Doctor Who 31/5.10 Vincent and the Doctor
Once I had drowned out my inner nitpicker saying stuff like "what? the painting of his room AFTER the painting of Dr. Gachet? And is this supposed to be Arles or Auvers anyway?", this was one fine episode. As opposed to Churchill earlier this season, Van Gogh didn't come across as a one note cartoon of himself, and I'm really glad that, as The Sarah Jane Adventures did with Alzheimer's in s1, illness was treated respectfully; there was no magical fix for his depression via the Doctor and Amy. Just an encouragement and reminder of the good things in life along with the bad, but no guarantee this would suddenly solve everything. Best of all, as much as this was an individual adventure, it also connected to the overall season continuity since the fact the Doctor remembers Rory (and feels guilty about his death) but Amy cannot, yet there is some subconscious part of her that mourns without really knowing why (the tears Vincent notices) is important to how they both respond to Van Gogh. Also, Amy's conviction that by showing him his future success they saved Vincent from suicide and realisation that no, they didn't, could be foreshadowing to whatever rewriting/not rewriting will be done in the finale. (Am reminded here of how Agatha Christie was paralleled with and foreshadowed Donna.) Which makes me reestimate my guess about Rory coming back; he might in the sense that we see him on screen again, but before his death, and what will be gained will be Amy's memories of him, but not his life.
The monster of the week was a bit obvious as a macguffin to provide an excuse for the Doctor and Amy to visit Van Gogh, and I could see the twist at the end coming, but it worked, so never mind. Plus: bonus opportunity for Classic fans to squee at the pictures of the First and Second Doctor. :) Given this season's fairy tale motives, a magical mirror was bound to come up sooner or later, and using it to show the Doctor mirrored as past regenerations instead of his current self was nifty.
The scene where Vincent allows Amy and the Doctor to see the sky as he does was beautiful. Best use of special effects for a while.
Lastly, Doylist observation: given we know this episode was shot when it was snowing all the time, they did a great job of making everything look like France in summer...