Doctor Who Review: ‘Faith Stealer’ (Audio)

The Eighth Doctor, Charley and C’Rizz encounter a Multihaven of different religions, as their journey through the Divergent Universe continues in ‘Faith Stealer’.

Compared to the rest of the Divergent Universe arc so far, Faith Stealer is considerably lighter fare. In fact, at the beginning, it almost seems to be a comedy. One inspired by Douglas Adams’s writing. Particularly when the Doctor and his companions enter the Multihaven, a community with a mix of wildly different religions working and living together. There’s a rather wonderful scene where the Doctor and his companions actually have to register their religion and beliefs before entering that’s especially comical.

The story doesn’t really unfold that way, though. While it isn’t especially dark or serious, it kind of loses the comedy element as it goes along. It’s kind of a shame, really, as I think a story like this could have benefited from a strong comedy element throughout most of it, at least.

That’s not to say it’s a bad story, though. One element I liked is how it explored the faith of the characters. This includes the Doctor, who begins to experience some self-doubt in this story. It isn’t explored in a huge amount of depth, but I do enjoy learning what makes the Doctor tick. Particularly in his Eighth incarnation, who’s more emotional and more passionate than some others.

It was also good to hear more of C’Rizz’s back story in Faith Stealer. Even the Doctor and Charley acknowledge that they don’t really know much about him, other than the adventures they’ve shared together and that he’s a monk. It’s great that in this story, we finally learn a little bit more about him. Not a great deal, just enough to foreshadow events to come.

Next: Recap: Season 10, Episode 2: Smile

‘Faith Stealer’ isn’t exactly a weak story, it’s just not a very strong one, either. I think, if it had a higher focus on humour, this could have been more enjoyable. Still, while it’s not a strong season opener, it is at least a passable one.