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The CategoriesYoung Popeis not for everyone, though maybe that's exactly how he likes it.

Paolo Sorrentino's series stars Jude Law as Pope Pius XIII (born Lenny Belardo), a newly elected, intimidating pope.

The mere concept of the show — about about a pope who has been alive for fewer years than other popes — inspired tons of memes on Twitter.

SEE ALSO: Yes, Jude Law knows about your 'Young Pope' memes

But critics were not as amused as the meme creators.

Here's what some critics had to say about the show, which debuts on HBO on Jan. 15.

The New York Times

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"Beautiful and ridiculous."

That's how critic James Poniewozik's headline describes the show as a whole.

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"The creator and director Paolo Sorrentino shoots the scene stunningly," Poniewozik explains. "Pius is backlit, and appears only as a furious shadow on a balcony. Mr. Sorrentino, a visual maximalist who explored Italian politics in the film 'Il Divo,'seems to have set up a drama of church maneuverings and of finding God through isolation."

SEE ALSO: We made the Young Pope an online dating profile just in case

However, the show has a lot of low moments too.

"When The Young Popeis bad, it’s epically so — laughable, with histrionics and mustache-twirling and bombastic set pieces," he wrote. "It’s weakest the closer it sticks to its narrative of church intrigue."

The Guardian

Rebecca Nicholson was a fan of the show, calling it "stunning, thoughtful and visually arresting."

"It could have been overwhelmed by its splashy premise: Jude Law is Lenny Belardo, now Pius XIII, an ultra-conservative, manipulative new American pontiff," Nicholson wrote. "He has serious doubts about whether he believes in God, drinks Cherry Coke Zero for breakfast and smokes more than the cast of Mad Men combined. But The Young Pope was stunning, thoughtful and dreamlike, and even though key players have been strategically shifted to dioceses around the globe, its well-earned second series can’t come soon enough."

USA Today

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"Like the Vatican itself, Popeis beautiful, lush and carefully, formally composed," Robert Blanco writes. "It’s also oddly airless and cold, more a series of striking pictures than a living and breathing slice of life, one that leaves you with no way in and little reason to care. Style doesn't just trump substance here; it's the only substance The Young Popehas. And that seems wrong."

Vulture

Matt Zoller calls the show "compelling but strange."

"What, exactly, are we looking at?" Zoller writes. "This is not a series where you can immediately tell why the storyteller felt that he had to tell this particular story. The Young Popeis less urgent and focused than contemplative and playful. The first three episodes amount to seductively photographed throat clearing. The sense of humor ranges from self-deprecating (“I’m not profound, I’m presumptuous,” says Pius) to goofy (one episode begins with a man doting on a sheep that he believes is the reincarnation of the Virgin Mary). And it rarely finds cinematic ways to convey the spiritual longing and/or torment expressed by its various characters, preferring instead to address these matters and others in ruminative dialogue. The tone and pace are all over the map."

Variety

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Maureen Ryan said the show is certainly timely, given Brexit and the 2016 Election, during which Donald Trump became America's president-elect.

"Radical unpredictability is terrifying when it’s the hallmark of a real world leader who possesses nuclear launch codes, but it’s mesmerizing in the hands of Sorrentino, Law, and the rest of this show’s stellar cast," she writes. "If nothing else, The Young Popeis a refreshing reminder that playfulness and profundity need not be mutually exclusive; this spectacular-looking drama has an affinity for surreal yet effective juxtapositions, and the directors’ approach to composition is both poetic and painterly. Its narrative is not especially concerned with linearity and structural tidiness, but no matter. The spontaneity rumbling through The Young Popeilluminates the unruly possibilities of human and spiritual connection, and its sly, deadpan wit is often a delight. (One memorable scene of Pius donning his most spectacular papal robes features LMFAO’s 'Sexy and I Know It' on the soundtrack.)"

SEE ALSO: 7 Young Pope episodes we thought of if HBO is interested

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Topics HBO Reviews