Vienna

#1.02. Bad Faith ~ 10/10

◆ An Introduction

Nev Fountain is one of the most beloved writers working with BigFinish. His ability to weave comedy throughout his stories is second to none, and I’m always excited to hear to something he’s written: I’ve re-listened to ‘The Kingmaker’ more than most of the releases in my collection.

In that case, nobody will be surprised that this episode left me grinning throughout its runtime. Vienna, take us to church!

◆ Publisher’s Summary

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 New Wonderment, a breakaway sect of the Church of Old Wonderment. Bax has an important mission for his latest convert – and Vienna is a willing disciple.

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

◆ Vienna Salvatori

Chase Masterson’s performance here is brilliant, and I’m glad to hear her just becoming more and more confident in the role.

Vienna is a true professional: she’s taken out the entire force assembled to stop her, infiltrated her way into the ranks, and kept Lane alive just to find out whether or not the whole operation was a trap or not! Lane believes that Vienna is a very pretty name; now that he knows it though, he’s basically signed his own death warrant. Bounty hunter or not, she still has a conscience, and it’s clear she’s sickened by the concept of a faith stealing operation. Vienna proclaims that her new faith is genuine, before spouting claptrap about the Church of New Wonderment; even her ship’s computer is worried about her! She believed that she would be leaving the assassin life behind her when she came to the New Church, but now she’s being ordered by the faith’s spiritual leader to take out his counterpart in the Old Church! Kendra is quick to point out that our favourite bounty hunter notices everything.

◆ Story Recap

Intelligent, militaristic lobsters have set up shop on Karnos Delta, and Vienna has been contracted to shut down all of their operations. She quickly stumbles upon a faith stealing plan; absolutely horrified, she attempts to get some answers out of the Kreyfin. Unfortunately, she accidentally depressurised the room they were in, causing them all to explode like a horrifically deconstructed lobster thermidor!

Vienna spent some time meditating following this mission, and suddenly decides that she’s found religion! Selected by their spiritual leader, she’s now an acolyte of the Church of New Wonderment… but it isn’t long before things go catastrophically wrong.

Acolytes are seemingly being murdered by those faithful to the Church of Old Wonderment, which means Vienna must become a literal guardian angel to her new faith!

◆ Rose Tinted Perspectives

Faith stealing is central to this episode, and it’s certainly an interesting concept: the act of extracting faith from the poor and pious, then selling it to the disgustingly rich. All so they can quite literally inject spiritual meaning into their life. What a uniquely horrifying idea!

Faith itself is utilised in a variety of fun ways throughout the episode, like how the secretary for the Church of New Wonderment is wearing miracle lenses; rose tinted contacts that filter all significant events and reinterpret them to the wearer as a miracle, whilst also blocking out anything that could cause you to doubt your faith. Another horrifying concept, and one which could be classed as thought control. Whilst everyone else sees a man being murdered, the receptionist would see a man being torn apart by the claws of a nine foot demon, clad in flaming armour, and riding a black horse!

◆ Corruption And Cults

‘Bad Faith’ features some excellently written commentary on how religion can become subject to corruption.

The Church of New Wonderment definitely appears to be commercialised, which isn’t uncommon for a lot of religions nowadays, but its spiritual leader is hiding a lot from his followers; such as the secret faith stealing operation he’s been conducting right under their noses. Bax Spendlove has been taking full advantage of his most loyal and devout followers, by extracting their faith and selling it to celebrities and the social elite.

I’ve got no problems with the idea of people having faith; having something to believe in. The idea of religion, however, is something that makes me genuinely uneasy. So many religions have extremist sects and separatists that take advantage of people and manipulate them, which is exactly what the Church of New Wonderment does in this episode.

◆ Sound Design

The soundscape is on a much smaller scale, when compared to the previous episode, but retains that cinematic polish Carter is known for.

The hydraulic limbs of the Kreyfin soldiers huff and puff as they walk. A thunder storm rumbles across the surface of Karnos Delta; the rain trickling down onto the rocky ground. Static echoes through communication devices. The sound of the answer machine confessional booth’s monotone voice. Lilitrick being gruesomely ripped apart inside of the confessional booth. The city in the Phantom Dunes is filled with bustling citizens, and snarling Chidnos (wild beasts who act a bit like camels).

◆ Music

The music in this episode really taps into the whole faith and religion thing, with a lot of choral singing being blended with the rest of the cinematic soundtrack.

◆ Conclusion

“Wonder of wonders…”

Faith is a powerful thing, so of course some religious nutter would decide to sell it to the highest bidder!

‘Bad Faith’ is what you’d expect from a Nev Fountain script; lots of wit and a veneer of absurdity. What I didn’t really expect was a social commentary on the concept of religion and faith as a whole, but it really adds some depth to the episode. I’m really quite impressed.