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The Doctor is treating Amy to make up for losing Rory (despite her failing to remember him). At the Musee d'Orsay, the Doctor spots a face in one of Van Gogh's paintings. Believing it to be evil he takes Amy back to 1890 to meet Vincent Van Gogh and find out what the face belongs to. Thus begins a witty, yet poignant, episode about sadness, depression and one of the world's greatest ever painters. I really liked this episode; it's well worth a second look.

There's the usual opportunity for jokes when going back into the past and seeing things you're familiar with that are brand new / yet to be created (cf. Dickens, Shakespeare). However, in this instance, there's also the sadness of Van Gogh. The tremendous value of his work was unrecognised in his time and he died believing his life and works were of little value. He can sense Amy's sadness, even though she doesn't know why she's sad. And the Doctor mistakenly refers to them as Amy and Rory.

There's the mystery of the creature that only Van Gogh can see. What is it and why is it attacking people? And why can only Van Gogh see it? The implication is presumably that Van Gogh's unique way of seeing things gives him that ability. The Doctor eventually identifies the creature as a Krafayis using an un-named machine he grabs from the TARDIS. Eventually they trap the creature and determine it is blind. Van Gogh accidentally kills it while trying to defend himself. As the Doctor puts it, "sometimes winning, winning is no fun at all".

At the end, the Doctor takes Van Gogh to the Musee d'Orsay in the future so he can hear Dr. Black (beautifully played by an un-credited Bill Nighy) expound on the wonder of Van Gogh and call him the greatest painter of all time. Vincent is moved to tears of joy. The Doctor returns Van Gogh to his time. Amy wants to go back to the museum in 2010. She is disappointed to find little has changed; Van Gogh still took his own life aged 37.