Doctor Who/Recap/S31/E10 Vincent and The Doctor

"The Doctor: I've seen many things, my friend. But you're right. Nothing's quite as wonderful as the things you see."

Written by Richard Curtis, comedy writer whose works include Black Adder, Four Weddings and A Funeral, and Notting Hill; in his words, he wrote the episode so his kids can watch.

Note that no one in this episode, including Vincent van Gogh himself, is pronouncing his name even remotely correctly.

The episode was followed on the BBC by information on suicide prevention, as the episode discusses Vincent van Gogh's suicide.

--

Terror lurks in the cornfields of Provence, but only a sad and lonely painter can see it.

We start with a field of wheat. Something is running through that wheat and scaring crows. And someone is painting that field of wheat.

Vincent Van Gogh's picture ends up in a Parisian gallery in the present day, to which the Doctor's taking Amy as a treat -- since she is something of a fan of Vincent's -- only the latest in a whole row of treat visits. She doesn't understand why he's spoiling her so much, and is still blissfully unaware that her fiance is still very dead and erased from history. The Doctor keeps up a perfect Stepford Smiler act for her.

They look at the The Church at Auvers and spot a monster in one of the windows. The Doctor approaches a rather long-winded Bill Nighy-in-a-bowtie, named Dr. Black, the museum's curator. Dr. Black has been talking to a tour group about how van Gogh churned out a whole load of paintings near the end of his life but had incredible unluckiness in actually selling his work. He's enough of an expert on Vincent that he can place the time of the painting's creation to between the 1st and 3rd of Jun, 1890. That's just how good he is. The Doctor and Dr. Black compliment each other's bowties for a bit, and the Doctor and Amy head to Provence.

They arrive in a little town and set about finding Vincent. They soon discover him at a local cafe, failing to sell yet another piece of his work, a self portrait, and attempt to engage him in conversation. Vincent isn't too impressed by the Doctor -- he's had enough of the doctors his brother keeps on sending him -- but is rather taken with Amy. Well, who wouldn't be? Thanks to her, he agrees to share a bottle of wine with them. He assumes they're also Dutch, because apparently according to the TARDIS, speaking French with a Dutch accent is the equivalent of speaking English with a Scottish accent. But just as the Doctor is clunkily trying to pursue the subject of the church, there's a scream.

Rushing to the scene, they find a very dead young woman and her distraught mother, who pins the blame on Vincent's madness. It's followed up by a barrage of stones, and the trio have to leg it. The Doctor invites himself and Amy as Vincent's guests.

It turns out that the monster is invisible, but Vincent can see it because of his intense synesthesia. His impressionist painting, however, isn't accurate enough for the Doctor to identify the species. But he's got an old gadget in his TARDIS that can identify the original form of living creatures when given enough data. It renders the Doctor as William Hartnell and Patrick Troughton consecutively, and renders the creature as a giant four-legged Krafayis. The Doctor realises a bit late that it's the monster's reflection in the screen that he's seeing, but manages to get away, with the gadget strapped to his chest like an elaborate Steampunk rear view mirror.

After chasing away the Krafayis, the Doctor and Amy offer to spend the night with lonely Vincent, and admire the works that Vincent believes to be worthless (but that they know will become art treasures in the future). Vincent wakes up the next day, stunned to see that the Doctor has prepared them breakfast, and Amy awaits outside surrounded by dozens of sunflowers. The two insist they will come with him tonight when he goes to paint the nearby church, themselves knowing the beast will appear there, and then will be out of Vincent's hair forever. Vincent crumbles at this, and locks himself in his bedroom, crying that people simply just leave him. Neither the Doctor or Amy can coax him out of his emotional state, and prepare to go to the church alone.

As they are about to leave, Vincent emerges with his painting supplies, ready to help out. As they travel, Vincent confides to Amy that he senses something missing in her life and a great sadness in her, and decided that if she can soldier on, so can he. They arrive at the church, and Vincent starts to paint. The Doctor quickly becomes bored of waiting for something to happen, and just when he's about given up, Vincent spots the Krafayis moving about inside. The Doctor tells "Amy and Rory"-- Amy and Vincent to wait.

As soon as the Doctor is inside, Amy and Vincent look to each other and merrily race in after him, with an "Amy, I love you!" from Vincent.

