Doctor Who: Series 12 – Episode 5 – Fugitive of the Judoon

I have never known any other show which actively sets out to (almost) rewrite its entire lore so frequently. Doctor Who’s latest episode from series 12, episode 5, “Fugitive of the Judoon” saw 2 incredible surprises. 1 in the form of Captain Jack Harkness returning, and an entirely new incarnation of the Doctor being introduced. That episode had 3 levels of awe, starting off swiftly with the reintroduction of the Judoon, last seen in the form of a quick cameo, the series 5’s penultimate episode, “The Pandorica Opens”. Their last episode where they made a main performance and helped with the story was way back in Russell T Davis’ era, during the series 4 2-part finale, where the Doctor and Donna Nobel visit them in the hopes of solving the mystery of the disappearing planets.

Their return wasn’t a safeguarded secret. It was known they would appear in this episode way back when the series was still being filmed, and there was a slight buzz in the air. Chris’ strategy during series 11 was to have an all new cast of monsters, but it seems this series he’s exploring the past (something this episode does heavily). The almighty surprise return of Captain Jack Harkness, on the other hand, was an eye-opener. No one saw it coming. That’s exactly how things should have been years ago.

For years, trailers have spoilt as much as they could in the hopes of getting people to watch it, only now realising that the best way to get and keep people watching is to give them a true surprise. Sure, Captain Jack Harkness’ return was only in the form of an extended cameo meant to keep the three companions busy and dump a load of foreshadow to the audience, so he never got the chance to met the Doctor in her present form, but none of that really mattered. What really mattered was that Captain Jack Harkness had made a return, we didn’t know anything about it until that episode, and John Barrowman absolutely nailed the performance like he always does.

But the final level of awe, the surprise that knocked the episode out of the park and into the stratosphere, was the introduction of a completely new incarnation of the Doctor, supposedly from her past, except the 13^th Doctor have no memories of this incarnation. I copied the same reaction I gave when John Hurt was introduced as a past incarnation: “What. The. Heck. Just. Happened?” We are getting another storyline that changes the lore of the show once more. Can Doctor Who get away with that? No one has messed with the history and lore of the show more so than Stephan Moffatt has, and now it’s Chris Chibnall’s turn.

Jo Martin plays the previously unknown incarnation. We, the audience, are introduced to her through the form of Ruth Clayton, a human in every sense of the word. Until we discover that she was the Doctor all along, and for reasons which were explained, she changed herself from Time Lord to human in an attempt to hide herself from those who were seeking her. For the amount of screen time Jo Martin’s Doctor received during this episode, it had everything you’d ever need between a classic meeting of two incarnations of the Doctor, just to prove that they are indeed the same person. My mind was blown from watching that episode. They pulled this complete redesign of the show’s lore out of nowhere, which again, has happened numerous times before throughout the 50+ years it has been on our TVs.

The beauty of Doctor Who is the ability to naturally alter and change and twist things up as many times as any writer wants and make it fit naturally. The longer the show continues to remain on our screens, the more universe shattering events such as these are going to happen, and so long as the writers can justify why, I see nothing wrong with that. Much the same as the show introducing Jo Martin’s Doctor, the show once introduced the act of regeneration, which was seen as an awesome moment. John Hurt’s Doctor was seen as a shattering moment. This is just one moment that follows all the other big moments before it, and of course they’ll be plenty more to come.

Jodie Whittaker’s performance in Fugitive of the Judoon was phenomenal. Her best work yet. And even though we knew nothing of her until now, Jo Martin’s performance was just as spectacular, bouncing off Jodie’s Doctor as if she had always been the Doctor. Series 12 has certainly made up for the bumpy start that was series 11.

Thanks for reading

Antony Hudson

(TonyHadNouns)