Doctor Who: How This Series 5 Episode Tackles Mental Illness
Among casual Doctor Who viewers, when asked to describe the central conflict of the Series 5 episode «Vincent and the Doctor,» most will likely struggle to recall the finer details. Some may not even remember the name of the episode's main antagonist, the Krafayis. But even though this monster of the week may be forgettable, the story is among the most memorable of the modern Doctor Who series — not necessarily for the characters' escapades, but for the touching, poignant way it portrays the famous painter’s internal struggles.
In the beginning of the episode, Amy (Karen Gillan) and the Eleventh Doctor (Matt Smith) travel to 1890 France, where the Doctor seeks answers from van Gogh (Tony Curran) about a monstrous creature that mysteriously appeared in one of his paintings. Here, they find the famous painter in a lonely, dark place, tortured by the inner demons he is known to have faced in his life. Soon after they arrive, Vincent is scapegoated and vilified for the murder of a young girl, demonstrating the locals' distrust and suspicion of his mental illness. After an invisible force attacks Amy, though, the Doctor is able to discern that one of Vincent's «hallucinations» is in fact an alien creature. Only Vincent can see the creature, so the Doctor identifies it as a Krafayis via Vincent's sketch. Together, the three embark on an adventure to save the village from the creature's rampage.
Why Doctor Who's Darkest Episode Is Also Its Best
It is not uncommon, in shows that deal with paranormal or supernatural phenomena, to portray such phenomena as a so-called explanation for mental illness. Hallucinations are really ghosts; delusions are flashes of precognition. Such portrayals are often fascinating, but at the same time,
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