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The Worst Episodes of The Fugitive

Every episode of The Fugitive ranked from worst to best. Explore the Worst Episodes of The Fugitive!

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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

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  1. #1 Worst Episode
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    The Fugitive Season 3 Episode 16 - Not With a Whimper
    6.6/10(191 votes)

    S3:E16

    Kimble arrives in the factory town of Hempstead Mills, West Virginia to assist Andrew McCallister, his longtime mentor who is dying from lung cancer which confines him to a wheelchair. McCallister's vigorous anti-smog campaign has earned him a reputation as a local crackpot. But the old man plans to go out with a bang; by having a bomb hidden in a package which he has Kimble deliver to the local factory. But when McCallister discovers that a group of school children will be inside the factory during a school tour at the time of the explosion, he dispatches Kimble to evacuate the building and deactivate the bomb before time runs out.

    Director:Alexander Singer
    Writer:Norman Lessing

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  2. The Fugitive Season 2 Episode 19 - Fun and Games and Party Favors
    6.8/10(192 votes)

    S2:E19

    While working as a chauffeur for a wealthy family, Kimble learns that the teenage daughter of the family is dating the pool cleaner. While chaperoning a party for the daughter's friends, Kimble throws out a unruly young man who crashes the party. But Kimble is soon faced with a little blackmail when the man turns out to be a crime buff and recongizes Kimble from a police magazine.

    Director:Abner Biberman
    Writer:Arthur Weiss

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  3. The Fugitive Season 2 Episode 20 - Scapegoat
    7.0/10(191 votes)

    S2:E20

    A man who knew Kimble during one of his disguises, meets him again. He tells him that on one of his hurried, silent departures from a town, he left behind evidence which indicated he was dead and an innocent man is being held for his murder.

    Director:Alexander Singer
    Writer:William D. Gordon

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  4. The Fugitive Season 4 Episode 9 - Approach with Care
    7.0/10(198 votes)

    S4:E9

    Kimble meets Willie Turner, a mentally disabled young man who is accused of hurting a child. Kimble reluctantly hides Willie at a carnival where Kimble now works. Kimble tries to persuade Willie to return to the hospital where his sister had him committed. But naturally, Willie is slow to understand what Kimble means and, on top of that, does not remember hitting the young boy he is accused of hurting. Willie's sister, Mary, as well as an attendant from the psycho ward at the local hospital, arrive searching for Willie and find him. But the attendant recognizes Kimble and calls the police. In trying to protect his new friend, Willie strikes the attendant, badly injuring him, and warns Kimble in which both men, now fugitives, take off in a stolen truck. Kimble hides out with Willie at a nearby auto wrecking lot, where he tries to persuade Willie to return to the hospital, while the sheriff and his men are already on their trail.

    Director:William Hale
    Writer:Lee Loeb

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  5. The Fugitive Season 4 Episode 24 - The Savage Street
    7.0/10(185 votes)

    S4:E24

    Kimble is working at a cigar-making store owned by Jose Anza, and becomes close friends with his son Jimmy. Jimmy is caught between the expectations of his demanding father who wants him to play the violin and the harassment Jimmy receives from three street punks. When Kimble is shot in the leg after the police discover him, Jimmy hides the fugitive from both his father, and his uncle Miguel, a police officer determined to capture the fugitive.

    Director:Gerald Mayer
    Writer:Mario Alcalde

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  6. The Fugitive Season 3 Episode 11 - Set Fire to a Straw Man
    7.1/10(176 votes)

    S3:E11

    Kimble reluctantly becomes involved with Stella Savano, the sister of George Savano, a mobster who runs the trucking company where Kimble works. Stella is an emotionally disturbed woman with a dangerous attraction to Johnny, the adopted eight-year-old son of Jesse Stangel, Kimble's co-worker. Kimble learns that Stella is actually Johnny's mother. But Stella becomes so delusional that she thinks that Kimble is Johnny's father.