The Doctor has trouble tracking the invisible beast, and he and Amy are forced to take shelter inside a confessional. Vincent, staying back, describes the movement of the Krafayis to his friends, and the Doctor realizes the beast is blind and wounded, left behind on Earth by its pack as dead weight. He tries to talk to it, but the Krafayis is too panicked to understand that the Doctor can help it. The beast starts to charge at Vincent, and he holds up his easel in self-defence... upon which the beast impales itself.

As the Krafayis dies, becoming visible to all, the Doctor races out to try to help it, but the wound is too great. Vincent realizes that he and the Krafayis share a similar loneliness and along with the Doctor helps to soothe the creature in its final moments.

The three leave the church and lie down, hand-in-hand on a nearby hill. Vincent directs them to the starry night above, describing how he sees the heavens as a canvas. Both the Doctor and Amy are awed by this sight, as we see the realistic star-scape transformed stunningly into Van Gogh's painting. Vincent hold the hands of his friends close to him.

The next day, Vincent escorts them to the TARDIS, attempts to woo Amy into marrying him (to which she notes she's "not the marrying type"), and says his goodbyes with a bit of sadness. The Doctor and Amy pause before entering the TARDIS, a knowing look in their eyes.

The next thing Vincent knows, he's inside a space ship with dials and levers that go whoooosh. And he's being pulled through the streets of Paris in 2010, into the same gallery from before. The Doctor ignores Vincent's questions about the strange technology he sees, instead dragging him to the Van Gogh display room from before, holding him back. Within Vincent's earshot, the Doctor entertains Mr. Black to expound upon the greatness of Van Gogh's work. Black holds the utmost respect for the painter, calling him one of the greatest artists of all time. Vincent, elated at this, feels tears welling up, races to embrace Mr. Black and thanking him profusely for his compliments.

The Doctor and Amy return Vincent to his time; Vincent leaves the two, much much happier than a few hours ago as he returns home.

Amy insists they return to the present. Certainly, their actions have allowed Vincent to live out his life and created many many more works. Yet when they arrive at the museum, nothing has changed. All the same artwork is present, and Mr. Black laments about Van Gogh's suicide at an early age. Amy tries to understand. The Doctor comments that life has good things and bad things, and all they were able to do is help give Vincent a few more good things within his short life. The Doctor demonstrates that the The Church at Auvers no longer has the frightening creature at the window, and one of the sunflower still life paintings now bears a small inscription above Vincent's signature: "For Amy".

"Amy: If we had got married, our kids would have had very red hair.

The Doctor: The ultimate ginger."

Tropes:
"Doctor: I thought you were just a useless gadget; I thought you were just an embarrassing present from a dull godmother with two heads and baaad breath -- twice.""
 * Actor Allusion: Tony Curran (Van Gogh) once played an Invisible Man.
 * Alas Poor Villain
 * Applied Phlebotinum: The machine the Doctor uses to see the invisible Krafayis.

"Amy: If we had got married, our kids would have had very red hair.
 * Are You Pondering What I'm Pondering
 * Badass Longcoat: Vincent, when standing up to the Krafayis in the church.
 * Bittersweet Ending: The day is saved and Van Gogh realizes his importance in the scheme of things.
 * Character Filibuster: Yes, Vincent van Gogh was an awesome, if insane, guy, Dr. Black.
 * Continuity Nod: The Doctor mentions his godmother had two heads. This could mean that the Doctor's godmother was an Aplan.
 * While the Doctor tests his newest bit of Applied Phlebotinum, it scans his image and prints out pictures of One and Two.
 * "Bow ties are cool!"
 * Ten mentions back in "Doomsday" that he was "there at the fall of Arcadia" during the Time War. Eleven has apparently just taken Amy there, though presumably not at the same time.
 * Eleven saying that Amy and Vincent's child would've been the ultimate ginger.
 * Department of Redundancy Department: The Doctor says he comes from "The Ministry of Art... and Artiness."
 * Did Not Do the Research: June 1890... shouldn't Vincent's left ear be cut off (or at least part of it) at this point?
 * Vincent's name is mispronounced by everyone, including himself, and most terribly by Matt Smith (who insists on "Ven Goth".)
 * Vincent claims he's from "Holland". In fact, he was from Brabant, which is another region of the Netherlands altogether.
 * Epiphany Therapy:
 * Foregone Conclusion: Van Gogh's suicide. Played with, as Amy thinks they've changed all that.
 * Freudian Slip:
 * Getting Crap Past the Radar: Apparently, the Krafayis enjoys one of the settings on the Sonic Screwdriver. The Doctor is suitably weirded out by this.
 * Heroes Want Redheads: Vincent and Amy share a mutual redhead attraction.

