As a complete for the series ' The Young Pope', that follows Lenny Belardo, a youthful brilliant and bold pope, who becomes the new Pope in America subsequent to winning the election of Pius XIII and faces numerous difficulties, as people criticize him for being youthful, however he figures out how to conquer them all, this new series' the New Pope' comes up with new election after Pius XIII has entered a coma.
It's a show with so much at its disposal and one that uses all that to do what it's done before, less well. It may have Law and Malkovich as an odd-couple sort of father and son. But this time around, it lacks spirit.
The pizazz with which everything is presented, visually stimulating with a wry sense of humor working underneath, makes The New Pope a welcome, if not wholly necessary, continuation.
The whole thing is so immaculate that it risks holding the viewer at arm's length. But then the director will gently lance us with a moment of emotional truth...
With Sorrentino and his collaborators being so sure-footed on imagery and music, his shortcomings in story and atmosphere seem diminished, less noticeable.
It's series like this that makes one realize the delineation between good guy and bad guy is often infinitely more complicated than we'd like to believe.
The New Pope isn't just about religion. It's about power, business and gangsters. It's the characters and their humanity, or lack thereof, that are most important.
Sorrentino interrogates core aspects of the human condition - death, grief, loneliness, suffering, sex - through a lens of religiosity. It's excellent.
The New Pope would be much more enjoyable if it were streamlined into the five or six episodes necessary to effectively tell the story that needs to be told. Instead, we get nine, at least three of which just tread water.
