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The Young Pope
On January 15 in the year of our Lord two thousand and seventeen, HBO did an extraordinary thing. The cable network that introduced us to worlds filled with morally conflicted gangs and rebellious robots while defining what it means to be prestige TV premiered a show about a younger-than-average pope. It was a silly premise starring Jude Law that was immediately and justifiably mocked by the internet at large. However, as this year comes to an end, The Young Pope stands as the only show that was able to capture the absolute madness and rejection of established traditions that have defined this hellfire of a year. It is our pop culture god now.
Created for HBO, Sky Atlantic, and Canal+, The Young Pope was never expected to be a huge hit for HBO. Back in February, the network revealed that an estimated 4.7 million people had watched the series across all of its platforms — a number that was called an unexpected victory. Paolo Sorrentino‘s Vatican drama initially seemed poised to join the ranks of other great but middle-of-the-line 2017 shows, series like Better Call Saul or Bloodline that inspired a few critical conversations but were painfully forgotten as the year went on. However, as the year comes to an end and The Young Pope has graced several best of lists, it’s clear that hasn’t been the case. The Young Pope cannot and will not be forgotten.
If you watch even one episode of Paolo Sorrentino’s religious masterpiece, it’s hard not to see why. Diane Keaton‘s involvement or casting the pope as a 44-year-old American who knows he looks great in papal robes is hardly the least shocking element of this series. The Young Pope opens on a dream sequence that shows Pope Pious XIII, aka Pope Lenny (Law), crawling out from under a mountain of babies. The series only gets odder from there.
During the course of the show’s 10 glorious episodes, Pope Lenny smokes, expresses his love for Cherry Coke Zero, denounces God, bonds with a wild kangaroo he then releases into his maze, refuses to have his image shown, and transforms Catholicism into his own dictatorship. All of it is insane, but that’s the point. The Young Pope is one long argument about whether or not the traditions we hold dear are enough to keep our world in check set against the most tradition-focused setting imaginable — the Vatican. As The Young Pope proves episode after episode, time-honored traditions can easily be broken when a narcissistic madman is put in power.
It’s shockingly easy to make comparisons between Pope Lenny (as I will always call him) and Donald Trump. In some ways, both were elected by a group of people that didn’t fully know or trust them but preferred this uncertainty to established leaders. Both cast aside time-honored traditions with seemingly little thought about why those traditions exist. Both are incredibly divisive and have inspired acts of rebellion. But that’s not the only reason why a papal drama that includes the song “Sexy and I Know It” should be named as one of the shows of the year.
If The Handmaid’s Tale became a defining pop culture touchstone for capturing the repressed anger and fear of our current political climate, then The Young Pope earned this distinction through its never-ending parade anxiety and uncertainty inspired by the show’s warped insanity. CW soap operas like Riverdale may have seemed crazy for their endless twists, and visually stunning prestige dramas like Legion may have inspired shock, but no show was as mind-bendingly mad as The Young Pope. From soccer-playing nuns to graphic sex scenes and pope nudity, it was truly impossible to know what horrors or gifts lay buried in this show from minute to minute. Other shows have rules. The Young Pope was bound to the impulsive whims of its lead — a terrifying reality.
There’s a whiplash quality to the series that captures what it was like to live in 2017 better than any other show on television. Both The Young Pope and 2017 shoveled so much constant insanity down our throats it was impossible to do anything other than numbly accept what was happening and move on. Therein lies the real horror beneath both this show and this year. There are so many terrible and confusing things happening at once, but for the most part, the average person can’t do a single thing to stop them.
To this day, I cannot comfortably recommend The Young Pope to anyone just as I can’t call 2017 a good year though it personally was. For me, both experiences transcend words and can only really be summed up through shocked gasps, emotional conversations, and energized pointing. I still do not know if The Young Pope is a good or bad show or if my deep love for it is ironic or genuine. The answer is shifts from day to day. However, I know one thing. By constantly referencing and dwelling on its madness, The Young Pope made me feel seen.
