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This week’s episode opens on a plot twist and it’s a doozy. Marco Polo’s (Lorenzo Richelmy) beloved Blue Princess, Kokachin (Zhu Zhu), is not the real Kokachin. The real Blue Princess committed suicide when she realized that the Khan had conquered her people. We discover that the woman whom we’ve been led to believe is Kokachin is in fact her cowardly servant masquerading as the royal. That bald dude she loves? Another servant who survived their tribe’s conquest.

Still, our Blue Princess is kind of haughty. She doesn’t want to hang out with “that wrestling whore” Khutulun (Claudia Kim) and she gets a little petulant when her servant calls her out on losing so many “trinkets.”

Marco says goodbye to his father and uncle. While his uncle is pissed be branded a thief, Daddy Polo is thankful to be alive and is already scheming about how he can buy his way back into Kublai Khan’s (Benedict Wong) good graces. It’s going to be tough since now they’ve lost the golden tablet that gives them access to food and lodging on the Silk Road. Of course, now that Daddy Polo is gone, Marco and Byamba (Uli Latukefu) can play detectives and Marco can flirt some more with Khutulun, who is in town to present herself to the Khan and hang out for the White Moon.

Marco confronts Kokachin about the snake and the trinkets and the bald guy. She reveals that he is a friend and that she planted the snake because she fears that her trinket trading game will be discovered. Marco convinces her to let him handle the trinket sales from now on.

Prince Jingim (Remy Hii) tries to shake Byamba down for details about their mission to find the Hashshashin, but Byamba is not budging. They promised the Khan to keep the intel they dredged up to themselves until they had more proof. And so, Byamba and Marco play detectives. They return to the dead tax collector’s family and find that his “love notes” to his wife may actually be a clue.

Kokachin and Khutulun are forced to hang out with Empress Chabi, and Kokachin makes things awkward by telling the Empress that the poor people might not like her as much as she thinks they do. She hints that someone might try to kill him during the White Moon festival.

Mei Lin’s friend sneaks into Karakorum to give her new orders. Looks like someone’s gotta be poisoned. Mei Lin also gets the bad news that Jia Sidao (Chin Han) has bound her daughter’s feet. She’s warned that if she can’t pull off an impossible assassination that he will do worse to her daughter.

Byamba and Marco question Ahmad (Mahesh Jadu) and Vice Regent Yusuf (Amr Waked) and both act a little shady, but can account for their actions. Ahmad pushes the tax collector’s actions onto Yusuf and Yusuf makes a point that he has no motive or ambition. Elsewhere, Ahmad continues to exert influence over Jingim. It’s still unclear if Ahmad’s motives are innocent or if he is the scheming schemer trying to kill Kublai Khan.

Hundred Eyes (Tom Wu) gives Marco an archery lesson that doubles as a philosophy class. He explains that even if you miss a target by an inch, you missed it. Close, but no cigar helps no one. Considering this, Marco meets Kublai Khan and reports that he has nothing to report. As soon as he leaves, Yusuf emerges from the shadows and tells the Khan that while he believes Marco, it’s possible that Marco’s shifty father is using Marco as a weapon against their court.

Kublai Khan and his wife visit their pleasure dome for an epic orgy on the night before the White Moon. Mei Lin uses this opportunity to paint her lips with poison, in the hopes that she will be able to kiss someone to death. At first, it looks like she’s going to kill Kublai, but then she motions to kiss Chabi. However, Chabi refuses and forces Mei Lin to kiss another consort. That girl dies and they figure out that she was poisoned. Oops.

Back in China, The Dowager Empress starts to show a little bit of strength in the face of Jia Sidao. She arranges for him to get kicked off the council and replaced with a warrior and philosopher. She tells him to “return to the rice patties.” Oooo…snap. But you get the sense that Jia Sidao will not be done away with that easily, and that his replacement should be worried.

It is the White Moon festival. Jingim is worried for his father’s life, but Kublai Khan is more worried about the line of succession. No matter how hard he tries, Prince Jingim can’t quite measure up. Marco confronts Kokachin’s boyfriend, and when he discovers they love each other, he decides to keep her trinket. Later, Marco finds the tax collector’s daughter during the White Moon ceremony and tells her that he’s sorry for her loss. She confirms that Ahmad was the one who sent her father to hire the assassins. He gives her Kokachin’s expensive trinket and tells her to never tell anyone about Ahmad.

Marco confronts Kokachin about her romance with the bald dude and they spat. However, it looks like Empress Chabi wants to wed Kokachin to Jingim. That’s all well and good, but what happens next is crazy.

A desperate Mei Lin sees a little girl in the crowd who reminds her of Ling Ling and then immediately makes an audacious run at the Khan and his family. She almost succeeds in making her target, but she is shot with an arrow by none other than Empress Chabi herself. It’s badass and I want the show to be just this. No more boys moping about how their daddies hate them. I want fierce femme fatales trying to murder each other. [Watch “White Moon“]

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[Photos & Gifs: Netflix]