Fugitive of the Judoon
Story 291, Episodes 856, Series 12 Episode 5
Doctor: The Thirteenth Doctor
Companions: Captain Jack Harkness, Ryan Sinclair, Yasmin Khan, Graham O’Brien
In an out-of-nowhere earth-shattering episode, Fugitive of the Judoon has several layers of surprise, the last one earthshakingly big.
The Review
This is an exceedingly difficult episode to review as an episode because it is more like a series of bombshell twists as Series 12’s arc has swelled to the most complex since Series 6. First off, hey, it’s the Judoon, who I kind of can’t believe never showed up since Smith and Jones in the main show because they’re such memorable designs. Lawful evil space rhino police for hire? The design of the Judoon is inspired, and I love the banal things they do like giving an old woman a worthless galactic credit or something as compensation for destroying her blanket she was knitting. Ryan and Yaz get some good dealings with the Judoon, and Yaz gets a single line to remind us she’s a police officer. I do continue to enjoy how this era is consciously shaking us away from reflexively setting every story in London, here we are taken to Gloucester, and why not? The abbey is a central setting, and it is truly beautiful. The lighthouse at the climax (in reality on the Welsh coast probably on the English coast in-universe) is a beautiful locale as well. Apparently the fugitive’s high-value allowed the Judoon to show up on Earth and not do the whole Moon thing.
Now, it’s time to pivot right back to what happens to Graham: he gets time-scooped out into space by none other than the legendary Captain Jack Harkness! Since I’ve been watching Torchwood it felt natural for him to show up, but it’s been a decade since he was in the main show and nine years since Miracle Day. Barrowman is still looking good, and thinks Graham is the Doctor so gives him a big welcome back kiss. We catch Captain Jack in media res, flying a stolen ship, under fire by nanogenes, and although he doesn’t get to meet the 13th Doctor he is excited by the Doctor being a woman now. Barrowman’s warning is to not give the Lone Cyberman what it wants as that will apparently reconstruct the Cyberman empire. Because it wouldn’t be any fun otherwise I’m sure we’re going to end up giving the Lone Cyberman what it wants. I think we will see Captain Jack again, we won’t be denied the meeting with Whittaker. However, I think his whole appearance was a gigantic red herring to contain the real stunner at the end of this episode that I still kind of can’t believe happened.
We think the secret alien is this guy Lee, who the Judoon and their commander Gat kill. The Doctor escaped with his wife Ruth, who has no clue about what is going on, but she gets some sort of mental trigger text from Lee. After she singlehandedly scares off the Judoon in Gloucester, she drives to the lighthouse in her memory. While the Doctor is digging a suspicious grave (that I didn’t think was all that suspicious, multiple people share one gravestone all the time) she breaks some glass, changes her clothes, grabs a giant alien gun, just as we see the Doctor is unearthing…the TARDIS! That’s right, ‘Ruth’ is the Doctor, and she takes our Doctor into her very 60s control room. She was on the run from fellow Time Lord Gat, and both are confused because neither remember being the other one. The diehards are already clutching their pearls in terror over what this could possibly due to the precious lore, but I am completely fascinated. The only comparable was John Hurt’s intro as the War Doctor, but we all knew next episode would be all about him. ‘Ruth’ is a complete curveball, and she is played utterly brilliantly by Jo Martin. I am incredibly invested to see where this goes and how this ties into the Master and the Timeless Child.
So wow, that was a lot. A big episode. It did kind of feel like moving from one big event from another, and is far from a perfect episode, but those were big reveals handled extremely well. If you didn’t like this episode, you shouldn’t be watching this show.
9/10 Not perfect, but Series 12 gives us a midseason update on its mystery. Welcome to the two Doctors
Reviewing Doctor Who from Start to Finish 