That was a lot to take in!
Whatever you think of him, Chris Chibnall is certainly a bold storyteller. He was on Broadchurch, and especially this series, he’s proving to be on Doctor Who. Re-introducing serialization and multiple long-term story arcs has given him the opportunity to flaunt that audacity largely in the form of big dramatic twists with major implications and plenty of intrigue. “Spyfall” had one, “Spyfall Part 2” had another, and “Fugitive of the Judoon” has one as well, the second bombshell following what might be the best surprise character reveal since Tom Baker’s ‘Curator’ showed up at the end of “The Day of the Doctor”. None of these are cheap storytelling tricks, but rather large gambits that are extremely exciting to watch. However, that onus to follow-up is all the greater, to build on such developments or resolve them in equally exciting ways. And it asks for a lot of your trust. Fortunately, and without that end in sight presently, these choices are remarkably compelling, the ones at the centre of this episode perhaps most of all.
Sneakily, Chibnall and co-writer Vinay Patel (who wrote the excellent “Demons of the Punjab”) hide their giant twists in an episode called “Fugitive of the Judoon”, which hints at greater continuity only in bringing back a minor but memorable alien species from the Russell T. Davies era. The giant space rhino policemen-for-hire from “Smith and Jones” and “The Stolen Earth” (and yes, there is a cute callback to “platoon of Judoon on the moon”) make their return appearance under the context of hunting for a fugitive on behalf of a mysterious client hiding in present-day Gloucester. And we have an idea who it might be from the way the episode begins, like the last one, focusing primarily on guest characters: a local tour guide called Ruth Clayton (Jo Martin), her husband Lee (Neil Stuke), and a bakery employee Allan (Michael Begley) who’s inappropriately and pettily antagonistic towards Lee out of jealousy for his relationship with Ruth. We get a glimpse into their daily routines -including an interaction with a very realistic young tourist more impressed by Gloucester Cathedral for its role in Harry Potter than for its actual history. Between Allans’ paranoia and Lees’ strange behaviour once the Judoon show up, it would seem apparent one of them is the alien hiding out on Earth who the rhinos are after. But Allan is vaporized in pretty short order for “assaulting an officer” in one of the episodes’ more depressing moments of commentary, and though Lee sticks around long enough to actually convince the Doctor and everyone else that he’s the fugitive despite being quite human, it’s clear it can’t be that simple (and with still a half hour remaining after all).
Lee is one of the episodes’ more intriguing characters, short-lived though he ultimately is, with his final minutes given over to a lot of vague yet fascinating exposition hinting at an adventurous life beyond the confines of this planet and this episode. Indeed, characterization may be the greatest strength here, as every named guest character (except for Allan because fuck Allan) is both immensely interesting and played very well. Stuke plays his part with honest courage and admirable dedication. Gat (Ritu Arya) the Judoons’ client in charge of the operation likewise has a compelling history alluded to, as well as a relationship with Lee that’s laced with such wonderful animosity yet nominal respect. But they’re not quite the key players here. Ruth is, in the episodes’ first minor twist. But before getting to her, it should be noted that the regulars aren’t lacking for characterization either. The companions, though without any individual arcs and not a whole lot to do in terms of the episodes’ main action, each have strong moments and are once more incredibly significant as a unit, as they confront the Doctor over her frequent mood shifts as of late and her preoccupations.
The Doctor hasn’t been herself lately. Haunted by what the Master has done and suspecting he has or will find some way to escape the Kasaavin dimension, she’s been trying to track him down while also disappearing for stretches between adventures with the gang to visit the ruin of Gallifrey. This Doctor, usually so warm and bubbly, is periodically closed off and aggravated, snapping at Yaz for inquiring after specifics about what the Master told her and why she’s been going home. Through this exchange early in the episode, Jodie Whittaker brings the alien-ness of the Doctor to the forefront, her moody expression conveying strongly that barrier that exists between her and her companions, the feelings that they can never hope to understand. I remember being a little disappointed in 2018 that once more the Doctor would be travelling with contemporary human companions, but episodes like this show why that remains arguably a necessary choice. That distance between Doctor and companions is very important. She’s going to continue on, they eventually will leave, something reasserted near the episodes’ end when the Doctor reminds them she’s lived thousands of years, their lifespans a tiny spec by comparison. And yet the Doctor doesn’t seem to consider that, be that as it may, her companions -and especially her human companions- never forget her; something this episode emphasizes in the best way.
Chibnall and Patel deserve a lot of credit. There is no reason to think when Graham disappears at the bakery that it’s anything other than a kidnapping by the Judoon (who we know have beaming technology) as part of some subplot whereby Graham negotiates with them or something on modest grounds as the blue-collar bloke he is. The entire creative team for Doctor Who also deserve credit for keeping what actually transpires entirely secret. I’ve never been one prone to dramatic reactions from television; small ones maybe of glee or sadness, but not the kind you’d ever see in those online videos of fans going hysterical over a major reveal or development in their favourite show. And yet I couldn’t help letting out a scream of joy when Captain Jack Harkness showed up to greet Graham on the junky ship he’d been transported to. Everything about this massive surprise, from Jack’s signature outfit and John Barrowmans’ utter refusal to age, to the way it’s shot, cutting in on his wink and keeping him always in focus, to his dialogue full of the witticisms, snark, and double entendres he’s known for, it was amazing! A character I’ve wanted to see come back since his last appearance in Doctor Who all of ten years ago (and nine since we last saw him at all), and it was as satisfying as I’d hoped, though I didn’t think it would really happen. But then maybe I should have seen this coming ever since Chibnall took over. After all, Chibnall came to Doctor Who initially through Torchwood, having written a bunch of the best episodes of that shows’ first couple seasons. If anyone was going to bring back the character it was going to be him!
