New Who Countdown: Number 6

"Vincent & the Doctor"

Series: 5

Doctor: Matt Smith

Companion: Amy Pond (Karen Gillan)

Writer: Richard Curtis

The sole episode written by romantic comedy genius Richard Curtis is superb in its humanity.  The Doctor and Amy visit the Musee D'Orsay to see the wondrous works of Vincent Van Gogh and discover an alien monster depicted in one of his artworks.  So, the Doctor and Amy go on an adventure with one of the greatest modern painters to discover why this monster is visible to Van Gogh. What follows is a very Doctor Who look at the life and art of an extraordinary man tormented by his gift and by his own demons.  

The episode doesn't quite follow many of the conventional trademarks of a regular Doctor Who
episode, but it is fantastically written and wonderfully acted. Tony Curran is brilliant as Vincent Van Gogh in his sadness and mania and genius.  The episode is tender and horribly upsetting as Amy hopes to  change the future by teaching Vincent Van Gogh to be happy in his own life, but it shows that not even the Doctor can change human nature.  

I would say that there is no more upsetting an episode than "Vincent & The Doctor". No matter how many times I watch it, I still break in to sobs. It is very rarely that I feel moved enough by the dialogue of even Doctor Who to cry and feel genuine sadness, but this is one of those moments that just breaks your heart.  And it does it multiple times.  Bill Nighy as the museum curator giving a speech about just why Vincent Van Gogh makes us feel the way we do through his art.

The Doctor in his infinite wisdom delivers one of his greatest nuggets (courtesy of Richard Curtis).

The Doctor: The way I see it, every life is a pile of good things and bad things. The good things don’t always soften the bad things, but vice versa the bad things don’t always spoil the good things and make them unimportant. And we definitely added to his pile of good things.