The Young Pope

I don't know what to expect of The Young Pope, even after watching the first episode.

The show plays with surreal and oddly comic moments, images, and sound cues - an example of the latter is a moment when a low-pitched "boing" (maybe more of a "bong") serves effectively a drumroll to the shocking moment in Pope Pius XIII's first speech to his people (or what seems to be his first speech.)

The show could turn out to be one of a number of things. It could be a warts-and-all look behind the scenes of the Vatican, the seat of an organization that is supposed to be the epitome of respectability and decorum, not to mention a font of moral authority and benevolence, but is nevertheless a two-thousand-year-old bureaucracy that inevitably is going to be the domain of ambitious men who use all manner of subtle intrigue to attain power.

Or it could focus on its lead character, gradually unpacking his psychology and see what makes him tick and what informs his vision for the Church and his papacy.

Or it could be a surreal examination of the very idea of the supernatural - the inherent contradictions that faith instructs people to embrace, rather than reject.

I suspect it will be a mix of these themes, but that is a hell of a juggling act, and it remains to be seen how well the show pulls it off.

Pope Pius XIII, also known as Lenny, is a bit of a cipher. He was championed by Cardinal Voiello, who some of the other Cardinals jokingly nickname "The Holy Spirit" (based on the idea that the Holy Spirit is supposed to Illumine them during the conclave to ensure that they select the right pope)  while also describing him as the Devil Incarnate. Voiello is the puppet master of the Vatican, and it's clear when he meets with Pius XIII that Voiello intends to run the Church through him. To his surprise, however, Lenny ain't having any of that, and it becomes clear that the rivalry between these two men is going to be one of the key conflicts of the show.

Lenny has a tendency to remain mysterious - something he admits that he developed as a child, presumably as some kind of defense mechanism. In the dream he has addressing the people in St. Peter's Square, he gives a speech that is utterly shocking, but also embodies a kind of laundry list of things a more liberal or progressive Catholic would hope to hear from the pontiff. He describes this as something of a nightmare, but the really nightmarish aspect is at the end, when Voiello leans in to tell him that he's not pope, and that he's not even part of the church or connected to God. I know from watching previews that Pius XIII winds up being an extremely hardline conservative, but this raises the interesting question of whether this is actually something he believes is right or if it's some kind of ruse or strategy to get what he really wants accomplished.

Tellingly, at the end of the episode, he confesses to a priest - the man who hears confession from much of the top members of the church - that he does not believe in God. The priest is completely overwhelmed with shock at this notion until Lenny assures him that he was joking.

Was he though?

There's a whole lot more plot and character to unpack here - I haven't even touched on Diane Keaton and James Cromwell's characters (the latter has one rather shocking moment but not a lot in terms of real characterization in this first episode.)