Did any of you watch The Young Pope all the way through?

I watched part of one episode and thought it sucked.

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Which makes me wonder about the ending. 10 eps in, and you potentially end it with that?

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Yeah, I'm not sure how you transition from that ending into a whole new season, and also make it good.

And I'll admit at times, I wondered...is anything going to actually, um, happen?

But I just kept watching and overall I enjoyed. It's not your normal show compared to a lot of stuff out there, and Jude Law was incredible.

is it any better than the borgias?

I watched it all. Loved it. The finale was somewhat anti climactic. But cinematography music and acting was superb.

It had so much potential,but was anticlimactic, as others have said. I still enjoyed watching it though. Jude Law was excellent - that was the main reason I kept watching. I just wish he had more material to work with.

The Vatican insider, Cardinal Voiello, was priceless. I loved the scene from episode 1 where we first encounter Voiello standing outside a confessional booth, tapping away on a smartphone. The simple priest in the confessional implores Voiello to take the sacrament seriously.

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“Don’t waste my time,” Voiello says, not looking up from his phone. “My sins have to do with high finance and diplomacy. Even if I were to confess them, you wouldn’t understand them.”

“Confess some I understand,” the idiot priest says.

“Fine. I’ve had impure thoughts.”

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I thought the entire series was fantastic.

Overall, I really liked the show. Here's my breakdown:

The Good:

The show is beautifully shot and creatively edited.

Voiello had some amazing lines. Really good writing in the exchanges between him and Lenny.

I enjoyed watching the Vatican "from the inside," even though I'm sure it's an exaggerated version of it. It was an original setting for a drama.

As a Catholic, I enjoyed the legitimacy it gave arguments from the conservative side of Catholicism. Though Lenny's character journey shows him moderating his position somewhat, the show makes compelling arguments about what should be expected from Catholics, and how (and why) we have abandoned some of our old ways. Maybe they weren't so bad after all?

Gutierrez was well played. I enjoyed his character.

I also enjoyed Sister Mary's commitment to Lenny and the Church. They wrapped her up right at the end of Season One.

The bungling attempts by Voiello and others to entrap the Pope were foolish and obvious... but that's the point. Amateurs trying to play in the big leagues of treachery. It was amusing.

The way Lenny played the media was interesting (and it was effective).

I like that the show let you fill in the blanks on a lot of things. It focused more on the present and less on the recent past, like Lenny's relationship with his mentor, or how Lenny was elected Pope.


The Bad:

I get that Lenny's abandonment by his parents is a central driver of his personality, but I think they spent too much time on this. It felt like beating a dead horse.

I would have liked to have seen more of the world's reaction to the new Pope and his ways and policies. We got a little of it... I would have liked to have seen more.


On the whole, this was an original series, and I liked it because it was different in a lot of ways. I've seen a LOT of TV over the years. I really appreciate efforts to present something original.

I thoroughly enjoyed the series.

Amazing sets/shots
Amazing score/soundtrack
Amazing acting (not by Diane Keaton though, my god she is horrendous)

A running debate in our house was whether Lenny is actually the second coming of Christ or if he is actually the anti-Christ. I'm not sure they answered this.

Or more likely neither

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A running debate in our house was whether Lenny is actually the second coming of Christ or if he is actually the anti-Christ. I'm not sure they answered this.

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My take on it is that he's an actual saint, and that the Vatican is trying to wrap its head around having to deal with a for-real saint as pope, which is something they haven't had to do very often.

What I mean by that is that he's not a hoax, and he's not someone whose holiness is exaggerated, and he's not someone who has to be recognized long after the fact as a saint.

The storyline feature's two saint-like characters lingering around the Pope. One is a questionable character. The other is a woman for whom others are trying to make a case for sainthood long after her death. I think this is a writer's play to contrast with Lenny's obvious and readily apparent sainthood.