Episode 10 of Series 5 is something to be treasured. A character driven piece which does not particularly progress the season long story arcs but does tell us as much about our lead characters as we have learnt in the previous nine episodes of this season.
The Doctor and Amy’s relationship
The episode starts with the Doctor taking Amy to the Musee D’Orsay in Paris to witness firsthand the works of Vincent Van Gogh. It appears the Doctor has been spoiling Amy as of late with extravagant trips to memorable places. Amy is of course unclear as to the Doctor’s motives but we as the audience know it is due to the guilt surrounding the death of Rory at the end of Cold Blood. In his mind the Doctor is compensating for this loss albeit Amy is not knowingly grieving.
Vincent and the Doctor – The Story
Once at the museum they spot an alien creature in the church window of Van Gogh’s “The Church at Auvers” painting and they travel back in time to meet Van Gogh and hunt down the creature. During the course of their time with Van Gogh they see what a troubled character he is, forced to endure ridicule for his work from inhabitants of the surrounding village. A fact that simply adds to his manic depression. He is the archetypal tortured genius.
In the end the Doctor, Amy and Vincent track down the creature and in conflict it is accidentally killed by Vincent. However in a clever twist in turns out the creature, named a Krayfayis, was blind and simply lost, scared and alone. This leaves the feeling of a very hollow victory for the trio.
Vincent Van Gogh played by Tony Curran.
The episode see a magnificent central performance from Tony Curran, with Van Gogh written beautifully by Richard Curtis. Typically from the pen of Curtis, Van Gogh is at times funny, eccentric, passionate and then has all consuming melancholic moments. Curran gives unbelievable pathos to the tortured impressionist.
At the end of the story the Doctor takes Vincent to the museum in modern day Paris to show the effect his work has had on so many people’s lives. The sheer unbridled joy that Curran displays is deeply moving and timed in conjunction with the museum expert waxing lyrical about Van Gogh’s enduring legacy. And then Curtis turns that joy on its head in the fact that despite the Doctor and Amy having enriched Van Gogh’s life in this way, he still took his own life in a horrific manner. The Doctor cannot change this fixed point in time much to the distress of Amy.
It is a important moment as it shows the Doctor can improve things but he cannot always rectify every facet of people’s lives. He just adds things to the “good pile”.
Vincent and the Doctor – Highlights.
There are so many highlight in this episode. The portrayal of the Van Gogh expert in the museum by Bill Nighy is predictably brilliant. The new gadget that the Doctor uses to track the monster looks bizarre but gives further nods to the series past with pictures of William Hartnell and Patrick Troughton so is therefore welcome tomfoolery.
The nods to certain other Van Gogh paintings such as Amy’s encouragement for Vincent to perhaps contemplate painting sunflowers is gorgeous and Vicnet arising from bed with his room set out like “Bedroom in Arles” are deftly done. However of particular note is where Vincent hold hands with Amy and the Doctor as they gaze at the stars, and as he describes the many wonders that he sees the sky itself melds into Van Gogh’s “Starry Night”. A beautiful poignant moment.
Yes there might be minor quibbles in the fact that the monster of the work looked a bit like a giant turkey and Van Gogh seemed to come from somewhere in Scotland rather than being Dutch, but they are essentially unimportant.
This is an episode to be treasured. A well paced character study written by a genius about a genius.
Steve Bartle - Steve Bartle, is a 33 year old from Bradford in the UK. He has had a successful and varied career to date performing such roles as a ...
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