Marco Polo

My 83-year-old Amsterdam grandmother is the queen of wall tile texts. For example, she recently spoke the magic words in a discussion about privacy legislation; "Listen, whoever has nothing to hide probably didn't have Jews in the attic during the war either." I think my grandma is cool. A one-liner that she uses more often is “You can't eat from a nice plate.” and that was exactly what came to my mind when watching Marco Polo. The new series from Netflix is a feast for the eyes. Visibly a lot of attention has been paid to the setting, the costumes and the rest of the production, but the content has not turned out quite what I had hoped for. After Marco and his dad have walked through the Gobi desert on their dead field, they stumble into the Mongol Empire in search of beautiful things to sell for big money to the 13th century Italian Quote 500. Kublai Khan – say the Mongolian Godfather of that moment – is not immediately warmed by the visit of the Polo family, but eventually lets the father have his way in exchange for the services of his son Marco. Connected to the Khan's court, Marco Polo has front row tickets to his struggle for dominance in Asia and is allowed to peek a little at naked female beauty every now and then, because there is quite a bit of that. Marco Polo is a bit like eating in a Chinese restaurant. Everything has been done by the owners to give you the feeling that you are on holiday in China for an hour or two, but when you look outside you just see the gloom of the industrial area of Zwijndrecht-Noord. Almost everything about the series is beautiful, but at no point did I feel like I could fully immerse myself in it. Perhaps it was the acting of Marco Polo – played by Lorenzo Richelmy – which can hardly be called memorable to say the least or perhaps the lack of a really catchy storyline. Who will say. Many 'connoisseurs' have inscribed this costume drama with unmistakable terms. I think that goes a bit too far. Marco Polo is entertaining for a rainy day – and there are plenty more to come – but in my opinion lacks the outspoken characters and fascinating storyline that were in Netflix series such as Lilyhammer, House Of Cards and Orange Is The New Black.

I was just fiddling with the trailer and drooling the whole thing. Have a first Christmas with the in-laws, I'm sitting behind the Apple TV with a bag of Nibbits within reach and Marco's wild mane on my screen.