Let's Talk About... Doctor Who: Fugitive Of The Judoon

**WARNING MASSIVE SPOILERS FOR 12X05 FOLLOW** 

Well, what did we make of that?! What started life as a fairly run of the mill, Judoon invade Gloucester adventure soon turned into something far, far more. I honestly don't know where to start with this episode; almost too much happened in its 50 minute time slot - but it was great!

Let's start with the first major revelation, and one that made me audibly squeal, is the return of John Barrowman as Captain Jack Harkness! its been nine years since we last saw the Captain (in the final episode of Torchwood: Miracle Day way back in 2011) but as soon as we saw Barrowman back on screen it was as if it had been no time at all! I loved the dynamic between Jack and Graham and a lot of humour was to be had from this. It's almost a shame that we didn't get to see John Barrowman share the screen with Jodie Whittaker but i'm sure we haven't seen the end of Jack and his return is a certainty. 

Okay, now the first big revelation is out of the way, lets turn to perhaps the most shocking, the reveal that Jo Martin wasn't just playing an innocent victim of the Judoons rampage, but that she is actually The Doctor?!?! What does this mean?! How is this possible?! These were all questions buzzing around my head as soon as she uttered the words: "I'm The Doctor". While we don't know any of these answers yet, what i will say is that Martin absolutely killed it as this mysterious Doctor and i can't wait to see her pop up again! Oh, and her Tardis was beautiful! It's almost a shame that this new unknown Doctor gets, arguably, a nicer Tardis interior than our main Doctor. THAT ORIGINAL 60s CONSOLE!!

After all of this its easy to forget the main draw of this episode before it aired: the return of the Judoon! It was great to see the terrific rhino police return, and in greater numbers than ever. The Judoon captain looked amazing and the animatronic work on the head looked so good! They didn't do a great deal but it was great to see them nonetheless. 

I also love how series twelve is going back to the series arc, first with the timeless child arc in episode two, and now with Jack's ominous warning of 'the lone Cyberman'. What does this mean? We don't know but i'm really looking forward to it!

if I had any criticisms of the episode it would maybe be, and i'm hesitant to say this but, maybe too much happened. This episode crammed so much in that it almost felt like a season finale. Let's hope that Chibnall hasn't burnt his bridges too early and there are twists to come that can top this weeks. For this reason i would say that perhaps this episode could've done with being a two-parter, if, for no other reason than to give more time to the Judoon plot-line and allow room to breath between the twists. I will say however, that because so much happened the 50 minutes flew by and i didn't see myself look at the clock once.

Overall, I was a massive fan of this story and Series 12 is on track to becoming one of the best since 2005, if it keeps up this momentum. (i'll hopefully be doing a retrospective of the Jodie Whittaker era so far in the near future so keep an eye out for that). I'd even go so far as to say that not only was this the best episode of series 12 so far, but maybe of the whole Whittaker era so far! - So long as Chibnall doesn't mess it up with the new Doctor.

9/10