The Young Pope was a critical sensation, polarizing audiences who expected The West Wing in cassocks. Instead, they got a nine-hour art film about the impossibility of pure faith. It spawned a sequel, The New Pope (2020), which expanded the universe but never matched the first season’s tight, personal focus.
In an era of prestige TV defined by antiheroes, Lenny Belardo stands apart. He is no Walter White or Don Draper. He’s a man who holds absolute power and uses it not for sex or money (he is celibate, ascetic) but to force the world to confront a God it has domesticated.
Whether you call The Young Pope a masterpiece or a pretentious mess depends on your tolerance for ambiguity. But no one who watches it will forget the sight of Jude Law in white robes, cigarette dangling, staring at a sleeping God—and refusing to blink.
Verdict: A stunning, frustrating, beautiful meditation on faith as a wound, not a bandage.
The Young Pope (2016) is a visually stunning, surrealist dive into the heart of the Vatican, following the rise of Lenny Belardo (Jude Law), the first American Pope. Taking the name The Young Pope Season 1
, Lenny is a chain-smoking, Cherry Coke Zero-drinking 47-year-old who defies every expectation of a modern pontiff. The Hook: Not Your Average Pope
Initially believed to be a media-friendly "compromise candidate" that the seasoned Vatican cardinals could control, Lenny quickly proves to be a cunning and uncompromising traditionalist.
The Inversion: Unlike the "progressive" vibe his youth might suggest, Lenny seeks to bring the Church back to an era of mystery and strict dogma.
The Mystery: He refuses to show his face to the public, believing that absence creates desire and restores the Church's lost power. The Young Pope was a critical sensation, polarizing
The Conflict: Much of the season focuses on the power struggle between Lenny and Cardinal Voiello (Silvio Orlando), the Vatican’s master of political intrigue who is constantly trying to find "leverage" over the new Pope. Why It’s Worth Watching
Reviewers from sites like Pop Cult and IndieWire highlight several stand-out elements: The Young Pope (TV Mini Series 2016) - IMDb
In the opening scene of The Young Pope, a pelican—the medieval symbol of Christ’s sacrifice—waddles through an empty, sun-drenched St. Peter’s Square. It’s surreal, beautiful, and deeply unsettling. Then we meet Lenny Belardo, the newly elected Pope Pius XIII. He is young, American, impossibly handsome, and chain-smoking his way through the Vatican’s gilded corridors. Played with icy precision by Jude Law, Lenny is not your typical pontiff. He is a radical conservative, a manipulative genius, an orphan haunted by abandonment, and, quite possibly, a saint or a sociopath—or both.
Created by Paolo Sorrentino (The Great Beauty), the ten-episode first season (2016) is less a conventional drama about the Catholic Church and more a hallucinatory, operatic meditation on power, faith, belief, and loneliness. It’s a show that dares to ask: What if the Pope was a rock star with the soul of a medieval inquisitor? In the opening scene of The Young Pope
In an era of streaming content designed to be consumed as background noise, The Young Pope Season 1 demands attention. It is slow, liturgical, and deliberate. It rewards patience with profound emotional payoffs.
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Following the success of The Young Pope Season 1, HBO released a follow-up titled The New Pope (2020), which continues Lenny’s story. However, the first season remains a complete work. It does not end on a cliffhanger; it ends on a mystery. You can watch these 10 episodes and feel entirely satisfied by the arc of Lenny Belardo—from monster to martyr, from orphan to father.