Doctor Who Series 12 Episode 5 - Fugitive Of The Judoon - Review

Starring: Jodie Whittaker, Bradley Walsh, Tosin Cole, Mandip Gill & Jo Martin

Written By: Vinay Patel & Chris Chibnall

Directed By: Nida Manzoor

My anticipation of 'Fugitive Of The Judoon' spiked when I saw that Vinay Patel was credited as one of its writers. This is the same Vinay Patel who in the last series gave us 'Demons Of The Punjab' - a gorgeous historical episode and still my favourite thing to come out of the 13th Doctor's era so far. Going from a beautiful romantic tragedy set during the partition of India, to space rhino police invading present day Gloucester is … perfect. I love it! The presence of the Judoon in Series 12 is something that's been common knowledge for a while now, and I'm keen to see what they're about to bring to the table... 

The Doctor and friends are alerted to an alien presence in the city of Gloucester - the Judoon have occupied the city, surrounding it with a forcefield. As the platoon descend upon the city, the TARDIS arrives too, with the Doctor keen to minimize the damage the Judoon cause. While the Judoon search for the hidden fugitive, it looks increasingly as though their target is linked to a local tour guide, Ruth, and her husband, Lee. What is Lee hiding and why are the Doctor's companions being teleported away one by one?

The remainder of this review will contain major spoilers for the episode!

'Fugitive Of The Judoon' starts out on the right foot, introducing us to Ruth and Lee. It's Ruth's birthday, but it's being treated as just another day and there's a lovely optimistic warmth to these opening scenes. Accompanied by a cheery score, Ruth says hello to the ducks as she walks to her work as a tour guide, before asking disinterested passers-by if they'd be interested in learning more about the city. She even has the local coffee shop owner pining for her affection although he clearly doesn't understand or respect boundaries. Simply put, Ruth is someone any of us could expect to meet when we're out and about, and she's incredibly likeable. Meanwhile in the TARDIS, the Doctor is searching for the Master, anticipating his escape from the Kasaavin dimension. I like that the Doctor's known the Master for long enough to just assume that he'll be coming back. We've had subtle mentions that something's not right with the Doctor over the past couple of episodes, but 'Fugitive Of The Judoon' links in much more overtly with the running series arc (and trust me, that is no understatement!). But it's not long before the TARDIS arrives in Gloucester. A platoon of Judoon marching through Gloucester, scanning people and shooting away an elderly lady's knitting is a very Russell T Davies image. Not just because Davies invented the Judoon, but because his era was very much about blending the everyday and the aliens. The Judoon have popped up in cameo appearances over the past few years and had a couple of great stories over at Big Finish, but this is their first proper reappearance in a while. They look terrific - the new prosthetics work on the Captain in particular looks amazing and is able to emote surprisingly well.

But while the Judoon are searching for their fugitive, something odd is happening with our companions. First Graham, and later Ryan and Yaz are teleported away in the middle of the action. Where have they been taken, and who by? Well after years of rumours and wishful thinking … Captain Jack's back! Seeing John Barrowman don the jacket after nearly a decade away, still the same old Jack full of enthusiasm and cheekiness is fantastic. I love how he mistook Graham for the Doctor, even giving him a smooch, and it's great seeing our three current companions meeting such a beloved already familiar figure. So Captain Jack's finally back! I wonder what the episode has in store for him … very little apparently. Like everyone else, I had that "OH MY GOD, WHAT THE F*CK?!" moment when he burst onto the screen, but after that he was relegated to doing … nothing. Jack's purpose in 'Fugitive Of The Judoon' is to remove the companions from the brunt of the story and tease events that I presume are being saved for the finale. He passes on the warning to beware the "Lone Cyberman" before dropping Graham, Ryan and Yaz off and leaving again. Well that was a shame wasn't it? I wanted to see Jack return, but not just to deliver set-up and tickle our fan-lobes for something coming up. Rather like the second part of 'Spyfall', you could remove the companions and Jack entirely and the main story wouldn't change. I'm holding out hope that Jack will be back for the finale and when this "Lone Cyberman" shows up, but if Chibnall is to be believed that's apparently not happening. It smells like a lie to me, and I sincerely hope it is 'cause otherwise this is a massive waste of John Barrowman. 