    Director:Don Medford
    Writer:Jack Turley

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  7. The Fugitive Season 4 Episode 4 - The Sharp Edge of Chivalry
    7.1/10(191 votes)

    S4:E4

    Kimble, working as an apartment janitor in a nameless big city, becomes implicated in a murder when Roger Roland, a neighbor whom lives across the street, is a troubled young man and a part of Irish royalty, but he profanes his family history by dying his red hair black. Roger murders a neighbor woman in the building where Kimble lives by bludgeoning her to death with a marble statue after she refuses his advances. After a tenant reports seeing a figure run from the murder victim's apartment, the police arrive and suspect Kimble despite his alibi. Roger then hides the statue in Kimble's room and when Kimble finds it, he hides it in an air conditioning vent. Kimble thinks Roger is involved and tells his father, Edward, and Roger's younger sister Liz. But naturally, Edward Roland refuses to believe Kimble and unbelievably thinks Kimble is the killer and calls the police. Kimble escapes and tries, with Liz's help, to prove his innocence. Meanwhile, Gerard arrives in town after hearing the

    Director:Gerald Mayer
    Writer:Sam Ross

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  8. The Fugitive Season 4 Episode 12 - The Devil's Disciples
    7.1/10(198 votes)

    S4:E12

    While fleeing from a sheriff's dragnet, Kimble is rescued by a dangerous motorcycle gang called 'the Devil's Disciples, led by the brutal Hutch. As payback, Hutch and his gang want Kimble to help them avenge the death of a former gang member who robbed a gas filling station, where his father turned him in and as part of his sentence; he was drafted and sent to Vietnam where he was killed in action. When Kimble notices that the gang is not completly unified, he seeks help from Don, one of the members, and his girlfriend, Patty, to help him escape so he can warn the police to prevent the killing of the deseased gang member's father.

    Director:Jud Taylor
    Writer:Unknown

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  9. The Fugitive Season 4 Episode 25 - Death of a Very Small Killer
    7.1/10(169 votes)

    S4:E25

    Fleeing to Mexico, Kimble somehow contracts pnenmonia and seeks refuge at a local hospital where he is recognized by Dr. Howell, an ambitious American doctor whom is conducting reseach on menigitis. After Kimble recovers, Dr. Howell blackmails him into assisting with his research in exchange for protection from the local state police. While working with Howell's assistant, the attractive Reina Morales, Kimble soon discovers that several of the patients are being unwittingly infected and sacrificed for Howell's research purposes. Meanwhile, a persistent police sergeant, named Rodriguez, begins investigating Kimble's true idenity.

    Director:John Meredyth Lucas
    Writer:Barry Oringer

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  10. The Fugitive Season 1 Episode 28 - The Homecoming
    7.2/10(242 votes)

    S1:E28

    While working as a research technician for the wealthy Allan Pruitt, Kimble gets involved in the business of Allan's teenage daughter, Janice, who returns home after spending a year in a mental hospital recovering from a nervous breakdown after witnessing a young boy under her care get killed by two vicious stray dogs. But Allan's new wife, Dorina, does not take a liking to Janice and plots to drive her insane by hiring a neighbor to make his pet dogs bark in the nearby woods and convince Janice that the dogs are alive (they were captured and put to sleep by the local dog-catcher). But when Kimble claims that he has heard the dogs barking, Dorina asks the local sheriff to investigate Kimble to find any dirt on him.

    Director:Jerry Hopper
    Writer:Peter B. Germano

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  11. The Fugitive Season 2 Episode 10 - The Cage
    7.2/10(221 votes)

    S2:E10

    While working as a handyman in the predominantly Hispanic fishing village of Puerto Viejo, Kimble becomes aware that the area is beset with a plague epidemic and he's forced to call the state health inspector to have the entire area quarantined. But he soon finds himself trapped when the local doctor suspects his true identity and the irate villagers set out to find him.

    Director:Walter Grauman
    Writer:Sheldon Stark

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  12. The Fugitive Season 1 Episode 2 - The Witch
    7.3/10(361 votes)

    S1:E2

    While working as a handyman in a backwater community in Missouri, Kimble has a few run-ins with a young girl named Jenny Ammory who is a pathological liar who speaks to a rag doll she calls 'Nyet' which she keeps at a nearby pond. Jenny uses Kimble as an excuse when she's late for school when she claims that a man attacked her. When Kimble shows up making a routine delivery of supplies to the school, Jenny identifies him as the man who attacked her. As Jenny's teacher, Emily Norton, speaks to Kimble about Jenny's compulsive lying, Jenny runs home and tells her mother she saw her teacher and the local handyman making out in the barn. Kimble gets roughed up by his co-workers while Emily gets fired and both are advised to leave town. Kimble goes to a school hearing on Emily and tries to clear her by catching Jenny in a lie. But his plan backfires when the skeptic townspeople believe Jenny and decide to form a lynching party to track Kimble down.

