Paolo Sorrentino’s “The Young Pope” is HBO’s newest and certainly most unique series to start off the 2017 television season.

It is an elaborate, strange and enchanting story that arguably takes an episode to get moving, but even after only a few of the puzzle’s pieces are revealed, it is quite obvious that viewers are in for a dark and unsettling journey.

“The Young Pope” focuses on the beginning of the pontificate of Lenny Belardo (Jude Law, “Spy”) who takes the name Pope Pius XIII.

Lenny was the former archbishop of New York and is the first American pope in the history of the church. He is also the youngest in a very long time and a radically different man who believes the church has not been listening to the true word of God and immediately starts spinning the Vatican on its head by refusing the traditions of most modern popes. He wishes not to be seen by the public, will not have to deal with anyone from the media, will not be travelling outside of the city during his tenure and he only drinks Cherry Coke Zero for breakfast.

In simpler terms, he is a very odd guy.

Law is fantastic as Pope Pius XIII. He portrays the character as an almost menacing, overlord type of man whose intentions are as mysterious as how he won the election to many others in the church. Law delivers these enchanting monologues that could be described as Shakespearean. He goes into topics such as the state of the church, what God really wants from His believers, how he views himself and the world today.

The way Sorrentino writes these lines are some of the most impressive uses of language conveyed on television today. For a show with no traditional action that reup heavily on dialogue and conversation, it needs a man who can use words to mesmerize like Sorrentino masterfully does.

Diane Keaton (“Finding Dory”), Silvio Orlando (“Il Caimano”) and James Cromwell (“Big Hero 6”) emerge as some of the biggest players in the supporting cast as Sister Mary, Cardinal Angelo Voiello and Cardinal Michael Spencer. They all respectively seem to have strange and diverse relationships with the new pope, while also have some rough and sensitive memories with him.

One of the most remarkable things about this show is that while none of it was actually filmed in the Vatican, the production value is sky high. Each room that is shown is vast and glorious with beautifully carved tall ceilings and carefully chosen pillars and floors that one would think took centuries to perfect but, in reality, they were all made at Cinecitta Studios.

Sorrentino wrote and directed every episode of this first season with cinematographer Luca Bigazzi. Their use of stylistic visuals in this environment is one of strongest aspects of this show, as well as with the musical choices. It is hard not to feel a little hypnotized while watching the sharp camerawork applied to this story.

The show was originally broadcast on Sky Atlantic in October of 2016 in Italy, the United Kingdom and Ireland, since the series is a production collaboration between Sky and HBO. A second season was announced after the critical success from just its European audiences.

“The Young Pope” gets some more time to steer the church in whichever way God, or maybe Pius himself, commands.