"Marco Polo," the big-budget saga with occasional references to the real-life 13th-century Italian merchant who hung out with Kublai Khan, is action-packed, compelling and filled with intrigue and sex ... eventually.

And by "eventually," I mean only after you slog through four slowly paced hourlong episodes filmed in semi-darkness, with a script filled with declamatory dialogue that does little to either humanize the story or help untangle the deceptively labyrinthine script. Once you do penetrate the mare's nest of a plot, you realize you've probably seen enough of this kind of thing before to anticipate much of the action. The show becomes available for streaming on Netflix today.

Six of the 10 episodes of the first season were made available to critics and for much of the time, I almost found myself wishing, for a change, that the network had sent fewer. Usually, critics gripe because it's hard to judge a new series on the basis of one episode alone.

It's not a total failure, because the challenge of watching it is somewhat counterbalanced by some very good performances and convincing, if underlit, detail of the sets and costumes.

The series was created by John Fusco ("The Forbidden Kingdom") and directed with somnambulant pacing by Dan Minahan, Joachim Ronning and Espen Sandberg.

It begins, of course, with the arrival of Marco (Lorenzo Rechelmy), his father and uncle, in Mongolia, ruled by the great and powerful Kublai Khan (Benedict Wong). The elder Polos soon take off, leaving Marco to fend for himself as a guest of Khan, although, in truth, he is a prisoner.

There is upheaval both within the empire and beyond. Not only are the Chinese fighting to keep the Mongols at bay, but there is treachery among the Mongol tribes, including the one headed by Khan's younger brother, who has designs on Khan's expansive throne. In China, the aged emperor is on his death bed, with only an infant son as an heir, opening an opportunity for his scheming chancellor, Sidao (Chin Han), to claim power after the emperor's death. He blackmails his sister Mei Lin (Olivia Cheng) into becoming a concubine in Khan's harem in order to keep tabs on what the Mongols are up to. Basically, he's the Song Dynasty equivalent of Lord Baelish in "Game of Thrones."

Through all of this, you may find yourself asking, Where's Marco? Well, he's there and sometimes even present in the thick of things. But the character is not that interesting, which may have something to do with Rechelmy. He looks the part of a swarthy young hero but is rather passionless, even when Marco is forced to decide punishment for his father and uncle's transgressions against Khan and when Khan is attacked by would-be assassins.