Review: Marco Polo (no spoilers)

Marco Polo is a new Netflix show that clearly trying to ape off of the success of Game of Thrones (like History Channel's Vikings). It is another gritty historical-ish political drama with plenty of scenes of sex and violence interspersed with political manoeuvring intrigue and personal drama. And has radically different reviews depending on where you look (a measly 30% on Rotten Tomatoes, though getting 93% audience score on the same, and 8.3/10 on IMDb).

Marco Polo benefits from a simpler more cohesive story focused on two main factions: Kublai Khan's Mongols and the Song dynasty sheltering behind the walls of Xiangyang. The main plot roughly follows the historical record of the era though artistic license is taken with most of the details but there is no need to be familiar with this history in order to understand the show. The main character is obviously the eponymous Marco Polo but the point of view often shifts to other characters central to the story including multiple players in each of the Song and Mongol courts.

However, the subject matter is a mixed blessing for the show. While an Asia-based historical drama is relatively novel making the depictions of the culture and examinations of philosophy and morality more interesting as most of the audience will be relatively unfamiliar with them; in contrast to 'Wolf Hall', which is yet another take on the George VIII story, or 'Game of Thrones', another Medieval-Europe fantasy. It also means much of the dialog is spoken with a thick accent and it is relatively challenging to tell the different characters apart, particularly when the Mongols wear similar hair cuts and un-ornamented clothing.

The acting is good given the no-name cast. The high production values result in beautiful sets & costumes, nice stunts and action sequences (including several very nice martial arts fights) as well as many shots filmed on location on Kazakhstan steppe and some scenes in Italy. Since this is a historical drama there is minimal CGI, mainly used for some shots of the Song city-wall and digitally increasing the size of armies. As with many shows, quality of acting and film making improves over the course of the first few episodes, culminating in a season finale rivalling Game of Thrones. 

In terms of the requisite violence and sex scenes found in all programs trying to capitalized on Game of Thrones' success, I would say Marco Polo does a better job than Game of Thrones. Neither the sex nor violence feels gratuitous, as both are used in service of the story and character development rather than just atmosphere or decoration. While there are fewer scenes of graphic violence in Marco Polo, the violence evokes a greater response in the audience since in most cases we know and care about the victim (and some of the most horrifying acts happen off-screen). Likewise most of the sex scenes have a deeper meaning or purpose than just pleasing the participants and titillating the audience.The third element of Game of Thrones is the long philosophical-ish monologues. While Marco Polo has a few of them the context generally makes them feel more natural though less memorable than Game of Thrones, Marco Polo takes more of a "show-don't-tell" approach to the story, even down to one character's secret plan being explained using a mural.

The tone of Marco Polo is very similar to Game of Thrones or Vikings, being primarily dark and serious but with occasional moments of comedy but Marco Polo lacks a deliberately comedic character like Tyrion Lannister. However, Marco Polo contains more well-intentioned characters (vs greedy bastards) than Game of Thrones, but that is not to say they are without flaw, but conflicts are generally about contrasting ideals than selfishness. Another difference is that Marco Polo has a running theme for this first season of freedom vs slavery, whereas Game of Thrones doesn't have much of a central theme (perhaps the nature of leadership?).

Overall I would highly recommend Marco Polo to anyone who likes Game of Thrones or gritty historical dramas. Though if you just want to see blood or boobies you may be disappointed.