    Director:Andrew McCullough
    Writer:William D. Gordon

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  13. The Fugitive Season 1 Episode 29 - Storm Center
    7.3/10(244 votes)

    S1:E29

    While working as a dock worker in Florida, Kimble is recognized by Marcie King, a young woman who five years earlier asked Kimble to perform an abortion for her (illegal at the time; pre-Roe Vs. Wade). Kimble refused due to his religious beliefs, and Marcie went to another second-rate doctor to have it done. But after the operation, because of complications, Marcie can no longer have children and she incredibly blames Kimble for it. When a hurricane hits the area, Marcie and her boyfriend Harry, an embezzler on the run from the law, approach Kimble and threaten to turn him in unless he drives them to safety from the hurricane and the police looking for them.

    Director:William A. Graham
    Writer:George Eckstein

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  14. The Fugitive Season 2 Episode 30 - Last Second of a Big Dream
    7.3/10(177 votes)

    S2:E30

    Barry Craft figures he'll get some publicity by arranging to have Kimble captured at his wild animal show.

    Director:Robert Butler
    Writer:George Eckstein

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  15. The Fugitive Season 3 Episode 25 - With Strings Attached
    7.3/10(197 votes)

    S3:E25

    Kimble is hired as a chauffeur by Geoffrey Martin, a 17-year-old violinist who has grown weary of his career and would like to stop playing professionally for a few years when he decides to go away to college. But Geoffrey's demanding guardian/instructor, Max Pfeiffer, refuses to let Geoffrey go because under a contract, Geoffrey is obligated to continue performing until he is 21. In order to free himself from Mr. Pfeiffer, Geoffrey manipulates his assistant, Ellen, and Kimble into believing that Mr. Pfeiffer is emotionally destroying him.

    Director:Leonard Horn
    Writer:John Kneubuhl

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  16. The Fugitive Season 3 Episode 30 - Coralee
    7.3/10(188 votes)

    S3:E30

    After a diver dies in an underwater mishap, Kimble comes to the defense of the diver's girlfriend - whom the locals believe is a jinx. Kimble knows that the death may have been due to negligence - knowledge that puts him in jeopardy.

    Director:Jerry Hopper
    Writer:Joy Dexter

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  17. The Fugitive Season 4 Episode 8 - Wine is a Traitor
    7.3/10(184 votes)

    S4:E8

    Carl Crandall is the wealthy and spoiled son of winery owner Pete Crandall. Carl stops a labor strike at the winery by killing the union leader and framing Morales, another worker, for it. Kimble happens by and witness Carl run from the scene of the crime, but he is unable to tell anyone because of his secret. Kimble tries to write an annoymous letter to the California District Attorney, but Carl's goons confiscate the letter. While Kimble tries to persuade Morales's wife, Elena, to help him report Carl to clear her husband, Pete suspects Carl of the murder and sends his two right hand men to keep an eye on Carl. But the two men are in league with Carl who orders them to murder Kimble.

    Director:Gerd Oswald
    Writer:Howard Dimsdale

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  18. The Fugitive Season 1 Episode 20 - Bloodline
    7.4/10(235 votes)

    S1:E20

    Kimble works as a kennel-man for Max Bodin, a breeder of prize-winning Irish Setter show dogs, and who is currently putting his kennel up for sale. Max's son, Johnny, and Johnny's wife Cora discover that one of the dogs has developed hip dysplasia which means all of the dogs in the bloodline will likely inherit the condition and be worthless as show dogs. But they keep the news from Max and plot to live off the sale. But when Kimble stumbles onto their plan, they have him investigated.

    Director:John Erman
    Writer:Harry Kronman

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  19. The Fugitive Season 2 Episode 12 - Detour on a Road Going Nowhere
    7.4/10(212 votes)

    S2:E12

    While working as a hotel steward in Wyoming, Kimble is forced to run after learning that another hotel employee has stolen hotel funds, and Kimble becomes the suspect. Kimble escapes on a tour bus containing a bickering couple called the Langners, a visiting spinster named Louanne, a local guy named Sandy Baird, and the bus driver. But Kimble becomes trapped when the bus breaks down on a back road, and all the passengers discover his secret when his identity is revealed over the radio. Held at gunpoint, Kimble must find a way to escape by emotionally getting between his various captors before the bus driver returns with the police.

