This is probably simultaneously one of the most loved and most emotional episodes in New Who. In "Vincent and the Doctor", the Doctor and Amy Pond meet up with Vincent van Gogh to investigate a mysterious creature in one of his paintings. In the process, they see how under-appreciated the painter was in his lifetime and watch him struggle with his depression and mental health problems. They meet Vincent during the last year of his life and during his most productive painting period. But while they see his struggles, they are also reminded by him of the beauty of the world and amazed by the way in which he sees the beauty of the world in the midst of all the bad it has thrown his way. However, possibly the most heartbreaking individual scene in the entire episode, comes at the end. The Doctor and Amy bring Vincent to a museum featuring his work and Vincent hears a curator praise him as one of the greatest artists of all time. Vincent gets to hear that the world will recognize his talent. After Amy and the Doctor bring Vincent back to his own time, Amy rushes into the museum expecting to see many new paintings, and she expects that Vincent would have remained alive after hearing that he would be appreciated in the future rather than killing himself. Of course, Amy discovers that he still committed suicide. The blow is crushing not just because I grew attached to the character. It's crushing because this episode provides a very accurate example of how complicated mental illness can be and how important small moments of happiness are.
I'm a journalist with more than five years of experience writing for newspapers and I'm a graduate of University of California, Berkeley. I graduated in December 2012 with a B.A. in English Literature. I have previously written for Bloomberg Businessweek online, the Coalinga, California Coalinga Recorder newspaper and the UC Berkeley Daily Californian. I currently live in Central California
