I had the biggest cry I've ever had to any episode of Doctor Who watching this yesterday. Seeing Vincent understand the true scale of his legacy, followed by the gentle report of his death from Bill Nighy might be the most profound thing the show has aired over its 60 years. Amy and The Doctor improved the end of Vincent Van Gough's life immensely - but his depression was not something that could be so easily fixed. Managing to deliver this message in a child appropriate way is no small achievement.

The overwhelming focus of this story is Vincent, Amy and The Doctor's conversations with each other an Vincent's personal emotional journey as they explore his demons. The misunderstood, mostly invisible alien "menace" of the week takes a back seat, and quite right too. It is very strange to have nearly everything wrap up 2 thirds of the way into a script, then get to dedicate all of that focus onto character moments. The continuing drama of the missing Rory is played very well here and subtly, not interrupting proceedings for anyone who missed last week.

I would love to see Richard Curtis come back and have a second go at this little show. He has had such a huge impact for a one off writer. Moffat was very good at getting celebrity writers involved in the show during his early seasons (also see: Simon Nye and Neil Gaiman). I'd like to see more of this.

To me, vincent and the doctor is the finest episode of them all, certainly the most popular episode of season 5, they transformed the pain and mental illnes vincent faced and turned it into a big chicken, no one had ever done it before and perhaps no one ever will again!

10/10 masterpiece episode definitely worth watching at least 1 million times :)

We go right back to the Eleventh Doctor's first year with the very beloved Vincent and the Doctor. I don’t think there’s many who’d argue this as being among Eleven’s best, it often comes up in a lot of conversations for the best episodes in the show’s history. Possibly the best celebrity historical in all of Doctor Who as the Doctor and Amy pay a visit to the artist himself because of a painting of his in the future with a mysterious out of place creature being featured. They arrive at the right time though as this creature, who’s invisible to everyone but Vincent, has been tearing through the local town killing anyone in its way.

From a plot perspective this is as basic as it gets with the Doctor teaming up with a historical celebrity to fight a monster. I think given the gimmick of having the monster be very similar to what the historical figure’s famous for (Charles Dickens and ghosts or Shakespeare and witches) we can be thankful they didn’t go with paint monsters! Though that still didn’t stop people from complaining about the fact that the monster is a giant invisible chicken. While I do understand people’s complaints regarding the monster and their arguments as to why a monster was needed in the first place, I do think the monster has more thought put into it than people may realise.

While it has a basic plot, the story itself focuses more on the interactions between the Doctor, Amy and Vincent Van Gogh, just months away from him taking his own life. We see the Doctor and Amy become close friends with him and do their best to help him emotionally from the turmoil he’s going through. It builds to one of the very best endings in the show’s history where by the end of the adventure, they say farewell to Vincent and Amy believes that they’ve given him a new lease on life and that he will go on to paint more works of art. But when they return to the museum in the present day, she’s heartbroken to learn, no he still killed himself. It’s such a powerful ending as it shows that depression is not something that’s easily understood, it’s not something that just goes away because of one life changing experience. Depression in many ways is like an invisible monster slowly eating away at a person’s will to live. If anything, it would be better if it were an invisible monster because that’s at least something tangible. The Doctor can save people from any monster, even the invisible ones because they’re easy to understand, but in the end, he can’t save Vincent Van Gogh from himself because depression isn’t.

Lots of people cite the scene where the Doctor takes Vincent to the future to show him how much his work is appreciated and what he means to many aspiring artists as one of the show’s best scenes, and while I don’t entirely dispute that, I was admittedly taken out of it by the ridiculous pop song playing in the background. Even if you took out the song, that ending still blows this scene out of the water, but yes, it is still a fantastic scene in its own right with a great guest appearance from Bill Nighy. If you haven’t seen this episode yet, I’d definitely put it at the top of your recommendations list.

New Who Review #70

Vincent and The Doctor

This story was a nice one. It followed the life of one of the most renowned artists of all time Vincent Van Gogh. This story focused on touching areas like Depression and Suicide which was nice but also really sad. The scene when they returned to the Musee D'orsay and found out that he still killed himself and they didn't make a difference is sad. Because it shows that you can help people and change little parts of their troubles but sometimes you can't change the big things and that's sad yes but it's also ok. This is one of the most touching and relatable episodes to me because I've been in a position that Vincent was in and sure I didn't have a time lord to help me but I had something better. I had my family. Overall a sad story that I love and always will and one of the most touching the show has ever made. 10/10

One of the most emotional episodes in all of Doctor Who

This one is very similar to The Girl in the Fireplace, though i think this one is a bit worse. The story with the monster isn't all that interesting, the real payoff of this episode is just with Vincent