The Best Episodes of The Fugitive
Every episode of The Fugitive ranked from best to worst. Let's dive into the Best Episodes of The Fugitive!
Richard Kimble is falsely convicted of his wife's murder and given the death penalty. En route to death row, Kimble's train derails and crashes, allowing him to escape and begin a cross-country search for the real killer, a "one-armed man". At the same time, Dr. Kimble is hounded by the authorities, most notably dogged by Police Lieutenant Philip Gerard.
Top Episode Ratings Summary
The best episode of "The Fugitive" is "The Judgment (2)", rated 9.2/10 from 362 user votes. It was directed by Don Medford and written by George Eckstein, Michael Zagor. "The Judgment (2)" aired on 8/29/1967 and is rated 0.2 point(s) higher than the second highest rated, "The Judgment (1)".
9.2/10 362 votes#1 - The Judgment (2)
Season 4 Episode 30 - Aired 8/29/1967
In the continuation of this story Kimble and Gerard are on a train for his hometown in Indiana. And Kimble then reveals that the person who sent the bail money is his brother-in-law Leonard Taft. Kimble doesn't think it was him but someone from his hometown did send the money and used his brother-in-law's name. The one armed-man calls the Tafts demanding that they meet with him, someone does go to the meeting but it's not Leonard Taft but the one-armed man assumes that he is, and says that he remebers him. Obviously this was the man who sent the money and the one-armed man is demanding more money which he doesn't have. Kimble and Gerard arrive at the Taft residence and talk to Len, who tells them that someone called claiming the same thing and arranged a meeting, Kimble ans Gerard arrive at the place and find some bullets. But for Gerard there is nothing more that can be done; they then go back to the Taft house so that Kimble can say good-bye to his sister, and it's at that moment tha
Director: Don Medford
Writer: George Eckstein, Michael Zagor
9.0/10 299 votes#2 - The Judgment (1)
Season 4 Episode 29 - Aired 8/22/1967
This was the series finale. In the first part, the one-armed man whom Kimble has been pursuing has been arrested for a minor crime. Lt. Gerard tries to use this to lure Kimble out into the open. A woman who knows Kimble tries to help him. Kimble tries to see if this man is the one he is looking for but someone wires a bail bondsman some money to bail him out. KImble then visits the bail bondsman but finds him dead. He then goes through his papers and is shocked to see who sent the money. He then goes to see this person but Gerard catches and takes him in. As the one-armed man hops on a train, Kimble and Gerard are making their way back.
Director: Don Medford
Writer: George Eckstein, Michael Zagor
8.8/10 315 votes#3 - Nightmare at Northoak
Season 1 Episode 11 - Aired 11/26/1963
Kimball is injured while helping save some children from a fiery crash. While recuperating at a local home, he learns that his caretakers are the local sheriff and his wife. As if this weren't bad enough, a news article describing Kimball's heroic deeds goes nationwide. The all-seeing Lt. Gerard reads the article, and then goes to the small town to arrest Kimball.
Director: Christian Nyby
Writer: Stuart Jerome
8.7/10 215 votes#4 - Escape Into Black
Season 2 Episode 9 - Aired 11/17/1964
On the verge of closing in on the shadowy one-armed man, Kimble is renderd amnesiac after a freak gas explosion at a roadside diner. While the Fugitive fights to regain his memory, a struggle ensues at the local hospital between Margaret Ruskin, a sympathic social worker whom regonizes Kimble and belives him to be innocent, while a local physician, named Dr. Towne, belives Kimble to be guilty. Meanwhile, the one-armed man slips away, but not before he makes an anonymous phone call to the police and Gerard about Kimble's whereabouts.
Director: Jerry Hopper
Writer: Larry Cohen
8.5/10 273 votes#5 - The Girl from Little Egypt
Season 1 Episode 14 - Aired 12/24/1963
In San Francisco, Kimble is nearly run over by a car driven by Ruth Norton, a young flight attendent distraught over discovering that the man she has been dating for the past four months is married with two children. While recuperating in the hospital, a delirious Kimble flashes back to the months leading upto the night of Helen Kimble's murder and Kimble first seeing the one-armed man fleeing from his house. Followed by Kimble's trial, sentence, and escape from the train wreck. Ruth, who has been keeping a vigil at Kimble's bedside, hears him mutter Helen's name. Thinking that he's in some kind of trouble, Ruth takes Kimble (now going by the alias George Browning) to her apartment to recover. Kimble then gives Ruth advice on her relationship with her boyfriend, Paul, and to put her life problems in perspective.
