Series 5 (2010)
Episode title: Vincent and the DoctorFeaturing: Eleventh Doctor
Companions: Amy Pond
First shown: 5th June 2010
Related articles: Krafayis
Guide: During a visit to an art museum, looking at paintings by the artist Vincent van Gogh, the Doctor discovers an alien looking figure in the window of the church in the paining of The Church at Auvers. The Doctor and Amy go to Provence, 1888, to help the artist where they find that recent deaths by a savaged beast are being blamed on the painter. The duo resolve to help Vincent and stay at his house overnight where he confesses that he believes his paintings have no value to anyone but himself. Amy is attacked by an invisible beast that only Vincent can see, who paints a picture of it for the Doctor so that he can identify it as a Krafayis, a vicious pack-predator that has been abandoned on Earth.
The trio prepare to deal with the creature, the Doctor stating that when they have done so they will be out of Vincent’s way so he can carry on painting as he wishes, which causes him to break down and refuses to leave his room, telling the Doctor that everyone leaves him in the end. The Doctor and Amy leave to face the creature alone, but Vincent eventually appears to assist them. As they approach the Church, Vincent confides to Amy that is she can “soldier on, then so can Vincent van Gogh” for he is aware of a sadness within Amy that she cannot detect herself (referring to the loss of her husband-to-be Rory in the previous episode). Waiting at the Church, Vincent begins to paint, waiting for the Beast to appear, though hours pass before he finally spots it. The Doctor goes in, telling Amy to stay outside but she does not obey, and follows to Doctor and Vincent in turn follows her. The Doctor cannot see the Krafayis and it is about to attack him when Vincent warns him. He and Amy hide in a confession booth while Vincent tries to distract the Beast. By Vincent’s description of its movements, the Doctor realises that the Beast is blind, which is why it was left behind on Earth on its own. The Beast attacks Vincent and he tries to defend himself with his easel, but the Beast ends up impaled on the instrument. The Doctor attempts to sooth the creature as it dies while Vincent empathises with the Krafayis’s pain that is similar to his own.
The next day the Doctor and Amy prepare to leave when Vincent asks her to marry him, though she declines. The Doctor decides to show Vincent something, and takes him in the TARDIS forward in time back to the art museum from the beginning of the episode. The Doctor asks the art historian, Dr. Black, while within earshot of Vincent, about the paintings in the room and Dr. Black gushes in gratitude, calling Vincent “the greatest painter of them all.” Vincent hugs Dr. Black, overjoyed at what he’s hearing before the three return back to Vincent’s day to take him home. The episode ends with the Doctor and Amy returning to the art museum once more with Amy dismayed to find Vincent still committed suicide at the age of 37, but the Doctor points out they made some differences to his life, and shows her the painting of the Vase with 12 Sunflowers, which now bears the inscription “For Amy.”