Keeping Faith: Yes, a Real Keeper

The wife and I quickly binged the first two seasons of Keeping Faith, billed on Acorn by way of Amazon Prime Video as a Welsh thriller but just as much a powerfully effective family drama. We loved it.

The Faith in question is played by Eve Miles, last seen here just a few weeks ago as Lola in We Hunt Together.   She was appealingly effective in both roles, but Keeping Faith called for a wider array of emotions, which Miles delivered on beautifully and memorably.

Faith's a lawyer whose husband, also a lawyer, disappears.   Is he dead or missing, and, in either case, why?  The action in the first season all takes place in a week, replete with a clocking calendar giving us the day and whether it was AM or PM, making Keeping Faith a sort expanded version of 24, without a Jack Bauer.

That's because Faith is not only bright, articulate, and tough when she needs to be, but also very vulnerable, and especially when she needs to nurture her kids, a boy baby, a little girl, and an older girl approaching teenhood.  And these family scenes and interactions are where not only Faith the character but Keeping Faith the series show their mettle.  It's a heartache and a pleasure to see what this family goes through in just a week.  The older daughter Alys has the biggest role in this, and here's a tip of the hat to Demi Letherby for doing a fine job in this.

Beyond the family, Hannah Daniel as Cerys who is Faith's partner in the law firm and Aneirin Hughes as Tom, Faith's father-in-law and semi-retired lawyer in the firm, are vivid and well-played characters.  There are criminals that the police are after, and who are themselves police, and of course someone who was and may or may not still be a criminal whom Faith comes to rely upon and even more.

But I'll say no more about the plot, lest I give something crucial away, so just watch and enjoy.

 

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