The New Pope Review: Season 1 Episode 1
The New Pope Season 1 Episode 1 picks up where its forbearer, The Young Pope, left off, maintaining the same weird chaotic energy and artistic integrity that made it so unique.
It has been three years since The Young Pope aired so if you need to be brought up to speed, The New Pope has got you covered. Early in the episode, a very sinister-type fellow named Bauer (Mark Ivanir) has a meeting with Cardinal Voiello (Silvio Orlando) onboard a gondola and gives us, in ominous monotone, a nice, little recap. They even acknowledge that is what they are doing, cheekily calling it “expository clarity.”
And I thank them for that.
Bauer: You’ve got terrorists at your gates, you’ve got an overdose of sexual scandals that democratically touches the entire ecclesiastical hierarchy, and you’ve got a pope who is no longer loved but idolized. Three failed heart transplants later, he is still in a coma so you can’t exactly squash the idolatry, and you know all too well how dangerous idolatry is—idolatry is the prelude to war.
War becomes a theme as we go deeper into the duplicitous political dealings behind the papacy. Alliances, scheming, blackmail, and backstabbing all transpire over the course of a mere hour. A new pope is named, rules for a short time with his radical God and Poverty policies, and then dies.
Francis II’s (Marcello Romolo) brief reign is eventful. He goes from a meek puppet of Voiello’s to a despotic leader who fires and defrocks his puppet master as well as seizing control of the institution’s finances. It is unclear if he truly intends to distribute the wealth to the poor or keep it to himself along with the power.
It is also unclear if he dies of a heart attack or is poisoned. We see that he has high blood pressure and takes medicine for it, but there is a shot of Bauer intercut while Francis II is dying, and, again, he is all sinister and ominous as he sits and eats a dish of clams. And how this relates, if at all, to the off-hand remark that Sofia (Cécile de France) makes about clams, I have no earthly idea.
This ambiguity is a mainstay of The Young Pope and thusly, The New Pope. I was never quite sure of Pope Pius XIII’s (Jude Law) motivations or goals—sometimes they seemed honorable and other times his actions came off as downright devious. Uniformly, though, none of the men that hope to be pope or serve as pope are immune to the moral contamination that comes with supreme power.
They cleverly and comedically show this internal shift in Francis II when he gives his first address to the public. He starts out terrified—he literally says “I’m scared”—then, assuaged by Voiello’s coaching from the wings, he sticks to the speech, but a bird interrupts him and flies away with said speech. He is forced to improvise on his own and that’s when it hits him.
Voiello: Good God, no. He is beginning to realize it.
Woman: Beginning to realize what?
Bauer: That he has power.
And, boy, does Francis II take that realization and run with it. He turns the Vatican on its head and shakes up its long-held dogma, similarly to how Pius XIII did on The Young Pope. It is a wild, albeit short, ride with Francis II, complete with computer-hacking friars and an inundation of poor, migrant guests populating the halls of St. Peter’s.
With the baseline set on The Young Pope, The New Pope continues to weave an intricate plot with many characters, twists and turns, and unexpected surprises.
For instance, Voiello has a dopplegänger of sorts. Cardinal Hernandez is the spitting image of Voiello sans the prominent, identifying mole. (And thank God for that because they dress exactly the same aside from their different eyeglass frames.) Both roles are skillfully portrayed by Silvio Orlando.
The rival cardinals begin as enemies as they struggle for the lead in the running for the papacy. They then come together when they find a common enemy in Francis II.
Hernandez: He has heard the word of God and decided to follow literally.
Voiello: God was emotional.
Hernandez: But we are expected to be farsighted.
This leads us to the actual, titular New Pope, Sir John Brannox (John Malkovich). The episode is bookended with these big names, Jude Law and John Malkovich as the two leads of two connected limited series (not to be confused with The Two Popes on Netflix).
And the middle is strongly upheld by one man playing two roles: Silvio Orlando as Cardinals Voiello and Hernandez. Orlando’s performance on The Young Pope was solid and engaging, and he is just as strong on The New Pope, if not doubly so.
Plot and performance aside, The New Pope is visually stunning and artistically strange. Neon crosses, raving nuns, and techno music are in stark contrast to the old-world aesthetic of Rome and the archaism of the religion. It doesn’t blend together, per se, but the polarizing imagery, the modern versus the vintage, complements each other in this bizarre world that Paolo Sorrentino has created.
Almost every scene has interesting staging and/or dramatic angles. Sometimes there are theatrical lighting cues like when they come back to vote again—the lights come on as if a stage play is about to begin. And usually, there is an odd element thrown in.
Take, for example, the scene where the cardinals meet in a bamboo forest. You’ve got the cardinals in their black and red robes broken up by sturdy lines of green. Some of the men weave through the trunks or hold onto them, low-angled shots are scattered throughout, occasionally faces are obscured.
Voiello is meeting with them to make a case for himself as pope, they are his allies, but watching this scene you can’t help but think how precarious and ineffective his support system is. Then a bird craps on his shoulder.
I read two things into this. One, it’s a bad omen—things are not going to go his way. And two, it’s a harbinger to the moment where Francis II realizes his power after the bird comes and snatches the speech which Voiello had composed for him.
Oh my God, what if it is the same bird?
From moment to moment, there is something fascinating to look at, provocative dialogue, nuanced performances, and both subtle and not-so-subtle clues to the broad themes of the show as well as the labyrinthine narrative.
In my opinion, good art makes you think. And I consider The New Pope to be good art, visually and thoughtfully.
What did you think of this episode of The New Pope? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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The New Pope airs Mondays at 9/8c on HBO.
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Erin Allen
Erin is a former script supervisor for film and television. She's an avid fan of middle aged actresses, dark dramas, and irreverent comedies. She loves to read actual books and X-Files fan fiction. Her other passions include pointing out feminist issues, shipping Mulder and Scully, and collecting pop culture mugs.