The Doctor: The ultimate ginger."

""Sometimes winning is no fun at all.""
 * Heroic Self Deprecation: Vincent has a problem with this.
 * He's Back: After Vincent suffers through one of his episodes of depression, he returns, Badass Longcoat and Nice Hat in place, ready to go paint some monsters.
 * Historical Hero Upgrade / Took a Level In Badass: Vincent Van Gogh, Monster Hunter. He fends off the Krafayis with a chair and an easel. Yeah...
 * "Are you lookin' for me, sonny?!"
 * Historical in Joke: Sunflowers are widely assumed to be Vincent van Gogh's favorite flower. When Amy tries to appeal to this, he reveals that he actually considers them a bit grotesque. Vincent is also revealed to be a synesthete.
 * Hypocritical Humour: In-universe example; when the Doctor offers to buy Vincent a drink, Vincent angrily informs him "I pay for my own drinks." Everyone around him laughs derisively.
 * In Spite of a Nail: Showing van Gogh an exhibit of his paintings apparently won't change them . Even the ones that are in the exhibit and that he hasn't painted yet.
 * Mirror Scare: The Doctor first gets a look at the Krafayis this way.
 * Mood Swinger: Vincent.
 * Mood Whiplash: An episode featuring Vincent and the Doctor whacking an invisible alien with sticks and an inevitable suicide? Only Doctor Who...
 * Nice Hat: Vincent has that marvellous straw hat. He even does the Indiana Jones "never leave the hat behind" thing while fighting.
 * Not Named in Opening Credits: Well, any credits; Bill Nighy is completely uncredited for his role as Black.
 * Name and Name
 * Never Trust a Trailer: The "next time" trailer for this episode ended with a coffin topped with sunflowers, implying it was Vincent's. In the actual episode,.
 * That's also an example of Shown Their Work.
 * In addition, one BBC trailer for this episode made it look like a Girl With A Pearl Earring type romance film with an artist being revitalised by a new muse. It was beautifully done.
 * Nice Job Breaking It Hero: Played with, in that Vincent whites out one of his canvases just to show the Doctor and Amy what the Krafayis looks like. The painting in question was, as a result, never part of Vincent's gallery as we know it.
 * Old Shame: Vincent has a gloomy outlook on all of his paintings, but
 * Power Born of Madness: Vincent's state of mind allows him to see the Krafayis.
 * Public Domain Soundtrack: The soothing music is the "Emperor Waltz" by Johann Strauss.
 * Pyrrhic Victory: The death of the Krafayis.

"Vincent (To Amy): I take it from your accent that you're from Holland, like me?
 * Shout Out: Possibly to the monster from Forbidden Planet.
 * "If you paint it, he will come."
 * Something Completely Different: As this is the more self-contained of the Doctor Who episodes we have seen all season,
 * Stereo Fibbing:
 * Stereo Fibbing:

The Doctor / Amy: Yes. / No.

The Doctor: She means yes."


 * Take That: A minor example where the Doctor vents that he wouldn't be having this problem with a non-impressionist, proper painter when Vincent's sketch of the Krafayis isn't good enough to work with the Doctor's alien profiling device. To cheer up Vincent as he paints The Church at Auvers, the Doctor also puts down Michelangelo and Picasso.
 * That Poor Cat: Played with. We actually see the cat that runs off when it gets freaked out by the materialising TARDIS but the yowl we hear is clearly not made by the cat we see onscreen.
 * Translation Convention: See below.
 * Translator Microbes: According to the TARDIS, speaking French with a Dutch accent is the equivalent of speaking English with a Scottish accent.
 * True Art Is Angsty: Gloriously anviliciously subverted in universe. Dr. Black -- Bill Nighy's character -- who is an art expert explains in Van Gogh's presence how the latter managed to "transform the pain of his tormented life into ecstatic beauty" and "use [his] passion and pain to portray the joy and ecstasy and magnificence of our world." And this is why he is the greatest artist who ever lived.
 * Very Special Episode: As close to one as you'll ever see in Doctor Who. The BBC voiceover during the closing theme advertises a suicide prevention hotline.
 * However, it was very well received.