Vincent and the Doctor

Dear Gary—

Vincent and the Doctor is a lovely little story that fits in expertly with the Crack season. Divorced from the abysmal Crack, Vincent and the Doctor is a weird sci fi vignette in the life of Vincent Van Gogh with a rather pedestrian monster in the window. Taken in context, however, it beautifully and subtly depicts the true devastation of this Crack more than any slam bang finish ever could. Together with the last few minutes of Cold Blood, Vincent and the Doctor achieves the true potential of this Crack business without, I suspect, realizing it.

And the Crack doesn’t even make an appearance.

Rory is dead (long live Rory—and he will, but that’s another story). Rory is not only dead, he is erased from memory. The hole that remains is filled with unrequited sorrow.

What better way to honor the forgotten memory of Rory than with an angst-ridden Van Gogh?

As played by Tony Curran, Vincent Van Gogh is tragically sympathetic and his world of emotions and color is beautifully portrayed. It is the perfect world to disguise the pain that Amy doesn’t quite recognize.

Vincent on sunflowers: “I find them complex. Always somewhere between living and dying; half human as they turn to the sun; a little disgusting; but, you know, they are a challenge.”

A fitting memorial for Rory; an apt description of the Crack (if it lived up to its billing).

Bookended by the incomparable Bill Nighy.

If only there wasn’t this pesky Krafayis plot to contend with.

It is your routine, run-of-the-mill, alien trapped on Earth, Doctor tries to help, alien is killed plot. Not much more to say about it, except that the can-only be-seen-by-the-differently-sighted-Vincent angle is a nice touch but not adequately explored.

Vincent: “Well, look around. Art. It seems to me there’s so much more to the world than the average eye is allowed to see. I believe, if you look hard, there are more wonders in this universe than you could ever have dreamed of.”

The scene of Vincent and Amy and the Doctor lying in a circle holding hands and looking up at the sky as Starry Night comes to life is a beautiful realization of this statement. Too bad that the bulk of the episode cops out with the mundane Doctor Who alien representing the wonders of the universe, but I guess that is what Doctor Who is all about. Only William Hartnell’s Doctor was brave enough to see the wonders in life as we know it.

Overall, however, Vincent and the Doctor is an unexpected vase of sunflowers in this dreary Crack of a season; it is full of living color and hidden sorrow. “I hear the song of your sadness,” Vincent tells Amy. Vincent and the Doctor is a moving love song of sadness.

“My experience is that there is, you know, surprisingly, always hope.” This goes in the Doctor’s pile of good things, Gary, as I travel on, surprisingly always in hope.