While the majority of the fandom can agree that Chris Chibnall’s first season in Doctor Who was lackluster and underwhelming in terms of narrative, the new showrunner packed all the big guns for his next run, which resulted in season 12 being more than just unexpected. At least, so far.
Ever since the premiere episode of Jodie Whittaker’s second outing as the Doctor suddenly reintroduced the Master, we knew that the show was properly back to business. And the latest episode, titled “Fugitive of the Judoon,” saw the return of Captain Jack Harkness after more than 10 years. Granted, in a normal Whovian week, that’d be the talk of the town, but the revelation of a secret Doctor took the sci-fi show’s aptitude for a surprise to new extremes.
Of course, we don’t know what this could imply for the continuity and lore just yet. Hell, we don’t even know if this new Doctor (played by Jo Martin) is actually an incarnation of the Lonely God. Chris Chibnall seems to insist that she is, but for all we know, this could be a deliberate red herring.
In hindsight, it’s easy to suggest that no one could’ve seen this coming, but upon second viewing, fans have noticed some hints that teased us about the big reveal.
If you pay close attention, Ruth is always playing around with her wristwatch, representing a clear link to her identity as a Time Lord. Not only that, but Commander Gat refers to Ruth’s partner as her ‘companion.’ Also, her apartment is ornated with blue and hexagonal shapes, which resemble the TARDIS.
But perhaps the biggest clue is there in plain sight moments before Ruth is revealed as the Doctor when she’s drawn to a fire alarm that contains her Time Lord essence. If you watch closely, this isn’t any old fire alarm and there are a number of Gallifreyan runes written on it, all pointing to the fact that there’s a Time Lord lurking around.
Now that the truth is out there though, we obviously have a lot of questions about this new mystery Doctor, so we can only hope that we’ll get some answers before this season of Doctor Who ends in a couple of weeks.
