Bad Faith

"I'd like to report a miracle."

Writer: Nev Fountain

Format: Audio

Released: February 2014

Series: Vienna 1.02

Featuring: Vienna

Synopsis

Vienna Salvatori has seen the light.

Time was, if you lost everything, at least you still had your faith – but not any more. Faith stealing is the latest commodity to light up the criminal underworld – extract somebody's faith and sell it to the highest bidder.

On the trail of a faith stealing ring, Vienna Salvatori comes into the orbit of the charismatic Bax Spendlove, spiritual leader of the Church of the New Wonderment, a breakaway sect of the Church of Old Wonderment. Bax has an important mission for his latest convert – and Vienna is a wiling disciple. 

But when Bax's followers start to be murdered, it seems Vienna isn't the only killer keeping the faith...

Verdict

Bad Faith was another great episode to continue my way through the first series of the Vienna spinoff range! I’m a big fan of Vienna and my enjoyment of her character is definitely growing more and more as I learn more about her and just experience more of her missions. I think the assignment crystal is a nice touch and it does almost feel a little like the Doom’s Day saga that’s currently ongoing, although Vienna doesn’t have literal death chasing after her nor is she chasing the right incarnation of the Doctor. It’s nice for there to be a loose story arc in the series with Vienna again given information on the whereabouts of Crevo Finn, and I do hope that we get to learn about his significance in the finale as that just feels right. But it is also refreshing that this search hasn’t consumed the series and we’ve really been able to delve into the missions of Vienna as she attempts to earn a good living from her assassination abilities. I think it’s brilliant that we got a rerun of her pretty infamous statement of nobody hearing her name and living. That’s exactly what happened to Lane at the start of the episode and she wasn’t shy in telling him that death would be his fate. He initially took it lightly, but dead he did become. Vienna likes to be shrouded in mystery and secrecy which is part of her appeal as a character in my view. I really like that she’s firmly a solo character and doesn’t need anybody else. She does steal the show. Having her tackling religion in space was excellent and really fun to explore. It goes to show that no matter how far society and technology will advance, religion will still cause needless chaos and death. Having Vienna try and infiltrate the New Church of Wonderment was really good and I enjoyed how she seemed out of place. Religion and faith clearly wasn’t something she subscribed to, but she did a great job in blending in to those that mattered. It was wonderful to hear Frazer Hines in a role other than Jamie or the Second Doctor with his take on Bax, and he was a really strong character. The use of memory erasure hardly seemed to fit in with the religion if memory scans were frowned upon because of sanctuary, and not having surveillance cameras just seemed a little strange. That was placing too much confidence in your religion! Kendra was a fun character as the wife of Bax and her confession really opened up a can of worms! She’d always been trying to unite the New Church with that of the Old Church, but the way she had done it rather literally was nicely done. I think it’s quite fun to explore the concept of literally being ejected with faith, and that’s what had happened to Bax by his own wife! The fact she had mixed her husband with Parcival to bring about a version of a holy union was quite amusing, although it did get slightly silly when the two were arguing from within. I quite enjoyed how things seemed to end with Vienna bringing the two churches together in death. It was always going to end that way and that’s exactly how it should have been. The miracle glasses were a fun element too and really did seem like how religion always is. Seeing things through tinted eyes was rather apt and quite a fun subtle message. The way things ended were quite repetitive with the opener, but as long as the finale delivers I’m fine with it. Vienna ensuring she was seen as her own religion was very fun though. Overall, another strong episode!

Rating: 8/10