Marco Polo - Episode 3 and 4 Review, Part 1

Episodes 3 and 4 of Netflix's Marco Polo take the series forward at a good pace, but lose no chances for character development and nuance. The accuracy in details when compared to the text suffers here, but only slightly, and in ways that would only annoy someone actively comparing the show and the book like I am.

Episode 3

I want to make two comments here that have nothing to do with Marco Polo studies and everything to do with what makes a good show: A great theme song and a compelling opening scene. The theme song of Marco Polo features Mongolian Throat Singers, along with blended European and Mongolian/Chinese instruments. Combined with the beautiful artwork of the intro, these title scenes really help set the tone for an adventurous show taking place in a land and time long past. Here below are links to the Marco Polo theme music and the video showing the making of the Introduction sequence.

The opening scene finds our hero, Marco, being trained in martial arts by Hundred Eyes, a Taoist monk and resident badass. Hundred Eyes is explaining to Marco the meaning of "Kung Fu", and while doing so, the scenes cut to various people and characters going about their tasks. Hundred Eyes explains that the dedicated servant, the cook, the painter, the poet, all can be said to have Kung Fu, since he defines Kung Fu as "Supreme skill from Hard Work". This opening sets such a fantastic tone and is so well shot and edited, it is probably my favorite scene so far in all the episodes I have watched.

Now, on to the scholarship! We find in this episode a wagonload of potential concubines being brought to Kubilai Khan's court. They are scrutinized, trained, and voted out at the will of the Empress and the eunuchs in charge of the concubines. However, upon their arrival, they are told that if they are not chosen for the Khan's service, they will be sold to brothels and slavers to generate revenue for the empire. This struck me as unnecessarily cruel and odd. The Mongols did a lot of horrible stuff, which included human trafficking, but these girls, as attested in The Travels, at least, did not meet the fate to which the show resigned them. 

There is a province inhabited by Tartars who are called Kungurat, whilch is also the name of their city. They are a very good-looking race with fair complexions. Every two years or so, according to his pleasure, the Great Khan sends emissaries to this province to select for him out of the most beautiful maidens, according to the standard of beauty which he lays down for them, some four or five hundred, more or less as he may decide...When the emissaries arrive, they summon to their presence all the maidens of the province...After inspecting and surveying every girl  feature by feature, her hair, her face, her eyebrows, her mouth her lips, and every other feature, to see whether they are well-formed and in harmony with her person, the valuers award to some a score of sixteen marks, to others seventeen, eighteen, or twenty, more or less according to the degree of their beauty. And, if the Great Khan has ordered them to bring him all who score twenty marks, or prehaps twenty-one, according to the number ordered, these are duly brought. When they have come to his presence, he has them assessed a second time by other valuers, and then the thirty or forty with the highest score are selected for his chamber...As for the other damsels, who are rated at a lower score, they remain with the Khan's other women in the palace, where they are instructed in needle-work, glove-making, and other elegant accomplishments. When some nobleman is looking for a wife, the Great Khan gives hime one of these damsels with a great dowry. And in this way he marries them all off honourably.(1)

Not as dramatic as being sold off into prostitution, but for show purposes, I suppose there had to be serious consequences for the sake of the story. This episode seems to have something to say with regard to contrasting roles and fates of women in the empire. That some women can be sold and traded off as revenue while others, such as Khutulun, Chabi, and, to a lesser extent, the Blue Princess, can enjoy status and autonomy by virtue of their nobility is a valid point to highlight. However, I would like to stress that in Mongol society, women often faired much better and enjoyed more respect and status than those of contemporary, sedentary societies. Mongol women had to be trained to fight in order to defend the homes and flocks while men were away at war. They had to tend to trade and maintain the economy and the camps. Noble mongol women were involved in politics and were consulted on crucial matters, as we see with the extremely important role of Chabi in this series.

Another feature of this episode is the introduction of Khutulun, the famous Mongol Warrior Princess and undefeated champion wrestler. To avoid any spoilers, I will simply say her scene with Marco is interesting, a little awkward, fun, but not based on any reports in The Travels. Her father laments to Marco that he may never find a man to marry his daughter, while she laughs and wrestles her male counterparts and defeats them with ease. One distracting aspect of Khutulun, however, is her costume. She looks, to me, like a Mongolian Xena.

Khutulun is rocking that Warrior Princess look from the Xena Collection.

This isn't a big deal, but I guess this just disappoints me more than anything. Again, I don't know anything specific about Yuan Dynasty or Mongol Confederation women's dress and costume, but I do know that her outfit looks like a variation of every other "warrior woman" outfit from historical drama and fantasy productions. When the costuming of this series has been, to me, fairly on point, for this to happen and take me immediately out of what is happening on screen seems like someone dropped the ball somewhere. And I don't know if, like me, the costumers couldn't find good evidence of practical Mongolian female garb or what, but this just felt off for some reason. The costumers are certainly talented enough that I think they could have come up with something a little more unique and accurate to the time for Khutulun to wear.

Or maybe this is pretty accurate and I just don't know it.

Anyway, my last point about episode 3 is that it really takes a look at the character of Kubilai Khan. From his personal struggle of dealing with having to kill his own brother, to dealing with his gout, to having to manage his empire, it really makes him a human, rounded character that is approachable, rather than some distant, legendary, flawless warrior-king. This development made him into a man, a father, a husband, and an emperor, rather than just a historical figure. And while he may be a flawed man who does things that we may not like or agree with, we do know he has his reasons and we know that he struggles internally with those choices. Kubilai the Man and Kubilai the Khan may not always agree, but he does what he must to preserve his realm.

Continued in Part 2

1. Polo, Marco. The Travels. trans. Ronald Latham (Penguin Books: 1958) pg. 122-123