Director: Vincent McEveety
Writer: Stanford Whitmore
8.5/10 209 votes#6 - The End is But the Beginning
Season 2 Episode 17 - Aired 1/12/1965
Kimball takes advantage of a deadly car accident as a way to try and convince Gerard that he is now dead.
Director: Walter Grauman
Writer: George Fass
8.5/10 194 votes#7 - Landscape with Running Figures (2)
Season 3 Episode 10 - Aired 11/23/1965
In the conclusion to Part 1 (from last week), Kimball accompanies a temporarily-blinded Mrs. Gerard to a place where she can phone her husband for help. Mrs. Gerard, who is as inquisitive as her husband, continues to pepper Kimball with questions about himself and his life. As she starts to put the pieces together, she realizes that this man may be Richard Kimball. She begins to form a plan to trap him.
Director: Walter Grauman
Writer: Anthony Wilson
8.5/10 210 votes#8 - Ill Wind
Season 3 Episode 24 - Aired 3/8/1966
Gerard tracks Kimble to a migrant community in South Texas where he finally captures the fugitive who attempts to flee by train. But a violent hurricane strikes the area and forces them to seek shelter in a fragile barn where most of the farm workers are gathered. But when Gerard is badly injured when the roof collapses on him, Kimble, to the astonishment of the workers, actually helps try to save the lieutenant by helping transport him to another building where the fugitive pleads for a blood doner to save Gerard's life whom has weakened by the loss of blood.
Director: Joseph Sargent
Writer: Al C. Ward
8.4/10 275 votes#9 - Never Wave Goodbye (2)
Season 1 Episode 5 - Aired 10/15/1963
After finding that the one-armed man is not the same man he saw fleeing his house the night of Helen's murder, Kimble flees from Los Angeles, bearly escaping Gerard's dragnet. Tired of running, Kimble hopes to lie low in Santa Barbara and finally confides with Karen his secret. But Gerard tracks Kimble to Santa Barbara from a single clue that Kimble leaves behind at the L.A. County Jail: a match with the word ""sails"" printed on it. When Kimble discovers that Gerard has arrived in town looking for him, with the assistance of Eric, Kimble and Karen flee by sailboat and hope to end the running by faking his and Karen's death in a sailboat accident during a storm at sea.
Director: William A. Graham
Writer: Hank Searls
8.4/10 197 votes#10 - Landscape with Running Figures (1)
Season 3 Episode 9 - Aired 11/16/1965
In Part 1 of a 2-part story, Lt. Gerard and his wife are on a much-needed vacation. When Gerard rushes off to answer the call to duty, an angry Mrs. Gerard decides that enough is enough, and leaves town on the bus. Unbeknownst to her, Kimble is on the same bus. When the bus crashes, Kimble helps her get away from the wreck. Due to a head injury, she is suffering from temporary blindness and doesn't recognize Kimble. Kimble, unaware of who SHE really is, decides to accompany her to a phone where she can contact her husband. Along the way Mrs. Gerard starts asking questions, and is starting to form an image of Kimble, and is intrigued with what she learns. Will she discover his true identity before they reach their destination?
Director: Walter Grauman
Writer: Anthony Wilson
8.4/10 205 votes#11 - Wife Killer
Season 3 Episode 17 - Aired 1/11/1966
Reporter Barbara Webb spots Fred Johnson, the one-armed man, in a police roundup of suspicious character during a murder investigation. Calling to mind the Kimble case with her publisher boss Herb Malone, Barbara takes a photo of Johnson and publishes it in the local newspaper. The image of the one-armed man draws both Kimble and Gerard to the town. While Gerard waits for Kimble to show up at the police station, the fugitive is outside and sees Johnson in the jail courtyard. But the one-armed man spots Kimble and escapes from the jail and steals a getaway car. Barbara spots Kimble and tells him to get in her car as they chase after the one-armed man. During the chase down a winding mountain road, the one-armed man's car crashes, and Kimble has to tend to Johnson's injuries knowing that he's the only one to clear Kimble of his wife's murder. Unable to speak because of a head injury, Johnson nodds when Kimble asks if he murdered Helen. While Kimble rests, Barbara types a confession paper
Director: Richard Donner
Writer: Daniel B. Ullman
8.3/10 246 votes#12 - Search in a Windy City
Season 1 Episode 19 - Aired 2/4/1964
Beliving that the one-armed man is in Chicago, Kimble contacts Mike Decker, a newspaper columnist who defended Kimble during his trial. Kimble and Decker organize a city-wide search for the one-armed man. But things get complicated with the arrival of Decker's alcholic wife, Paula, whom gets nervous of Kimble's presence and falls off the wagon. Meanwhile, Gerard learns about Decker's search for a one-armed man and decides to use the writer to set a trap for Kimble.
