No TV show that begins with an image of a pope crawling out of a pile of infants could ever be accused of visual subtlety. From the ethereal dream sequence that begins the pilot to the absurdity of a pope dressing himself to LMFAO’s “Sexy And I Know It,” The Young Pope defines itself through the bold visuals and contradictory themes that are hallmarks of the work of Paolo Sorrentino, its showrunner. Known internationally for 2013’s Oscar-winning La grande bellezza, Sorrentino is a cinematographic artist, a framer of sharp, loud visual portraits who sees no reason to abandon his style for this foray into television; It’s lucky for the show that he doesn’t, as it’s in this signature gorgeous, irrepressibly weird beauty that The Young Pope really shines.
The Young Pope’s ensemble cast works exceedingly well together to generate on-screen tension and atmosphere. Jude Law, as the Cherry Coke Zero-fixated, American-born Pope Pius XIII, plays the ruthless strategist with alacrity, while Diane Keaton offers a solid, engaging performance as the moralizing Sister Mary, and Silvio Orlando is quite the believable schemer as Cardinal Voiello. However, the cast is sometimes let down by the writing; Law, for example, displays an extraordinary ability to deliver the most banal of lines with delicate nuance, but is saddled with such Hollywood cliches as “Only one pair of eyes… mine” and, ludicrously, “I am the young pope”. It is painfully obvious where the writers have attempted to insert manufactured Hollywood drama, and, just as in Hollywood blockbusters, it usually falls flat.
In fact, for a show supposedly about Vatican politics, The Young Pope is at its most engaging precisely when it avoids the theme of church intrigue. The writing of the political maneuvers and confrontations is utterly common, cribbed from a hundred TV dramas, and fails to attract more than a passing attention. Instead, it is in the moments of pure surreality when the show comes into its own: in the moonlight meeting of Pope Pius XIII and the kangaroo he released into the Vatican gardens as they stare at each other over the silence, or in the pope’s confession to his priest that he does not, truly, believe in God, immediately followed with with a straight-faced “I was joking.”. From the opening dream sequence depicting a frozen Vatican and a liberal, anti-Church homily given by the new pope, the show works best when it maintains a feeling of surreal detachment, creating a shadowy world wherein no motives are clear and nothing truly makes sense.
Ultimately, The Young Pope is a fantastic watch. When it’s bad, it’s still eminently watchable, and when it’s good–in those moments when Sorrentino’s ostentatious style harmonizes with the show’s mysterious themes and the cast’s stellar acting–it has no equal. I’d highly recommend it to anyone looking for both a visually engaging show and a compelling plot with tight writing.
The first season of The Young Pope can be found on HBO Go, where it is being gradually released.