A Couple of Popes: Pius XIII is Everyone & John Paul III is the Viewer

Talking about both The Young Pope and The New Pope. So, obviously, spoilers for both of them.

A show about Catholicism, I thought, would have been the last thing I would ever watch when deciding on a television show. So I was surprised when a few years ago an advertisement piqued my interest for the ‘satirical’ drama: The Young Pope. Starring Jude Law and a number of actors who make you say ‘I know them!’, The Young Pope gives a look at a titular young Pope being elected and what entails from his vision for the church. Interwoven is the theme of Jude Law’s Pope Pius XIII’s longing for the parents he never had and a number of others that question aspects of the church. I said this was a ‘satirical’ show, but really I don’t know why the show is described in that manner. Yes, there is comedy; yes, there are criticisms towards the Catholic Church; yes, there are surreal moments that catch you off-guard. But there are also jokes at atheistic characters’ expense. There are also praises for what the church can do. And there are peaceful, grace-filled moments that I will likely never forget. For all the jokes and claims of a satirical nature, the adult content that most older catholics might denigrate, and a creator who describes himself as a non-believer, I believe the show is a cosy, vibe-filled look at human nature from the perspective of a largely catholic set of characters. Perhaps many would disagree with me, but I feel if I was a catholic, I would be proud of this show. And either way, it’s now one of my favourites.

So then, what do I mean by ‘Pius XIII is everyone’ as I state in the title? A lot of the characters contained within the show have their arcs and follow their paths as they deal with the problems in front of them — as most television characters do. But partly due to Pius’ themes, our lead young Pope takes much fewer actions throughout the series and we see his backstory, the only flashback scenes being from his perspective (even those of his friend and colleague: Cardinal Dussolier). These flashbacks serve as more of a character to get us to the current day Pius as he deals with the push and pull of wanting to know his birth parents and his duties as Pope. Pius starts off as a very hardline conservative, even by Catholic standards. But as the show progresses, Pius deals with his past and pushes forward towards a more progressive ‘middle way’ as he learns where to direct his wrath but also where to direct his love that he has kept to himself. I had watched the show a few years ago, around the release of The New Pope aka season two, but re-watching it in preparation to finally get round to that aforementioned second season, I realised the whole show is a representation for anyone who watches. Pius XIII is us, trying to live our lives and dealing with our past trauma as those around us support, or hinder, that progress. The fact that we, as a species, are represented with the pontiff may just be the only satirical part of the show. Whether you watch this show or not: here you are, in all of Jude Law’s glory. Which brings me to the point that this might be the only television show where every single cast member who has any dialogue completely understands what the show is going for. Not a single performer sticks out and all have their moments that either make you fall in love with them or hate their guts. The music is also one of the best things about both these two seasons. A great mix of commercial and original tracks give a fully relaxed and ethereal vibe to most important scenes. It’s true that occasionally you get a few joke songs being thrown in there (like Sexy and I Know It by LMFAO being played as Pius XIII dresses to address his cardinals) but the mix of classical, electronic, and ambient pop gives the whole show a distinct sound whilst having any track to perfectly fit the scene. The Young Pope gives us this whole view of Pius’ life and his journey to accept his past but then we got The New Pope.

A second season of any show is difficult to make without the first being wildly successful. It’s also hard when the show was intended to be a miniseries but later was turned into a longer series. Was The New Pope necessary? To be honest, I’m not sure. But in the great tradition of sequels that examined and analysed the previous iteration (think Gremlins 2), The New Pope takes a fairly different approach whilst still giving off the same wonderful vibes of The Young Pope. But we find Pius XIII in a very different place. At the end of Young Pope, Pius collapses after embracing the change he needed to and dealing with his past trauma. So at the beginning of The New Pope, Pius XIII is in a coma and remains that way for two thirds of the series. We’ll get around to talking about his replacement(s) later but although Pius is comatose in six episodes, his presence is still apparent. We get numerous moments of characters being guided by Pius as they try to continue their lives without him. He is still a commanding presence in every episode until he finally wakes in episode seven. The last three episodes are heavily linked to John Paul III’s story but shows Pius completing John Paul III’s arc whilst leaving a final legacy after both failing and successful at what everyone expects of him. If the first season hinted at him being a saint, this second season confirms it. Miracles Pius performs are not up for interpretation like they were in The Young Pope. He either fails but shows the beauty in the failure, or succeeds with no real rational explanation. With his mission complete and the love of everyone with the eradication of anything too ideological, the Pope passes away. He leaves the earth knowing that he dealt with his own trauma and then came back to deal with the world’s.

At the beginning of The New Pope, Pius XIII is briefly replaced with Francis II but the plan to place a manipulatable Pope for the cardinals to control completely fails. John Paul III, played by John Malkovich, is the compromise choice as emphasised by the character’s ‘middle way’. The way this character is introduced and progresses creates an impression to me that John Paul III is representative of the viewer. But more specifically, the viewers who had watched and fallen in love with The Young Pope. The character of John Paul III feels like a complete deconstruction of the small but rabid positive fan reaction around the first season. Our titular new pope starts off as an absent cardinal, depressed with life and always thinking of the past like the viewers think back on The Young Pope. He then is slowly convinced by the cast to accept the role of the pontiff similar to how the show wanted to convince the fans to give this new season a chance. The new pope is elected but it is immediately apparent that his baggage will stop him from achieving anything in power. The character becomes stagnant and is only shaken by the re-emergence of Pius XIII. This may sound a little egotistical of the show but ultimately Pius doesn’t succeed in getting John Paul out of being blackmailed. It is the other characters in the show. It is John Paul standing up to some of Pius’ failures after waking up that truly allows John Paul III to fully accomplish what he needed to do as pope. The entire season ends up being an analogy for the viewer to move on from The Young Pope, to move on from baggage that has been built up and simply look forward to being exactly where they were at the beginning of the season, but just in a much healthier state.

So that’s a quick look at the two seasons of pope shows. Both have firmly become some of my favourite shows and it’ll be interesting to revisit this in a few years. Aspects of human nature and religion have made this a great experience. But I don’t think I’ll be converting to Catholicism anytime soon. After all, I’m just a tourist.

I’m just passing through.