MARCO POLO on NETFLIX. Season 2 is now streaming online and I recapped all 10 episodes right here. This is what I saw with several of the main cast members.
I will begin with Ahmad. He was adopted by Kublai Khan and Empress Chabi who grew up to be Khan's Vice Regent. Ahmad's back story began when he visited a brothel. He slept with a whore who was his mother and didn't know it. She sang a lullaby created for him and he realized what he had done. He strangled her to death with a red scarf. When he laid down with Mei Lin who is a known concubine. He taught her his mom's lullaby and she sang it while tying him up with a red scarf. Ahmad's bitterness grew from his mom who was forced into prostitution because Kublai invaded her village and killed everyone. Ahmad planned to take over Khan's throne through strategic manipulation. He was later killed by Mei Lin.
Nayan was Kublai Khan's uncle who converted to Christianity after being visited by the mythical Prestor John. Nayan gave up his sexual urges for young girls to spread the word of Christ to his Mongol people. Ahmad sold Mei Lin's daughter to Nayan so that in return he would join forces with Kaidu who wanted to be the next Khan. Nayan was ready to vote for Kaidu in the next election, but Kublai found out about Ahmad's schemes. War broke out and Nayan chose to die like Jesus "nailed to a cross."
Kokachin was really a peasant girl who served the last remaining tribal "Blue Princess." Khan's Mongol warriors invaded the village of that princess and she asked the peasant girl to pose as Kokachin. Empress Chabi hand picked Kokachin as the fourth wife of Prince Jingim. She couldn't get pregnant and Chabi arranged for a stable boy to rape Kokachin while Jingim was away. She was already emotionally fragile when she began to see and hear the dead "Blue Princess." Marco Polo fell in love with Kokachin who only called him a friend. She told him that her twin babies were not Prince Jingim's. Ahmad found out about this secret and held it over Kublai's head during the election. He gave that secret to Kaidu who asked Kublai to relinquish the throne to him or be humiliated by the Mongol people. Empress Chabi's secret was out and Kokachin committed suicide after becoming unhinged from reality. Kublai stood behind Chabi and decided to fight Kaidu to the death.
Kublai Khan remained steadfast in protecting his throne. He was chastised by his Mongol people for smothering the boy emperor to death. That choice of murder cost him a lot, but he didn't want the boy to grow up and kill him. Empress Chabi also tried to protect the next generation of Khan's. Prince Jingim had four wives and who knows how many concubines. He still did not give Kublai a male heir to the throne. Kublai realized that Chabi's mistake with the stable boy was to support their family down the road. Ahmad would use the Khan's secrets against him. Kublai's enemies were those closest to him. Even though Marco Polo was considered an outsider. He still served the Kublai by killing Kaidu who was strangling him. Marco respected Khan more than his own father who became obsessed with Christianity.
Let's hope for Season 3.
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