As Doctor Who's latest series (season 1/5/31/Fnarg) came to a close two weeks ago, it looks as if the show has really taken a new life under the helm of the new production team.
In terms of writing, the entire season was full of small gems and there is no episode which is complete absolute tosh. The closest it came to that was Victory of the Daleks, and that had Spitfires in space. This season, we had possibly the greatest introduction to a Doctor who is no longer hiding his 1963 origins (how many times did we see William Hartnell this season?), followed by a slightly more conventional adventure romp with The Beast Below, by the scary return of the Angels (coincidentally, the army types dealing with them are from the church! Is there more to it?) and the mystery-shrouded River Song, two stories which were very much like OldWho in style (Vampires of Venice and the Silurian two-parter), a really unique concept with Amy's choice and a mind-blowing finale.
Throughout this season, what transpired was (a) the show playing with the viewer's expectations (spoiler ahead! the Doctor's snog, Rory's death, the absence of a Doctor and Amy painting by Van Gogh, everything about the finale) and (b) a sort of grown-up show which knows it doesn't have to explain everything (who is Prisoner Zero, who are the Smilers, what did River do, how did that space pollen show up, will the Silurians share the Earth in a millennium, what the h*** was a TARDIS doing in The Lodger). It's not out of laziness - it fits with the new direction the show has taken. Under RTD's great command, the show was character-driven and it was there that the evolution could happen. The plot was nearly secondary and therefore needed to be wrapped up. With Moffat, paradoxically, because it is plot-driven, there is no such need: it is perfectly acceptable not to know everything, because there is half a promise that it will be solved some way down the line.


There is one exception to that - one episode in the entire series which was character-driven. And it is beyond the shadow of a doubt the best episode this series has to boast. Vincent and the Doctor is possibly the best thing I have seen on TV ever. As the title suggests, it was not about the Doctor, but about the guest historical star, Van Gogh. It makes sense that, for a man suffering depression on that level, his vision of the world gets projected onto the screen. The recreations of Van Gogh paintings in the flesh were particularly impressive, especially the Starry Night scene, which gave glimpses of the disturbed genius of the great artist. More importantly, the story was a great study on depression (with the invisible Krafayis a metaphor for it) and how it can destroy a man. This made the final scenes extremely moving, but was also a very bold move for pre-watershed, family TV. That the BBC then mentioned the existence of Headroom shows that the Beebs takes these issues seriously. For the first time, well, ever, Doctor Who was educational on matters that may concern the present lives of many (yes, Doctor Who has been educational on History a fair few times in the past, it has also served as political satire, but never in such a close way).
Vincent and the Doctor is reason enough to justify the show's existence, but is so special it cannot be used as a benchmark for the quality of other episodes.


And rightly so. You wouldn't want it as a series finale. You want epic. And this season has delivered, bringing every monster the Doctor has ever encountered together and more to trap the Doctor into the Pandorica. And then a second part completely different but putting so many timestreams together that three viewings are necessary to start to understand it fully. The Moff has provided us with an intellectually satisfying finale, but one that does not wrap everything up. And a fez.
So bring on series fnarg+1!