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| Benedict Wong, left, has a commanding presence as Kublai Khan. Lead actor Lorenzo Richelmy, right, not so much even though the show is named after his character. |
IF YOU haven't started watching Marco Polo on Netflix yet, don't worry. The 10-part season of the adventure epic will be there for you to watch at your convenience either as a bingefest or stretch it out as long as you like.
Marco Polo is grand, a spectacle, a swashbuckler and a sweeping epic. It is on the scale of Game of Thrones with political intrigue, clash of cultures and a bit of titillation thrown in for the producers and sponsors.
UPDATE: The future of Marco Polo is still up in the air. If you want a second season of this show, click here.
Oh, and by the way, it gives a lot of work to Asian thespians. What I like about the series is that it gives the writers the luxury of time to flesh out the complex characters, something that wouldn't happen if the characters were token minorities on a TV show. Well ... at least, I hope that's what happens. Lazy writers will fall back on the old stereotypes but I'm hoping Marco takes advantage of their excellent cast and their talents.
It's a huge cast rivaling HBO's GoT but with the advantage of history instead of fantasy. I already find some of the characters fascinating and can't wait to see how their roles in this historic epic will unfold.
It's a huge cast rivaling HBO's GoT but with the advantage of history instead of fantasy. I already find some of the characters fascinating and can't wait to see how their roles in this historic epic will unfold.
I have to point out, I never thought I'd be rooting for Kublai Khan, one of the ruthless figures in world history but Benedict Wong, who plays Khan has won me over as a fan (of Wong).
His commanding presence in scenes nearly makes the title character, played by Lorenzo Richelmy, nearly invisible. And therein lies one of the weakness of the show; if Richelmy doesn't pick it up, this could be a one-season series because Richelmy's Marco is the hook for white viewers who have difficulty relating to non-whites.
I have to admit to some trepidation about this series. I am hoping that it isn't the "white man saves the world," type storyline that is so typical Hollywood. So far, two episodes in, the producers are giving the Chinese and Mongol characters equal time. My fingers are crossed that they keep this up.
The reported $90 million spent for production shows. It is beautiful show to watch, from the silks waving in they wind, the fabulous costumes, the computer driven sets, the beautifully choreographed fighting scenes or the sweeping shots of the steppes. Who would have thought the treeless steppes with its wide open, endless grasslands could be so beautiful a portrayed so sensually by writer and creator John Fusco.
Fusco's drive and passion for his subject is what got this series produced because most producers would shy away from a show with only one white actor. Credit super-producer Harvey Weinstein for taking the leap.
Fusco uses Polo not as the protagonist or as an instigator of the action, but as the eyes of Netflix's western audience. He's an observer of the actions of Khan and his court; exactly why Khan allowed the real Marco Polo to stick around.
“That’s what fascinates me. We all think of the travelogue part [of his life] … but then he spent 17 years in the court of Kublai Khan,” Fusco told an interviewer. “He was basically a special agent, journalist, and diplomat. One of the reasons why he used Marco is he was a European and he had no dog in the fight. He could go [to these places] objectively.”
I have to admit to some trepidation about this series. I am hoping that it isn't the "white man saves the world," type storyline that is so typical Hollywood. So far, two episodes in, the producers are giving the Chinese and Mongol characters equal time. My fingers are crossed that they keep this up.
The reported $90 million spent for production shows. It is beautiful show to watch, from the silks waving in they wind, the fabulous costumes, the computer driven sets, the beautifully choreographed fighting scenes or the sweeping shots of the steppes. Who would have thought the treeless steppes with its wide open, endless grasslands could be so beautiful a portrayed so sensually by writer and creator John Fusco.
Fusco's drive and passion for his subject is what got this series produced because most producers would shy away from a show with only one white actor. Credit super-producer Harvey Weinstein for taking the leap.
Fusco uses Polo not as the protagonist or as an instigator of the action, but as the eyes of Netflix's western audience. He's an observer of the actions of Khan and his court; exactly why Khan allowed the real Marco Polo to stick around.
“That’s what fascinates me. We all think of the travelogue part [of his life] … but then he spent 17 years in the court of Kublai Khan,” Fusco told an interviewer. “He was basically a special agent, journalist, and diplomat. One of the reasons why he used Marco is he was a European and he had no dog in the fight. He could go [to these places] objectively.”
In the eyes of western history, Marco Polo is an important figure. But I wonder, how is he viewed in Asian history? Is he merely a single figure in the Khan's court without any importance other than an objective set of eyes?
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| Joan Chen in "Marco Polo." |
The writers' attempts to give Marco a love interest are awkward and seem forced. Therein is the weakness to Fusco's writing. His female characters are intelligent and feisty enough; but still, the women are reduced to sexual objects in order to (1) titillate the TV audience used to the GoT standards; and (2) to satisfy the studio heads who adhere to the "sex sells" adage. Hopefully, after the producers feel that they've capture an audience, they'll rely less on the T&A fallback perpetuating this stereotype of "exotic" Asian women.
But as actress Joan Chen, who plays Khan's wife Chabi, says, for that time period, there was no feminist movement and as much as we would like to empower women, in that era, in that country, women were not treated well. We shouldn't impose our modern day values on people who lived in an age when women were treated like second-class citizens.
The first two episodes moved slowly at times, and sometimes the dialogue is bait pompous and stuffy, but I understand the pacing picks up later in the series after we get to know who's who and the political landscape of the time period.
The mixed reviews the show as garnered hit on all those negatives, but, for me, a show wherein Asian actors can show their talent, with Asian characters with depth and with an underlying plot in which Europe is NOT the center of the world, and an historical perspective that is not Eurocentric, is an important step forward and we shouldn't lose sight of that, even though we wish it could be more.
In the larger scheme of things, in this time of China-bashing and North Korean dictators, it is vitally critical for the future of this country that U.S. audiences get used to seeing Asian faces, whether it be at work, school or in the movies and on the TV screen.
If you're tired of the reruns and the umpteenth showing of the "Christmas Story" or "White Christmas," Marco Polo is a good way to pass the winter months.
The mixed reviews the show as garnered hit on all those negatives, but, for me, a show wherein Asian actors can show their talent, with Asian characters with depth and with an underlying plot in which Europe is NOT the center of the world, and an historical perspective that is not Eurocentric, is an important step forward and we shouldn't lose sight of that, even though we wish it could be more.
In the larger scheme of things, in this time of China-bashing and North Korean dictators, it is vitally critical for the future of this country that U.S. audiences get used to seeing Asian faces, whether it be at work, school or in the movies and on the TV screen.
If you're tired of the reruns and the umpteenth showing of the "Christmas Story" or "White Christmas," Marco Polo is a good way to pass the winter months.
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