Director: Jerry Hopper
Writer: Stuart Jerome
8.3/10 194 votes#13 - May God Have Mercy
Season 2 Episode 25 - Aired 3/16/1965
While working as a hospital orderly, Kimble is recognized by Victor Leonetti and his wife Anne whom hold Kimble responsible for the death of their daughter. Kimble tries to flee, but gets shot and is forced to undergo surgery for the gunshot wounds. But when Victor learns that Kimble was trying to contact a specialist at the time of the girl's death, he tries to make amends by confessing to Gerard, whom arrives at the hospital, that he was the one who murdered Helen Kimble.
Director: Don Medford
Writer: Don Brinkley
8.3/10 176 votes#14 - Trial by Fire
Season 3 Episode 4 - Aired 10/5/1965
Kimble's sister Donna summons him home with a possible break in the case: a letter from James Eckhardt, a former U.S. Army captain whom also saw the one-armed man fleeing from the Kimble's house on the night of Helen's murder. Kimble meets with Eckhardt who agrees to help the fugitive out. Eckhardt's story seems strong enough to clear Kimble. But unknown to either men, another witness comes forward: a convict in prison for drug dealing, who reveals that he used to sell heroin to Eckhart for a Korean War battle wound and that Eckhardt was on his way to see him that night to buy some drugs, which is more than enough for Gerard to discredit Eckhardt's testimony.
Director: Alexander Singer
Writer: Philip Saltzman
8.3/10 174 votes#15 - When the Wind Blows
Season 3 Episode 15 - Aired 12/28/1965
In rural Wyoming, Kimble seeks refuge from the local constable at a small hotel run by Lois Carter, a young widow whom hires him as a handyman. Kimble soon befriends Lois' son Kenny, a particularly sensitive young boy whom protects Kimble from the police when they arrive looking for him.
Director: Ralph Senensky
Writer: Betty Langdon
8.3/10 182 votes#16 - The 2130
Season 3 Episode 27 - Aired 3/29/1966
While working as a chauffeur in Denver, Colorado, Kimble reluntantly covers for teenager Lauire Ryder after she dents her father's car. But Kimble flees after discovering that Laurie was involved in a hit-and-run. After learning Kimble's idenity, Laurie's father, Dr. Mark Ryder, summons Gerard (along with the entire Kimble file) to Denver where he introduces Gerard to the 2130, a computer that can help capture the fugitive by determining a pattern to his travels. As the 2130 makes progress, Kimble's new travels all over the country end with one close escape after another with the police.
Director: Leonard Horn
Writer: Daniel B. Ullman
8.2/10 295 votes#17 - Never Wave Goodbye (1)
Season 1 Episode 4 - Aired 10/8/1963
Kimble, working as an apprentice sailmaker in Santa Barbara, California, falls in love with Karen, the daughter of his stern but compassionate boss Lars Christian. But earns scorn from Karen's jealous and overprotective brother Eric. When Lars suffers a heart attack his last wish on his deathbed is to implore Kimble to stay with Karen. Meanwhile, Gerard flies to nearby Los Angeles when he hears about the arrest of a one-armed man for armed robbery and lets the story hit the newspapers, hoping it will flush out Kimble.
Director: William A. Graham
Writer: Hank Searls
8.2/10 254 votes#18 - Home is the Hunted
Season 1 Episode 15 - Aired 1/7/1964
Kimble returns to his home town in Illinois after learning that his father, John Kimble, has suffered a heart attack and has donated his medical library to the University of Wisconsin and in the process of selling the family house. While Kimble hides out at the home of his sister Donna and her sympathetic husband Leonard, Kimble blames himself for his father's condition, but is more troubled by his younger brother Ray, whom belives Kimble is guilty and thinks he's to blame for ruining his life since people see Ray as ""the brother of a killer."" Meanwhile, Gerard arrives in town to search for Kimble and focuses on Donna and Leonard whom try to shake off the relentless detective long enough for Kimble to get out of town before Gerard finds him.