Jacks’ subplot is largely superfluous, as thrilling as it is to have him back. But it gets such mileage out of him just interacting with the companions, eventually beaming up Yaz and Ryan as well. His first impression that Graham is the Doctor (which has now happened a few times), his learning that she’s a woman now, and his reaction to the trio of companions she’s travelling with are all gold. Essentially though, it’s one long teaser that has nothing to do with the Judoon or their fugitive. Jack is simply trying to contact the Doctor using the malfunctioning transporter of a crummy ship he stole to foreshadow the danger of the Lone Cyberman, a time-travelling weapon meant to defeat the Cybermen that actually threatens to restore their power. It’s a preview of a future episode (probably this series’ finale) and then Jack is gone, forced to beam out due to anti-theft nanogenes -but promising that he will return to see the Doctor. Not a word about what he’s been up to, what happened with Torchwood where Miracle Day left off, or Gwen Cooper for that matter, who I’d also like to see make a return -but again, Doctor Who as of late isn’t really in the business of acknowledging spin-offs so that’s no surprise. For now though, it’s okay. One of my favourite companions is back, and I’m very happy!
But the return of a long-absent fan favourite isn’t actually the biggest shock of the episode, and Chibnall, Patel, and director Nida Manzoor are smart enough to end that thread before the last act introduces a new radical shift to the universe. Lee had bought time for the Doctor and Ruth, though the Judoon still managed to corner them in the cathedral. Martin had been playing Ruth as a very ordinary working woman caught up in the sudden madness, though curiously the centrepiece of most scenes she was in. But the moment she’s identified by the Judoon as their fugitive, a different persona takes over, aggressive and violent as she fights of the Judoon, steals their gun, and even dismembers one of them by breaking off their horn. It’s that classic trope of the sleeper agent, though more menacing, this clearly being a fragment of Ruths’ real self hidden beneath the Judoons’ identified biological shielding. It works well to make us wary of her and yet Martin also invites real sympathy in how horrified she is about all this. By the time she and the Doctor reach her family home, a lighthouse, we know that she’s an alien, she’s violent, and she’s unpredictable. And while the Doctor looks around the place, compelled by a tombstone that she proceeds to dig under, Ruth following a posthumous clue from Lee breaks the glass of a fire alarm and is hit with an energy long-time Doctor Who fans have seen before. The suspenseful editing is great here as it builds to the Doctors’ discovery of the TARDIS beneath the tomb, and when Ruth appears behind her now in stylish new clothes and with a previously unseen confidence introducing herself as “the Doctor” it’s properly stupefying (much more than the Masters’ reveal a few episodes back).
It’s not that Ruth is really another incarnation of the Doctor that’s most bewildering, it’s the fact that she’s a Doctor who would rip off a Judoons’ horn, who would threaten with a powerful gun (whether or not she’d use it). And she’s not a Doctor traumatized the way the War Doctor or Ninth Doctor were. You’re wondering how the Doctor could get to this point, not so much a victim to darker impulses, but nonplussed by them. There’s something too in how she doesn’t seem much bothered about Lee, who clearly had been her companion and cared for her a lot, and whom she has to know didn’t survive this affair. What’s more complicated though is that this Doctor has no recollection of the Thirteenth, insisting that she is a later incarnation, though we know better …or do we? That’s one of the episodes’ big gambits, the possibility of another retroactive Doctor, which if true would once more complicate our identification of each version as well as the series overall timeline. But there’s no mistake, they are both the Doctor, one of them with an unreliable memory. This new Fugitive Doctor is more likely to be the recipient of that given the events of this episode, but her TARDIS is clearly an older design and she’s never used a sonic screwdriver.
Martin makes for a very interesting Doctor though, suave in spite of her desensitization, cool and in control, and with far slicker shades than the Twelfth Doctor tried to pull off. And she’s having as much fun as Whittaker. But that coldness is always beneath it all, as in their subsequent final encounter with the Judoon and Gat, revealed to be a Time Lord herself whom the Fugitive Doctor once worked for. Neither of them are aware of either destruction of Gallifrey, further distressing the Doctor as to her own history. It’s an incredibly heavy moment for the Doctor that Whittaker plays beautifully, the emotion of which is capped off by Gat’s attempt to kill the Fugitive Doctor backfiring on her through that Doctors’ machinations. A Doctor who could kill another Time Lord so casually, how could this possibly be her past or her future?
It’s a question that recalls the Valeyard, one of the few truly fascinating concepts from the Sixth Doctors’ run. Is the Doctor with all of their many forms and personalities, capable of becoming this? And it ties into the series long question: Doctor who? Who is the Doctor, we wonder once again as the current incarnation sits in her TARDIS later pondering the very same thing. As stated before, when Ryan, Yaz, and Graham attempt to comfort her, she rebuffs them. “You don’t know me, not even a little bit” she says. Then Ryan responds with one of the most moving sentiments I’ve heard on this show in a while, that reaffirms why this family of hers is so vital: “We do know who you are. You’re the woman who brought us together, the woman that saved us and loads of other people. You’re the Doctor. Whoever you were in the past or are in the future, we know who you are right now.”
And that’s all that matters.
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