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Cast The Doctor Matt Smith
Crew Written by Richard Curtis
Associate Designer James North
Plot Outline from Wikipedia The Doctor has taken Amy to the Musée d'Orsay in Paris, where they admire the work of the post-impressionist painter Vincent van Gogh. The Doctor discovers a seemingly alien figure in a window of the painting The Church at Auvers, and decides they must travel back in time to speak to Vincent. In 1890, they find Vincent at a cafe in Arles, a lonely man with a bad reputation, but opens up when he notices Amy. They discover that recent deaths, victims ravaged by some type of beast, have been blamed on Vincent, and the two decide to help Vincent.
The Doctor and Amy stay at Vincent's home overnight, where he confesses his belief that his works have little value to anyone but himself, but still he believes the universe is filled with more wonders than one could imagine. When Amy is attacked by an invisible beast that only Vincent can see, Vincent paints an image for the Doctor, who identifies it as a Krafayis, a vicious pack-predator that has been abandoned on Earth. The three prepare to depart to stop the creature, the Doctor promising that after they have dealt with it, the Doctor and Amy will be out of Vincent's way; this causes Vincent to break down into tears and shuts himself in his bedroom. When the Doctor approaches him, Vincent says that everyone leaves him in the end, forgotten and hopeless. The Doctor attempts to empathise with him, but Vincent becomes upset and orders him to go. As the Doctor and Amy leave to face the creature on their own, Vincent reappears, determined to assist them. As they leave towards the church, Vincent confides in Amy that if she can "soldier on, then so can Vincent van Gogh", aware of sadness and loss that Amy cannot detect.
At the church, Vincent begins to paint the church watching for the beast to appear. Several hours pass before he spots it, and the Doctor proceeds inside on his own, warning Amy and Vincent to stay outside, and hoping to stun the creature with his sonic screwdriver. Vincent convinces Amy to go inside with him. Vincent catches sight of the beast stalking the Doctor, and warns him in time, sending the Doctor and Amy into hiding inside a confessional. Through Vincent's descriptions of the Krafayis' actions, the Doctor realises the creature is blind, and thus why it was left behind by its pack. Vincent attempts to defend himself from the creature with his easel, but the creature ends up impaling himself on it. The Doctor attempts to sooth the creature as it dies, while Vincent is able to explain its actions as from fear and frustration at its lack of sight.
Outside, the three rest on the grass, and Vincent explains how he sees the night sky, deep blue, framed by swirling air, and the Doctor recognizes the inspiration of Vincent's works. The next day, the Doctor and Amy prepare to leave, and Vincent tells Amy that if she should ever leave the Doctor, to return and marry him. The Doctor offers to show Vincent something, and takes him in the TARDIS back to Musée d'Orsay in 2010. There, the Doctor initiates a discussion with an art historian, Dr. Black, within earshot of Vincent; Dr. Black gushes about Vincent's work, and states him as "the greatest painter of them all". Overjoyed at hearing this, Vincent hugs Dr. Black and kisses his cheeks in gratitude. The three return to the past, where the Doctor and Amy say their final goodbyes to Vincent, now a changed man. Again Amy politely denies Vincent's marriage proposal, saying she's "not really the marrying kind".
As they return to 2010, Amy hopes they have influenced Vincent to live a long life and paint many more works. However, back at the Musée d'Orsay, she finds that Vincent still committed suicide at 37. The Doctor explains that life is a mixture of bad and good, and their brief encounter with Vincent added some good with their life, as evident in subtle changes in the displayed works: the face no longer appears in The Church, and now, Vase with 12 Sunflowers bears the inscription, "For Amy".
This is without doubt by absolute favourite episode of this season for many different reasons. Reason one is a fantastic supporting role by Bill Nighy as Doctor Black the art curator and expert. He doesn’t have a lot to say, but he doesn’t need to. He says it all with the expressions in his face and his superb body language, and his appearance in this episode proves one thing above all. As great as Matt Smith is as The Doctor, not getting Bill for the role was a missed opportunity for sublime performances.
Reason two is Tony Curran. I cannot remember where I have seen him before, and even IMDB jobs no memories. I can’t even remember if I like him in whatever I saw him in before, but he was stunning as the complex and tortured character of Vincent Van Gogh. Not only does he look the part, but he captured every nuance of a bi-polar depressive who was doomed to kill himself perfectly. He made Vincent a far more sympathetic character than he is in Lust for Life, which is the only other account of his life I’ve ever seen. Reason three, is tied in with one and two, and is the brilliant script by Richard Curtis. There were several schools of thought about Curtis, mastermind of some of the best known comedy in British TV and film. One was that he was going to turn Doctor Who into a slapstick Blackadder meets Vicar of Dibley episode and it would be awful. The other was that he would turn his eclectic mind to something befitting the traditions of Doctor Who and it would be a triumph. The second was the case.
Reason four, the absolutely beautiful sets. Most of the exteriors were shot in that lovely little Croatian village of Trogir where Vampires in Venice was made. But the crew worked hard to recreate southern France instead of Venice, and specifically the southern France featured in Vincent’s paintings. The café scene was especially lovely. The live action ‘Starry Starry Night’ was visual poetry. Bringing Vincent out of his time to see his work lauded as the finest in the world was a beautiful scene with Curran and Nighy playing blinders. Dickens, Shakespeare and Agatha Christie had all asked The Doctor if their work would stand the test of time and been reassured by him. Vincent needed more tangible proof and causality could stand to let a tortured soul have a little respite. Of course, he still dies, to Amy’s grief. But that had to be the way.
Some people complained that the monster was a bit lame. They missed the point. The monster didn’t matter a damn. This story was about Human genius in the same way that the monster in Torchwood: Children of Earth was about Human folly. In both cases what the monster looked like was unimportant. They were merely the catalyst for Humans to react either for good or bad. We need more stories like this one. But I don’t think our minds would encompass this kind of magnificence every week. Hence, next week, the episode has James Corden in it.
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