If you’re having those post-holiday blues, are hungover or simply just want to lie in bed all day, perhaps you should login to your Nextflix account. The movie streaming giant has just released a special 30 minute featurette that delves into the past of one the most badass supporting characters from their original series Marco Polo: (Bayan) Hundred Eyes.
For those unfamiliar with the series, which premiered over a year ago, Marco Polo is loosely based on the storied Italian explorer of the same name. The show mostly revolves around his run in with the very powerful and dominant Kublai Khan of the Mongolian empire; founder of China’s Yuan Dynasty and grandson of the mighty conqueror Genghis Khan.
Despite the show being panned by many, it’s definitely received quite a cult following. I think most of the criticism comes from the show’s difficulty separating fact and fiction, not to mention comparisons with Game of Thrones.
The trailer above for Marco Polo: Hundred Eyes digs into the origin of the Mongolian warrior/general known as Bayan of the Baarin. Netflix put a slight twist on the character, still bearing the title One Hundred Eyes, although in the series he is a blind Taoist monk who hails from the legendary Wudang Mountains (yes, as in Wu-Tang).
If you one day make it back to the West, what will you tell men of this strange word, ‘kung fu’? Will you tell them that it means to fight? Or will you say like a monk from Shaolin to summon the spirit of the crane and the tiger? Kung Fu. It means, ‘supreme skill from hard work.’ A great poet has reached kung fu. The painter, the calligrapher they can be said to have kung fu. Even the cook, the one who sweeps steps or a masterful servant can have kung fu. Practice. Preparation. Endless repetition. Until your mind is weary, and your bones ache. Until you’re too tired to sweat, too wasted to breathe. That is the way, the only way one acquires kung fu.
Watch the trailer for the special above, then queue it up on Netflix. Stay tuned for season 2 of Marco Polo (hopefully) coming sooner than later.
SPOILERS BELOW:
To get a taste of just how badass Tom Wu’s portrayal of the supreme blind monk is, watch the following fight scene below.
