Netflix.
We start our journey in the middle of a wreckage. We join a group of travellers who arrive at a town completely burnt to the ground. All its people either slaughtered on the ground or piked through on stakes. An old woman comes up to the travellers and speaks in a foreign language - the village were supporters of the Song empire, enemies of the Mongol empire, and so were cut down. Fast-forward and the Polo family: Marco, his father and uncle are brought to the Kublai Khan, the fifth Great Khan of the Mongol Empire, who's not happy he didn't get his Christian priests like he was promised. Marco's father grovels for a bit and in a somewhat heartless move, offers up his son as a manservant in the Kublai's court as penance. And this is where our story really begins.
Each episode is roughly about 45-60 minutes - so safe to say a lot happens. For most of us thats a good thing, there's nothing eternally boring as watching a Netflix show and waiting five episodes for the build-up to be done with so the story gets going (something that a lot of the Marvel shows suffered).
In the first episode alone, we get the driving force of the story, some important info-dump about the world and good insight in relationship dynamics between different characters. There's already a ton of potential for this series. Each character we are introduced to has their own agency which drives the plot forward. There's morally grey characters, villains, anti-heroes, people protecting their own, "good" guys - I'm going to be honest, it gives off a really Game of Thrones vibe. It has the kind of gore, sex and political game themes which made GOT famous.
But what makes this show stand out is its diversity and exploration of its characters. Save for Marco and his family, the entire cast is East Asian and full of ethnic minorities. We get to see just how diversely rich the Mongol empire really was and can I just comment on how good it is to see a period drama which depicts dirty peasants and dirty streets too? That's when you know its gonna be good.
One thing I do find interesting though, is this shows treatment of its female characters. So far, save one, all the female characters are prisoners of their time period - weak, helpless, at the mercy of men and constantly fighting against exploitation (the last one doesn't go as successfully). So far that I have been paying attention, it barely passes the Bechdel test. But for once, I like most of the female characters, they're not all hatable or unrealistic. So who knows, maybe the more I watch, the more this show will surprise me - maybe they'll do something different.
While still slow rest assured that each episode offers something new and exciting about the world and its characters. As I have not yet finished the series, I have not come to the conclusion of each characters arc - but when I'll write a comprehensive analysis of that when I am done.
So if you need something to cure that painfully disappointing itch from the end of GOT, try out Netflix's Marco Polo. You might be pleasantly surprised.
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