The New Pope (1×02) Episode 2 Review

For our review of the last episode of The New Pope, click here.

Synopsis: As rumors swirl about the Church’s role in a sudden death, Voiello, Gutierrez, Assente, Aguirre and Sofia travel to the UK to the grand estate of Sir John Brannox, hoping to convince him to return with them to the Vatican and accept the holiest of roles. An alluring but sensitive man who carries with him an unshakable family tragedy, Brannox is harder to sway than expected, but a determined Voiello presses ahead. Meanwhile, Ester shares her son’s story with the press to makes ends meet. (HBO)

The midpoint of last week’s premiere of The New Pope picks up from its slow-moving start before eventually picking up at a nice pace. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for episode two.

With Pius XIII still in a coma and the newly-appointed pope dead from a sudden and unexpected heart attack, Cardinal Voiello and a contingent from the Vatican must go to the UK to find Sir John Brannox who they want to become the new pope. 

While the episode is a great introduction to the series’ new lead in Malkovich, it calls into the question why much of episode one was even necessary. Clearly Sorrentino wanted to have the beautifully-crafted in-conclave drama that dominated episode one but to have that up-ended with the series’ first new pope immediately dropping dead, it felt like episode one was just a display of filmmaking rather than a kick off to the series’ narrative. 

The entire episode centers around the introduction of Malkovich, an actor who is without a doubt an excellent talent with an incredible back catalog. But he has recently fallen into a lot of very typical Malkovich-esque roles. His introduction here as the second new Pope in The New Pope however shows that he’s positioned here to bring something very different to the series. Here, he’s a softly-spoken, gentrified British cardinal who speaks in something of riddles rather than the louder, brash performances we’re used to. 

Brannox was without a doubt the stand-out in this episode. As he becomes the central character in this series where he’ll presumably stand alongside Jude Law when he eventually turns up as a full-time character, the two look set to play off of each other really well. Malkovich’s new character adds a nice new angle to the series, bouncing off the cast in a considered and interesting way in comparison to the sharp snappy dialogue we’ve been used to with the rest of the show. 

In the end, episode two was a better episode than the first in some ways – namely the script, and movement of the plot – and a lesser being in others – the pacing and the cinematography – episode two feels like the series’ actual starting point.

The episode felt like it laid the groundwork for what’s to come, but then again, we thought that about the last episode. 

Find me on Twitter and Instagram as @Martin_Izzard and at TalkAboutMovies.co.uk.

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Guest Writer