Back in Gloucester with the Judoon, the episode went out of its way to set Lee up as more than meets the eye. In fact Lee is so suspicious that you wonder if the twist is going to be that he has nothing to do with it. And while he's no innocent bystander, it turns out the real fugitive is Ruth. In a rather hectic moment, something happens to Ruth where she overpowers several Judoon, tearing the horn off the Captain and forcing them to retreat. Well that was something! Following this, Ruth still with no clue why the Judoon are after her, begins seeing visions of the lighthouse where she grew up as a young girl. With the Doctor, the two travel back to her childhood home where more answers are revealed. In an incredibly well-executed scene, the Doctor discovers buried outside the lighthouse … is the TARDIS. Ruth meanwhile has her true identity restored … she too is the Doctor. I had genuine goosebumps during this reveal … the direction, Segun Akinola's grand swelling music, the sheer confusion of what was going on … it was one hell of a twist. 

However this does mean that in a single episode, one which already features the return of the Judoon and Captain Jack, we also have a monumental twist with potentially massive implications on the lore of the show. Anyone else starting to see the problem here? Series 12 has served up yet another episode trying to do too much, and as with the likes of 'Orphan 55' - it can't do it all justice. The fun Judoon story this episode started as is soon abandoned, Jack is relegated to exposition and set-up, so what about the Ruth Doctor? Obviously if Ruth really is the Doctor then that raises a million and one questions that I'm sure we'll get answers to as the series goes on. There's already all sorts of theories - that she's a parallel version of the Doctor or that she's part of a regeneration cycle that pre-dates Hartnell. Personally there's no real theory I'm gravitating towards; some are more credible than others and some could risk frankly damaging effect on continuity. I know I might sound frigid and wanting to keep things the way they are, but for the record, I'm all for there being drastic changes provided it's worth doing and it benefits the show. Let's not have another 'Hell Bent' situation though. For now I'm not betting on anything, I'm going to wait and see where Chibnall goes with this. As for the Ruth Doctor herself, there's not a lot I can say. While I liked human Ruth, the Ruth Doctor only spends her limited screen time being annoyed at the 13th Doctor and Gat. I do find it strange the way this episode wraps things up as well. The Ruth Doctor drops 13 off back in Gloucester and goes off on her own travels. Is there a reason why these two aren't trying to figure out what the hell's going on there and then? Obviously from our point of view the answer is that it's been deemed finale material. But there's no in-universe reason I can think of why these two let each other go by the end of the episode. But as a side note, and to avoid sounding too negative, the Ruth Doctor's TARDIS is gorgeous: a beautiful modern update of the original 60s design. It's spot on.

More than any other this series, 'Fugitive Of The Judoon' is the episode that's got everyone talking and hyped up. It's many people's favourite from Series 12 so far, so it's a damn shame that I was left very lukewarm about it. It tackles far too much, starting out as a simple Judoon story, then bringing back Captain Jack to tease upcoming episodes, then introducing a new Doctor but saving the answers for later. There's nothing wrong with any of this in principle by the way. Want to bring Jack back? Great! But give him something meatier than this to do. Want to upend and get risky with the show's canon? Go for it! But don't introduce it half an hour in and then proceed to delay answers for weeks. 'Fugitive Of The Judoon' depends entirely on episodes yet to come. It began life as its own thing, but soon devolved entirely into set-up and teasing. That's not necessarily a bad thing but when you're juggling this much as well, it makes for an underwhelming experience. As it stands, 'Fugitive' is designed to get fans in a tizzy. Fun Fact: I missed this episode on transmission as it was broadcast on my 21st birthday and I was out with friends. I watched it when I got back, but had been spoiled about Jack's return. So while I was thrilled to see him back, I didn't have quite the same "in the moment" shock euphoria. Strip these big "WTF?!" moments away from 'Fugitive Of The Judoon' and it doesn't hold up well.

Fugitive Of The Judoon

5/10