DREAMCATCHER

I've said several times that this show is quite bizarre at time - the kangaroo, etc. The whole Greenland interlude was another bizarre part. What was the point. Especially the song. Don't see what it added to the story. There are so many times, the camera zooms into Jude Law's face and he has to act just with that. The intensity he portrays is quite astonishing. I love it. He is a much better actor than I thought.

I'm watching it, I like everything - the acting, the dialogue, the visuals, and yet, I just don't see the point. I can't really get excited because I don't buy the premise. It all seems empty. No substance. Still after 4 episodes don't see why this was created. Jude Law is great. Flashback (memories?) of his parents. At heart, this is the insecurity of an adopted child.

"Think about all the things you like - That is God." What a beautiful thought. Into episode 7, and I just about start to feel something for this show. This young pope, for the first time evokes some... thing, not empathy exactly, just not indifference. This orphan, who has lived his whole life with a sense of rejection, who feels like a victim, even now, having achieved the highest possible stature in his profession. I want him to feel better. African visit. Musical thoughts - Loved the way Beyonce's Halo is interspersed with the Pope's speech.

And so ends the first season. I'm still not sure what to make of it. For sure, there are great parts. But as a whole, I don't buy it. I don't buy it because this Pope (should this be capitalized?) is not credible. For all the corruption and decadence that this series tries to portray in the Vatican, I choose to believe that this is vastly exaggerated. And because this Pope is not credible, by extension this series is not credible for me. Anyway, on to the good points. " What is God?" "God is a line that opens." I am a sucker for deep one-liners, and this is one if there ever was one. You could think on it till kingdom come. The monologue was very long, and towards the end got really annoying. Come to the point! And the punchline left a lot to be desired. " God smiles!" Ah, I don't know. After such a long set up to expect something worthwhile at the end, some big epiphany. This just wasn't satisfactory enough.

Extremely provocative and decidedly unnecessary. I'd just watched the first 5 minutes of Episode 1 and was already shocked and nauseated. I have nothing against provocative subjects if they serve a purpose. But outrageousness for the sake of it and offensiveness just for the sake of provocation is not good. I feel that while there was a undertone of disrespect in the Young Pope, this new season goes full-blown offensive and seems to not care that this is a delicate subject that needs to be treated with respect. You're playing with the faith of billions and whether you agree or not, you need to respect it. I don't think Paolo Sorrentino appreciates this.

The Afghan vice-president. He's got great presence. A heavy voice, full of gravitas. When he looks Carrie in the eye and says ""Go on, Convince me." You know he's not someone who will be trifled with. Carrie as ever great acting. Conveys so much without speaking, just with her face and eyes - surprise, astonishment, fear, uncertainty, anger... just wow!

"It's death to settle for things in life" - Pope Pius XIII A baby crawling on a pile of babies. Jude Law emerging from under this pile of babies. So begins the young pope. And just like that, you know this show will be provocative. We find out the young pope got elected through the machinations of the Cardinal Secretary of State, a politician among priests. The hope was that, being young & inexperienced, he would be malleable and easily influenced. Unfortunately for the Secretary of State, the Pope is turning out to be anything but malleable. The Pope! You imagine a pope to be noble, gentlemanly, a model human being. But not this one. He smokes, has blasphemous dreams, is short-tempered, disrespectful and vindictive. He was abandoned by his parents and raised by nuns, with sorrow, suffering and bad memories in his past. A person who claims he has no sins to confess. He confesses, even, to not believing in God. He forces the Vatican's confessor to reveal secr