User Reviews

This is a deeper look into John Brannox the man and not as the pope. We get to see the man himself and how his journey to being a priest started.

What disturbing, fascinating charisma is this? Leopold Essence and his pet/parasite just made their way into my head and it doesn't seem they'll be leaving any time soon. The first scene of Ep. 6 haunted me throughout the episode. It seems to be packed full of meaning, some of which Sofia Dubois is able to decipher as it mystically points her to a heart-breaking personal path but just where is this headed beyond that? I absolutely love this scene but like Sofia, we may find that the path to "the truth", if we should decide to follow it, may take us through dark places and rob us of what we held most dear.

A big "hats off" to Paolo Sorrentino, David Lynch and F. W. Murnau.

Sofia Dubois (Cécile de France) & Leopold Essence (J. David Hinze).

I have not seen anything else that from the sheer quality, feel and powerful emotional effect was equally 'Lynchian' as David Lynch himself.

This is a high compliment directed at Paolo Sorrentino. Some would cry foul but this is an ancient tradition in the arts. Every new generation of artists learns their craft and seeks inspiration by following the masters that have come before. This has been true of painting, sculpture, musical composition, text authoring, architecture, dance and yes, the relatively new art-forms of moving pictures and sound.

Here you have a complex story with many moving parts, with multiple intensifying conflicts and then Leopold Essence appears "...whom no one knows" played brilliantly by J. David Hinze. We now we will have to see where this takes us and how these conflicts are further developed and resolved but there is no expectation that that will take place in purely rational, mathematical space. Both Sorrentino and Lynch inhabit a dimension of visual impression, sound, intuition and emotion. That makes them brothers. Whether they are equals, only you or I can truly answer for ourselves.

For me, it is an episode of spices. So many, so flavored, than the food has no importance. Leopold Essence is the main spice, like his pet. The dialogue between old lady and Esther Aubry , the cold gesture of the last are the second. Like the end of a too long career of one of basic pillars of serie. But, against this long and seductive chain of spices, the story itself seems missing. Sure, I love The Young Pope and, obvious , my expectations are too high . And , yes, John Malkovich gives a good point to his character. But this good point is just a sketch of John Paul III and, like at the end of each episode, the hope remains about the return of Pius XIII.