you know that you're falling, without a place to land
There was something so, so lovely about Vincent and the Doctor.
I completely startled myself by just bursting into tears when Vincent was crying on his bed, and the Doctor ineptly tried to comfort him by saying "You know, in my experience there really is... a surprising amount of hope." And Vincent cut him off and shouted "Then your experience is incomplete!"
I loved that so much. Because the Doctor has experience a lot, millenia and galaxies worth of experiences, and he's lost his home and his whole race and many more. But he's experienced it without having depression. Depression isn't madness, but it can be an illness and it can make hope, the very idea of hope impossible at times. It was perfectly done that even though Amy and Eleven showed Vincent that everything he wanted would come true, that his art would be taken seriously and he'd be taken seriously as a man, it couldn't change the disease.
What a... thoughtful episode.
Other things I liked:
- how jealous Matt Smith has made Eleven
- the "Amy, Rory" slip. I thought the show did a good job of making his death/erasure present throughout
- the Doctor's face when he thought about if they got Van Gogh's paintings erased from history. And it would be their (his) fault
- Vincent Van Gogh. Was amazing. Broke my heart.
- Eleven's AWESOME viewfinder mirror thingy
- Alright, Matt Smith's face
cap snatched from th_esaurus
ETA: I forgot! One of the things I liked best was how awkward and lost Eleven was when he tried to help Vincent with his depression. He just didn't know what to do. And that was great, because the Doctor always knows what to do, even when he doesn't. But all he could do in the face of this crippling, illogical misery was say "Heeeyyyy, it's gonna be okay!" Which is what most people do. Because depression is not one of the monsters the Doctor knows how to fight.
There were just so many great small touches in this episode.
I completely startled myself by just bursting into tears when Vincent was crying on his bed, and the Doctor ineptly tried to comfort him by saying "You know, in my experience there really is... a surprising amount of hope." And Vincent cut him off and shouted "Then your experience is incomplete!"
I loved that so much. Because the Doctor has experience a lot, millenia and galaxies worth of experiences, and he's lost his home and his whole race and many more. But he's experienced it without having depression. Depression isn't madness, but it can be an illness and it can make hope, the very idea of hope impossible at times. It was perfectly done that even though Amy and Eleven showed Vincent that everything he wanted would come true, that his art would be taken seriously and he'd be taken seriously as a man, it couldn't change the disease.
What a... thoughtful episode.
Other things I liked:
- how jealous Matt Smith has made Eleven
- the "Amy, Rory" slip. I thought the show did a good job of making his death/erasure present throughout
- the Doctor's face when he thought about if they got Van Gogh's paintings erased from history. And it would be their (his) fault
- Vincent Van Gogh. Was amazing. Broke my heart.
- Eleven's AWESOME viewfinder mirror thingy
- Alright, Matt Smith's face
cap snatched from th_esaurus
ETA: I forgot! One of the things I liked best was how awkward and lost Eleven was when he tried to help Vincent with his depression. He just didn't know what to do. And that was great, because the Doctor always knows what to do, even when he doesn't. But all he could do in the face of this crippling, illogical misery was say "Heeeyyyy, it's gonna be okay!" Which is what most people do. Because depression is not one of the monsters the Doctor knows how to fight.
There were just so many great small touches in this episode.