John and Regan have some reservations about Episode Three of The New Pope. Not included in those questions?: millipedes are godly – on that there is no doubt. This may be a plot-mover more than a great episode of TV, but such venal sins have never stopped NQGB before.

There is exploration of more than just millipedes in this episode, however. Your humble hosts tackle the new Pope’s three speeches, how parent-driven self-abnegation paired with a sense of grandiosity brings John Brannox and Lenny Belardo together, and, yes, the skeezy men and problematic depictions of disability circling around Esther in this episode. The segments find us querying nun politics before we lust after plum overcoats, celebrate patron saint trivia, and assign NQGB impresario Danielle Hanley’s 2022 article on choral politics to characters on the show.

Grab your silver pope hammer and turn on this ep.

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Music by Lesfm from Pixabay

Regan and John lay about the English manor of their collective mind as they journey with Team Vatican Dream Blunt Rotation to Sir John Brannox’s estate. Mysteries, Lenny apparitions, purple suits, white rooms, mysterious boxes, and depression abound. Can the dream team convince Sir John to become Pope? What do the different characters project onto Lenny? Have we broken new ground in the cravat + guyliner space? What is the Middle Way? Can your trusty hosts shoehorn in a Saltburn reference?

Of course, it wouldn’t be a Popecast without a Hot Confessor Summer check-in, replete this week with Sofia’s kinky marriage and the increasingly sexed-up opening credits at Club Cloister. This and more if you join us in the NQGB conspiracy lair of this episode.

PopeCast aka Hot Confessor Summer is BACK on Not Quite Great Books! Regan and John are reunited to begin their pilgrimage through The New Pope, the follow-up mini-series to their blessed The Young Pope.

Lenny may be the structuring absence of this episode and this season of TV, but there is plenty to ponder. After your hosts reflect on their interactions with Catholicism since last summer, they explore the relation of corruption and piety, what the cardinals seek from god and the pope, Silvio Orlando’s Lindsay Lohan turn, the wealth of the Church, and our queen Strega Nona (among other items).

Your favorite segments are back, some staying the same (Pope-pourri, Regan Rectory, Aquinas SZN in The Cave), while others adapt to the times (stay tuned for the replacement for Hot Priest Rating). Also back? This bizarre and wondrous and horny and contemplative show, and your hosts are here to work through it all.