Sign in to follow this  
agorman

The Young Pope

Recommended Posts

I'm halfway through the first season of this show and am way into it. This show is certainly not anything like what I expected it to be, and I don't even really have a show that I can compare it to. It feels really unique so far and I'm excited to watch the rest of the season.

 

The highlight of the series so far for me was 



At the end of episode 4 where the Prime Minister Greenland dances while facts about Greenland are shown underneath her.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I love it, in part because the show is so inscrutable. I really appreciate that the cool badass "bad guy" protagonist is ACTUALLY a bad person and not just ostensibly a "bad" person who secretly we wish we were, as in a lot of modern prestige dramas.

 

By this I mean, for instance, he holds views (like his views on gay priests) that are likely to be totally unsympathetic to the show's audience. Unlike with, say, most of the motivations of Walter White, we can't really vicariously thrill to his obsession to eradicate homosexuality. It's actually fucked up, not just fun-fucked-up. It feels like a more honest way to make viewers wrestle with morality and protagonist sympathy.

 

I should note I'm two episodes behind so I don't if this dynamic has changed. One of the other things I love about the show is how unpredictable it is episode to episode, in part because so much bonkers shit goes on.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I missed when it aired here in the UK, so I've just watched the whole season online instead. I agree with the inscrutable nature of the show, it was one of the things that kept me watching throughout. I look forward to discussing more once more episodes have aired in the States! Another thing that I enjoy about the series are the scenic shots of 'normal' life on the Vatican. The peaceful shots of nuns playing in the garden seems at such odds with the nature of the intrigue often going on.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
43 minutes ago, supasheep said:

I missed when it aired here in the UK, so I've just watched the whole season online instead. I agree with the inscrutable nature of the show, it was one of the things that kept me watching throughout. I look forward to discussing more once more episodes have aired in the States! Another thing that I enjoy about the series are the scenic shots of 'normal' life on the Vatican. The peaceful shots of nuns playing in the garden seems at such odds with the nature of the intrigue often going on.

 

I agree, I love those so much. As someone who was raised Catholic, I have a lot of memories associated with the Catholic church and I find all the non-pope-specific Vatican scenes to be really endearing.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I finished the show, its all on HBO GO JFYI.



I am seeing some stuff online about the show maybe getting a second season, I really hope that is not the case. The show really felt like a lot of great elements, great actors, wonderful sets and costumes, interesting premise etc that all added up to not very much. The show is very competent but nothing felt particularly original. At best the characters feel like tropes with maybe one interesting trait tacked on, I was really hoping for more. I knew he wouldn't get seduced because it was too early in the show for him to get busted doing something wrong,

 

Lenny never faces any consequences for his actions, he wants to ban gay priests, does, a gay man kills himself for not being allowed to become a priest. The media attacks the Catholic Church as a murderer and then nothing else happens. He threatens the Prime Minister of Italy who caves in, his persona and message drive people away from the Church causing revenue to go down resulting in nothing. Perhaps the show is supposed to be about the problems with having an absolute monarchy?

 

Episode 9 felt like a gigantic waste of time, in the opening shot we see an article about Kurtwell possibly having a secret son, by the end of the episode we know this is true. Also footage is finally captured of him breaking his vow of celibacy. I have no idea why an entire episode was devoted to this. Resolving the case by doing what the Church has been doing for a long time, sending the abuser to a new parish is also quite a bad ending IMO.

 

The god of this show is also horrifying. Only healing people when directly asked, only stopping bad people, by killing them, when asked and apparently only responding to one sad vindictive man.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
Sign in to follow this