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| Vincent (Tony Curran) and his self-portrait. |
1 episode. Approx. 43 minutes. Written by: Richard Curtis. Directed by: Jonny Campbell. Produced by: Tracie Simpson, Patrick Schweitzer.
THE PLOT
Amy and the Doctor are visiting a Van Gogh exhibition when the Doctor's eye is caught by one of the paintings. A painting of a church, with a monster visible in one of the windows. The monster isn't anything the Doctor recognizes... but he recognizes it as evil, and decides that they need to go back to Van Gogh's time to investigate.
Vincent Van Gogh (Tony Curran) is a drunk, pretty much universally hated by the townspeople. He is unstable: euphoric one moment, a sobbing wreck the next. When he begins attacking the air, the Doctor assumes that he is having some sort of fit - until he is thrown through the air by an invisible monster. A creature only Van Gogh can see.
Now Amy and the Doctor must use the artist to set a trap for the invisible beast. But to do so means putting one of history's greatest artists in jeopardy, just at the point in his life in which most of his greatest masterpieces are about to be created!
CHARACTERS
The Doctor: He is being extremely kind to Amy, taking her to the dream spots that he always promises his companions but only occasionally delivers. He has a certain kinship with Van Gogh, a madman who pushes away others only to ache with loneliness at the thought of being on his own. In an amusing bit, we also see how very badly the Doctor deals with boredom. As they wait at the church, Vincent paints while Amy waits patiently. But the Doctor becomes restless and frustrated. "Is this how time usually passes?" he grumps. "Very slowly, and in the right order?"
Amy: Amy may not remember the loss she's suffered, but she does know that there's something strange about the Doctor's newly solicitous treatment of her. When she asks him half-jokingly about it and he responds by becoming genuinely defensive, she can't help but pick up on it. While she may not remember Rory's loss, she does feel it on some unconscious level. Just as Van Gogh is able to see the invisible creature, he is also able to see her sadness.
THOUGHTS
Vincent and the Doctor is an unusual episode. While watching, I spent more than half the episode feeling at a distance. I was all set to condemn this as one of the weakest of the season. Then I reached the scene in which Vincent links hands with the Doctor and Amy and shows them what the night sky looks like through his eyes. As they watch the sky, it gradually transforms into a scene mirroring Van Gogh's own Starry Night. And at that point while viewing, the episode finally started to click into place.
This is a smaller, quiet episode, one with a number of lovely little moments. The "monster chase" is only a minor subplot, a justification for the Doctor and Amy to get involved with Van Gogh. The creature does tie in with the Doctor, Amy, and Vincent thematically. A creature that, like Amy's sadness, is there even though it cannot be perceived, save by the mad. It is itself a victim, and both the Doctor and Vincent are suitably morose at having to destroy it.
But the monster chase is honestly the weakest element of this episode, and the scenes involving the creature (which probaby occupy less than a third of the running time) throw the middle of the show off-kilter. This episode could have easily been rewritten to jettison the monster, with the Doctor and Amy simply leaving the art gallery with a whimsical desire to see the real Van Gogh and then discovering their emotional connection with the man himself. As such, it seems a pity that just this one time the series couldn't have had the courage to just make a "pure," monster free historical.
The good news is: Once the invisible monster is dispensed with, there is still a fair chunk of episode left. The last 10 - 15 minutes are sublime. That scene in which Vincent shows the Doctor and Amy the night sky is one of most beautiful scenes in all of Who. Vincent's trip to a modern-day art gallery is more overtly manipulative, particularly with a pop song playing overtop of it... but it works, particularly when we see Vincent's reaction to hearing Bill Nighy's docent sum up what the artist's work means to him.
Speaking of Bill Nighy, it's very nice to finally see him in Doctor Who, if in a much smaller role than was rumored back in 2004. The docent is a tiny part, basically a cameo, and the actor goes unbilled. But he really does make a mark in the episode, and he particularly sells his big speech about what Van Gogh means to him.
One of those episodes that gets better with distance from it, oddly enough. Not everything works when viewing it. Still, that last 15 minutes is just wonderful, and it's an episode that leaves you thinking afterward. It's an episode that my mind keeps returning to. That in itself is enough for me to bump its score up at least one point from my first inclination.
Rating: 8/10.
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