# Marco Polo (new netflix original set in in 1266-ish China)



## brutalwizard (Dec 21, 2014)

I am honestly only a couple episodes in and digging it. I am loving the setting. I am enjoying watching dramatized history unravel.

The setting is absolutely amazing.


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## SpaceDock (Dec 21, 2014)

I'm enjoying all the boobs! oh and the story is pretty good too


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## ferret (Dec 21, 2014)

It's on my list! but haven't started yet.



brutalwizard said:


> I am enjoying watching dramatized history unravel..



More like dramatized dramatized history  There's not a lot of , if any, hard concrete evidence for the real Marco Polo!


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## flexkill (Dec 21, 2014)

Netflix is absolutely killing it with their original series. Marco Polo is no exception.


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## soliloquy (Dec 21, 2014)

i'm hearing great things about it. have yet to see it.




brutalwizard said:


> I am honestly only a couple episodes in and digging it. I am loving the setting. I am enjoying watching dramatized history unravel.
> 
> The setting is absolutely amazing.



if you enjoy historial drama, try a show called 'borgia'. not 'the borgias' but just 'borgia'. its a netflix original made by canal+ as well. talking about the borgia family during the 1500s and their rule over europe.


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## ferret (Dec 21, 2014)

soliloquy said:


> if you enjoy historial drama, try a show called 'borgia'. not 'the borgias' but just 'borgia'. its a netflix original made by canal+ as well. talking about the borgia family during the 1500s and their rule over europe.



This was confusing to me, too. There's like two Borgias shows listed, both from 2013, with like the same description. Seemed really weird to me that two different shows were made about the same thing at the same time.


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## Pat_tct (Dec 22, 2014)

on my watch list as well. just finished the 3 sherlock seasons. Penny Dreadful is being watched right now. marco polo is up next. sounds promising and with most or all netflix originals i think this will not disappoint.


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## soliloquy (Dec 22, 2014)

ferret said:


> This was confusing to me, too. There's like two Borgias shows listed, both from 2013, with like the same description. Seemed really weird to me that two different shows were made about the same thing at the same time.



from my understanding, THE borgiaS is more of a sequel. borgia on the other hand started off as a prequel but eventually turned into a sequel and they did an awesome job at it too. 


though that is, sadly, sidling this thread. the


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## MetalGravy (Dec 26, 2014)

SpaceDock said:


> I'm enjoying all the boobs! oh and the story is pretty good too




I'm visiting my parents, and we watched the first episode last night. Few things are more awkward than watching sexy bits with your parents


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## FILTHnFEAR (Dec 29, 2014)

Hopefully it will be pretty cool. Haven't seen any yet, but plan on checking it out.


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## brutalwizard (Dec 30, 2014)

Finnished it, Ending was pretty blah if there is no second season.


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## MoshJosh (Dec 30, 2014)

Its been on my list for a minute now, but with all this talk about boobs I'l definitely have to stat watching it!


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## wat (Dec 31, 2014)

I think I'm gonna start watching this.


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## Demiurge (Dec 31, 2014)

Four episodes in- I really like it and how the titular character isn't being forced to be central to all of the plots and goings-on. Heck, he's not even the most interesting character in the show!

A miniscule and silly thing that kind of bothers me, though, is that while it would seemingly be enough of an incentive for Kublai Khan to keep Polo in his court just to have a westerner on-hand for dealing with other western traders, the show keeps forcing the assertion that Polo has a "way with words" that pleases Khan. Okay, so Polo was learning the language while trudging through the deserts and mountains and whatnot, possibly learning quickly, but are we supposed to be believe that he arrives in Khan's court with not just full- but superlative- vocab/syntax/idiomatic fluency? That's some 13th Warrior-level narrative leap there that just seems unnecessary.


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## vilk (Jan 6, 2015)

^I don't think his "way with words" is intended to mean that he is some great orator; rather that as a Westerner the way that he perceives things is different than Kublai/The Court/Asian people/whatever. Kublai's interest in Polo isn't just because the Kahn likes pretty poetry words--what he likes is Marco's "fresh take" on what would be unimpressive or normal to the people who live there.

But also I think Kublai may be just partially hiding behind that idea so as to illicit information that no one else would tell him (for fear of their lives/ someone else's life). He wants to hear Marco's "fresh take"... but all he really wants to hear is whether or not his subjects are doing anything he doesn't approve of.


I've just finished the show. Their kung fu choreography is good enough that I really wish they would have included more.
That's something I like about the show-- it is for all practical purposes a historical fiction, but it gives in a little to traditional kung fu ideas that are basically borderlining magic. Like Hundred Eyes' being blind but able to kick the ass of everyone and touch-killing people.

----

What bothers me much more about the show is how Marco and the Blue Princess are deus ex machina forced into being each other's love interest.


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## Demiurge (Jan 7, 2015)

vilk said:


> ^I don't think his "way with words" is intended to mean that he is some great orator; rather that as a Westerner the way that he perceives things is different than Kublai/The Court/Asian people/whatever. Kublai's interest in Polo isn't just because the Kahn likes pretty poetry words--what he likes is Marco's "fresh take" on what would be unimpressive or normal to the people who live there.
> 
> But also I think Kublai may be just partially hiding behind that idea so as to illicit information that no one else would tell him (for fear of their lives/ someone else's life). He wants to hear Marco's "fresh take"... but all he really wants to hear is whether or not his subjects are doing anything he doesn't approve of.



That definitely makes more sense looking at it that way. _Minister of Fresh Takes_ is a job I'd sign-up for.


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## Emperor Guillotine (Jan 7, 2015)

Pat_tct said:


> Penny Dreadful is being watched right now. marco polo is up next. sounds promising and with most or all netflix originals i think this will not disappoint.



I just started _Penny Dreadful_ tonight. Any thoughts?

I'm still skeptical about _Marco Polo_. It's gotten atrociously bad reviews from what I've read.


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## Captain Butterscotch (Jan 7, 2015)

Marco Polo is weird because the critics hate it while the viewers really like it. For example, Metacritic has it at a 48/100 from critics and the Userscore is 8.7/10. 

I really really like it. My only problem, and this goes for everything (books, shows, movies, plays, etc), is that the love story is _so. forced._ I enjoy everything else.


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## asher (Jan 7, 2015)

The commercials I saw for this looked... kind of dreadful. Like, "If a studio was going to try to make a popular show about this, _it would seem exactly like this_." Didn't look remotely interesting.

Similar response to the trailers for Dracula, except that looked ten times stupider


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## wat (Jan 9, 2015)

2nd season confirmed


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