There’s never been a dull moment in the Howell’s household, from its early beginnings to its final tragic outcome in season three, with kidnappings, murder, secrets and lies, yep, there’s definitely nothing quiet about the lives of the Howell’s.
In the first season of Un Bore Mercher/Keeping Faith, Evan Howells is keeping too many secrets from his wife, and one Wednesday morning, disappears. She sees him as usual pulling the car away from the front of the house, and the next instant, he’s gone, and for a long while it seems, never to return. A search is on for details of Evan’s disappearance, and a substantial amount of money from the company accounts which has cleaned them out, leads Faith to discover that Evan has bitten off more than he can chew with the likes of the Vaughan’s and the Reardon’s.
Evan may have appeared the model citizen, but when he worked with the Vaughan’s and Gael Reardon, he was anything but a saint. It led to Faith to discover what her husband had been up to before he disappeared. It put them all in danger, including young Alys, her eldest child. It led to Steve Baldini, who she had acted as solicitor for, who had promised to look out for her and her family, who knew things about Evan that even Faith didn’t know about. It led to her falling for this rugged bad boy Baldini, and towards the end of the season, you really, really hoped she would…
Season One introduced us to a wealth of characters. The extended family including Evan’s sister and her policeman husband. Evan’s mum who came clean as to who his biological father was, after a DNA test put Tom nowhere in the picture.
When Evan finally returned, when the truth came out about his involvement with the Vaughan’s and Reardon’s, that level of trust that Faith had had for him was well and truly lost. It also brought with it corrupt police activity in the form of the Police Sergeant who was determined to connect Faith with the disappearance of her husband, and the death of a dentist.
Season Two saw Evan in prison, but the investigation was still ongoing and Gael Reardon was putting the pressure on Faith with packages and envelopes and handovers, that were caught on camera. Alys had reached the obnoxious teenager stage and who can blame her with the craziness of family life. Arthur, the down and out drunk in the first season, who came into his own towards the end, and became a firm friend of Faith’s and became the new childminder, and the whole family appreciated his help, even when Evan was released from prison.
Evan hadn’t properly adapted to family life and was still tracking Faith, uncovering her investigation, the photos and paperwork from deals and contracts which had led to them almost going under in the first season. Tom had separated from Marion, and was living on his boat in the harbour. His secretary declared her undying love for him, which was very sweet, and Marion developed a limp and a walking aid and had aged incredibly after the trauma of losing her son and then her husband in swift succession. I’m not sure if Evan truly forgave his Mum for lying to him about his father.
In Season Three, a newcomer came to town, stirring up trouble and looking for revenge. Faith’s estranged mother came for a visit, to stir up trouble, and cause untold mayhem and chaos for Faith and her family. Her concern for daughter and her grandchildren was a mask for why she was really in town and the final showdown was the icing on the cake. Her swansong.
The final episode was a true heart breaker and tear jerker. Hankies were definitely required. Staring down the barrel of a handgun, Faith saw the darkness of the mother scorned. Her revenge was to eliminate everything her daughter truly loved, to make her feel as bad as her own life had become. But Faith, was a different person when she left home and left the clutches of her mother – a woman she never loved, or trusted. It unnerved her that she was in town, and home truths had to be laid on the table when Faith finally owned up to some things in her past, she had hoped would remain buried. When Tom learnt the truth, he ended his business relationship with Faith’s mother, who had come in to put some business his way.
Matthew Hall, writer and creator of Keeping Faith has a way of drawing you into a character and their lives, bringing them to life before your eyes. Introducing a character who for much of the story is a regular kind of Jo, with a family, living in a small Welsh coastal town, and everything is pretty much, normal, but then taking the normal, and turning it into something bigger, stronger, brasher and introducing us to characters who you want to root for. Some you want to slap, and others you might want to hit in the face with a chair. But certainly, you find yourself humming the theme tune while working, see character scenes opening up in your head. It’s been a wonderful series and I’m only disappointed that it’s come to its natural end, but what an ending.
It’s going to take some time to find a series that will fill the void of Un Bore Mercher/Keeping Faith.
We Will Miss You, Faith Howell’s.
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