That one time doctor who got the filming SO DARN RIGHT
This is one of the best episodes of television ever written. I’ve had so many people agree with me that it doesn’t matter if you don’t watch Doctor Who – everyone needs to watch this episode. It speaks volumes about what it really means to live with actual depression and anxiety and the incredible weight that is to bear and the love we need to have for each other and the importance of every single moment. Every child needs to watch this episode. It is so important.
Doctor Who Series 5: Vincent and the Doctor
This episode is so hugely important.
Richard Curtis wrote it from the firsthand experience of living with – and then losing – his sister, who suffered from bipolar disorder.
And most of the story’s power comes from his refusal to pull any punches just because Doctor Who is a kids’ show.
Vincent has good days and bad days. His suffering does not stop him from creating beautiful art…but neither does his beautiful art stop him from suffering. As the Doctor says, the good things and the bad things don’t negate each other. Most importantly, Vincent is often difficult to love…but that absolutely does not mean that Amy and the Doctor do not – or should not – love him.
Vincent and the Doctor is the only piece of media I’ve ever seen that does not fetishize the mentally ill, or worse, try to “fix” them with the sort of magic cure that never happens in real life. Instead, it honours those with the disease – and those who love them – by being truthful about their struggles.
And the truth is that mental illness is an illness. It is a disease with a mortality rate comparable to that of some cancers. And sometimes, the illness wins.
Amy and the Doctor can’t save Vincent. In the end, all they can do is love him, and try to add to his ‘pile of good things’. Which, as the Doctor tells Amy at the end of the episode, is very far from insignificant.
It matters more than anything else in the world.
Oh q, that is a beautiful comment.
Published
Kimchi and Justice 