Director: Jerry Hopper
Writer: Arthur Weiss
8.2/10 221 votes#19 - Angels Travel on Lonely Roads (2)
Season 1 Episode 23 - Aired 3/3/1964
Kimble and Sister Veronica continue their journey to Sacramento, unaware that the Nevada State Police have put up a roadblock at the state line. While Kimble deals with a disgruntled ranch hand, named Chuck Mathers, whom suspects his true idenity, Sister Veronica accidently discovers Kimble's idenity through a TV news report. But she does not tell Kimble about her knowledge of who he really is.
Director: Walter Grauman
Writer: Al C. Ward
8.2/10 197 votes#20 - The Iron Maiden
Season 2 Episode 13 - Aired 12/15/1964
An industrial accident traps Kimball and some government workers underground. A member of the trapped group wants to turn Kimball in as soon as they are rescued. To add to Richard's problems, Lt. Gerard is waiting above at the only exit.
Director: Walter Grauman
Writer: Paul Lucey, Peter R. Brooke
8.2/10 197 votes#21 - Nicest Fella You'd Ever Want to Meet
Season 2 Episode 18 - Aired 1/19/1965
While traveling though a small town in Arizona, Kimble is arrested by the brutal and sadistic Sheriff Jo Bob Sims whom has political ambitions. Sheriff Sims (unaware of Kimble's true identity) subjects him to slave labor with a group of other vagrants he arrests on a daily basis for no reason other than to torture or humiliate them. When Kimble witnesses Sims murder another prisoner and has the equally corrupt mayor and town council cover it up to look like an accident, Kimble becomes aware that his own life is in danger.
Director: Sutton Roley
Writer: Jack Turley
8.2/10 187 votes#22 - The Survivors
Season 2 Episode 23 - Aired 3/2/1965
Richard Kimble returns home when he learns his wife's family is in financial trouble. The complications are that his mother-in-law hates him, his sister-in-law loves him, and his father-in-law is being questioned by the police.
Director: Don Medford
Writer: George Eckstein
8.2/10 181 votes#23 - All the Scared Rabbits
Season 3 Episode 7 - Aired 10/26/1965
Kimble responds to a newspaper ad for a driver and is hired to drive a certain Peggy Franklin and her 10-year-old daughter, Nancy, to California. But Kimble doesn't realize that Peggy has abducted Nancy from her ex-husband, a pathologist named Dean Franklin. Nancy innocently removes a rabbit from Dean's research lab, unaware that the rabbit has meningitis. When Nancy contracts the sickness, Kimble risks keeping his secret safe to save Nancy before she dies.
Director: Robert Butler
Writer: William Bast
8.2/10 181 votes#24 - Running Scared
Season 3 Episode 22 - Aired 2/22/1966
After learning of the death of his father, Kimble contacts Donna and her husband Len Taft and wants to meet with them. Donna and Len drive to Fort Wayne, Indiana and check into a hotel under assumed names. But their rendezvous is threatned by Mike Ballinger, the former prosecuting attorney at Kimble's trial, who recognizes them and calls on Gerard to set up a trap.
Director: James Sheldon
Writer: Don Brinkley
8.2/10 180 votes#25 - The Ivy Maze
Season 4 Episode 21 - Aired 2/21/1967
Fritz Simmons is a college professor doing research on sleep depervation. One of his patients is the one-armed man Fred Johnson, whom works as a groundskeeper at Wellington College. When Johnson begins talking in his sleep about having killed a woman, Fritz contacts Kimble. When Kimble arrives, he verifies that it is indeed Johnson, and he and Fritz realize that by recording Johnson's confession will prove Kimble's innocence. Meanwhile, Gerard has found out about the experiments from Fritz's wife Caroline, and believes that Kimble may be on the premises. Gerard's arrival at the facility leads to an incredible confrontation between himself, Kimble and the one-armed man.
Director: John Meredyth Lucas
Writer: Edward Hume