This week marks 5 years since “Fugitive of the Judoon” was broadcast. Rather fittingly, it’s also seen the release of the first volume of Doctor Who: The Fugitive Doctor, the new audio series from Big Finish starring Jo Martin. Since it’s such a significant occasion, I thought it was worth rewatching this mysterious Doctor’s debut appearance.
The first thing that stands out about “Fugitive of the Judoon” on rewatch is the amount of misdirection. Chris Chibnall and Vinay Patel clearly wanted to build up to their big twist, and while they do include a few genuine clues about what’s really going on, they also included plenty of distractions along the way.
For example, there’s Lee, Ruth’s husband. The episode immediately makes it clear that he’s a suspicious character who’s not telling his wife everything. It might be a little too obvious at times, but it works, at least for the first half of the story.
Major returns
It’s not just through red herrings that the episode draws attention away from its key moment, of course. Chibnall and Patel made the very smart choice of including not one but two big returns for fans to get excited about.
The first was the Judoon. Ever since they were introduced in Series 3’s opening episode “Smith & Jones”, the Judoon have proven themselves to be a fantastic monster. It’s refreshing to have a monster that’s outwardly trying to do the lawful thing, and yet their reckless and bullish methods ensure that they create as much chaos and damage as any other Doctor Who monster. So bringing them back was a good enough reason for fans to watch the episode, and it has to be said, they’re handled exactly right.
However, the second big return was definitely not announced, and for about twenty minutes, stood out as the episode's biggest surprise. For the first time since “The End of Time: Part Two”, John Barrowman returned to Doctor Who as Captain Jack Harkness. No one expected this, and it was a smart way of distracting fans from working out who Ruth’s real identity was.
Having said that, while clues were provided indicating that there was more to Ruth than even she knew, I don’t think anyone could have guessed exactly who she really was…
The Fugitive Doctor
We have to mention how brilliant Jo Martin is in this episode. As Ruth, she’s likeable. But as the Doctor, she’s brilliant. Regardless of where her incarnation takes place in the Doctor’s long history, there’s no question that Jo Martin completely convinces in the role. She plays it with a strong sense of authority, a great contrast to Jodie Whittaker’s more carefree incarnation.
While we’re not given much information about her Doctor, the episode provides plenty of intriguing breadcrumbs, at least some of which I hope are explored at a later point. For example, Lee – who’s revealed to be not just Ruth’s husband but the Fugitive Doctor’s "faithful companion" – is murdered by the Division agent called Gat. We know how important companions are to most Doctors, at least. But how does this particular Doctor feel about such a loss?
Speaking of Gat, we know that this is only the end of her long chase of the Doctor. We also know that she was only hunting the Doctor down on behalf of the Division. Why are the Division hunting the Doctor? How much does the Fugitive Doctor know about her past? What doesn’t she know?
Unanswered questions
Many of the questions raised by this episode haven’t been fully answered. And while I’m excited to listen to the Fugitive Doctor’s brand new audio adventures, I also know that many questions shouldn’t be answered.
While I’m not the biggest fan of his era, one thing I do appreciate about Chris Chibnall as a showrunner is that he did try to bring a sense of mystery back to the Doctor. In both this season and the next, there are many questions he asks that he deliberately doesn’t answer. That’s not a bad approach, especially for bringing a sense of mystery back to the Doctor.
Looking back, “Fugitive of the Judoon” might be one of the stronger episodes from Chibnall’s era. Not just for its shock factor, but how well it's aided by a decent story with an intriguing mystery and some great use of one of the stronger monsters from the New Series. On top of that, it also introduces a new Doctor in an extremely exciting way while asking brand new questions of our favorite Time Lord. Having rewatched this episode, I'm even more excited to listen to the new Fugitive Doctor audio series.