‘Keeping Faith’ Recap: ‘Episode 8’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for the Series One Finale of ‘Keeping Faith’.
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The other day when we settled in to discuss the AcornTV series, Keeping Faith, we talked a little bit about how overwhelming bad times can be, and how they truly seem as though they are going to settle in and become our new normal going forward. And we also talked about how standing tall and doing what we can to change our situation can help us to cope. But what we didn’t talk about in that particular recap in regard to bad times, is the sheer fact… that they never last. For eventually, issues come to a head and the work we put in to improve our situation pays off and well, that aspect of tough times is relevant to our discussion today, simply because the end of challenging days served as the focus of the series one finale of Keeping Faith.

Because after an outright week of hell, Faith Howells finally saw all the darkness surrounding her be lifted and the beginning of the end of her trying times came about by getting her children back in an extremely incredible manner. Because for a better part of that trial, it really seemed as though Child Protective Services had her dead to rights and that her babies would never be near her again. But thanks to Cerys and Tom, the court finally came to realize that Faith was indeed a good mother, one that was fully capable of taking care of her children in a quality manner and at long last, they were going to come home, and while Faith was waiting for them to arrive… she was able to close the book on another nagging problem, specifically, the whole mess with DI Williams. 

For the crooked Detective Inspector took the time to swing by the Howells residence, to have a little chat and see if by chance she could get her hands on the laundered money that Faith had Lisa transfer into her account for safekeeping. And this allowed for quite the powerful showdown to take place, one where Faith finally made it clear that she was done being harassed in this manner and that if Williams wanted to continue her career in law enforcement, the time had come to back the hell off and leave Faith be, otherwise the video footage would indeed be tied to Williams and she’d spend the rest of her days in jail. Terms that Williams was quick to agree to, allowing for that harassment to come to a close, which in turn gave Faith more hope that at long last her life would return to normal. But alas, there was one last chapter to close before Faith could finally see the bad times come to an end.

One that revolved around the fact, that Williams wasn’t the only corrupt cop on the force. For it was revealed that DCI Parry and DS Morgan were crooked too, and it was their blackmail scheme against Evan that finally motivated him to run. And they also saw the moment of calm that Faith was going through, as the perfect opportunity to shake down Faith for the money they thought was owed to them, and they even kidnapped Alys as collateral to make their payday happen. But thanks to Arthur’s quick thinking, since he came along for the  exchange, and a wonderful deal orchestrated by Gael and Faith, Mrs. Howells was able to walk away with all that money scot free, and her daughter. And as an added bonus, Steve stepped in and made things right with the Glynns, bringing an end to Faith's hard times at last, and this also gave her the green light to potentially explore a future with Mister Baldini… if only for a moment.

Because in the final seconds of this tale, her ‘beloved’ husband returned at last, giving her a new challenge to face. But while we wait to see how Faith handles the return of Evan after everything, he put her through, we can revel in the wonder of one satisfying finale. One that genuinely brought together every loose end and plot thread in a magnificent manner. And it really was quite wonderful to watch Faith grow over the course of this first series and become a fierce warrior, the kind that doesn’t take guff from anyone and will truly do anything for her family and it really will be quite interesting to see where this newfound strength is going to take Faith, as she undoubtedly works to put the pieces of her life back together in series two. Until next time.

Series 1 and 2 of ‘Keeping Faith’ are available to stream right now on AcornTV. Series 3 premieres on April 12, 2021.

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