    Director:Ralph Senensky
    Writer:Philip Saltzman

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  20. The Fugitive Season 2 Episode 14 - Devil's Carnival
    7.4/10(207 votes)

    S2:E14

    Kimble unwittingly hitches a ride with Hanes McClure,a wanted criminal out to settle a score in his Georgia home town. When Hanes attempts to crash a barricade, and Kimble grabs the wheel to save an innocent life, but it gets both of them arrested. Both Kimble and Hanes then endure the spectacle the small town makes of the double arrest.

    Director:James Goldstone
    Writer:William D. Gordon

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  21. The Fugitive Season 3 Episode 2 - Middle of a Heat Wave
    7.4/10(190 votes)

    S3:E2

    While dating a local woman named Laurel Harper, Kimble breaks off their romantic affair and she angrily storms out of the bar they are in and into the night. The next morning, Laurel is found on an abandoned road unconscious and badly beaten. While she is taken to a hospital for treatment, Laurel's paranoid and suspicious sister, Sheila, convinces the police to hold Kimble for questioning.

    Director:Alexander Singer
    Writer:Robert Hamner

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  22. The Fugitive Season 3 Episode 5 - Conspiracy of Silence
    7.4/10(185 votes)

    S3:E5

    While working as a steward at a remote desert resort, Kimble is unaware that the area is a top-secret government test site for chemical weapons. Kimble tries to leave, but gets mistaken for a spy by Major Beck, the head of the project. When several staff members, including the staff physician, suffer from a chemical explosion, Kimble is pressed into service to care for the wounded, unaware that Beck still plans to turn him in to the army general leading the project.

    Director:Jerry Hopper
    Writer:William D. Gordon

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  23. The Fugitive Season 3 Episode 21 - Shadow of the Swan
    7.4/10(197 votes)

    S3:E21

    At a carnival, Kimble meets Tina Anderson, an attractive young woman who helps him get a job and introduces him to her uncle Harry, who is a retired police detective. But Harry soon recognizes Kimble and tries to arrest him. Tina helps Kimble get away and wants to run off with him, but he refuses. Tina, who is revealed to be an obsessed sociopath, plots to betray Kimble for him refusing her advances.

    Director:James Sheldon
    Writer:Anthony Lawrence

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  24. The Fugitive Season 4 Episode 1 - The Last Oasis
    7.4/10(202 votes)

    S4:E1

    Injured after being shot during a police chase, Kimble seeks refuge at an orphanage near a Navajo Indian reservation in Puma County, Arizona. Annie Johnson, the head teacher (and herself an orphan), removes the bullet and offers Kimble work as a teacher. Meanwhile, while the local sheriff Prycer believes that Kimble has escaped, a determined and overzealous deputy, named Steel, believes Kimble is still in the area and suspects Annie of sheltering the fugitive.

    Director:Gerald Mayer
    Writer:Barry Oringer

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  25. The Fugitive Season 4 Episode 11 - Right in the Middle of the Season
    7.4/10(181 votes)

    S4:E11

    While working as a fishing crewman, Kimble becomes embroiled in a union strike which is orgainzed by Joe Donovan, the son of Kimble's employer, grizzled fisherman Tony Donovan. During a rally, Kimble, Tony and a few others are arrested. After being released, Kimble tries to leave town knowing his secret will be revealed, but he's prevented from doing so. When the police finally learn Kimble's idenity, they question Tony about his whereabouts, but the sympathic Tony claims not to know. He then offers to take Kimble to Mexico if he helps him out on his latest fishing trip. But Joe sees Tony smuggle Kimble on his boat and calls the authorities.

    Director:Christian Nyby
    Writer:Sam Ross

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Worst Episodes Summary

"Not With a Whimper" is the worst rated episode of "The Fugitive". It scored 6.6/10 based on 191 votes. Directed by Alexander Singer and written by Norman Lessing, it aired on 1/4/1966. This episode scored 0.2 points lower than the second lowest rated, "Fun and Games and Party Favors".