The New Pope

Despite the three-and-a-half-year gap between The Young Pope and The New Pope, the nine-part sequel series feels remarkably contiguous with its predecessor. ... Occasionally, The New Pope flirts with transcendence.

As fun as it is to watch Malkovich inhabit him, he’s not as compelling as Pius, whose presence hovers over the season despite his being unconscious for a lot of it. ... The New Pope would be much more enjoyable if it were streamlined into the five or six episodes necessary to effectively tell the story that needs to be told. Instead, we get nine, at least three of which just tread water.

Malkovich carries the bulk of the show’s episodes and absolutely devours the role. ... But The New Pope often meanders in its excess too long without staying put. It’s less a story than a sermon with too many subjects, taking on greed, and sex, and faith, and corruption but only in general, arms-length terms.

The New Pope retains the formalist beauty and sumptuousness of its predecessor while failing to measure up storytelling-wise.

Malkovich’s John Brannox, later Pope John Paul III, is harder to read; his politics are less about power and dominance than a silkier sort of finesse. A viewer’s tolerance will vary, but it is striking to have a show that seems almost to demand a massive central performance suddenly defined by understatement, by refusal. What’s more, the statement the show makes about the Vatican seems more muddled than ever.