Boston, MA.  A hand opens a watch and makes some notes in an alien hand, all the while watching people in a park through classy flip-up binoculars and drinking from a small cup.  The man is wearing a gray suit and fedora and has no hair on his head.  He is like the Observer we’ve seen, but not the same one.  A vet approaches and gives him a flag pin.  The Observer goes back to watching people until he finds a young woman.  He packs his things in a briefcase and we catch a glimpse of a teddy bear; he leaves his notebook behind.  The Observer grabs the girl and starts walking with her.  A man tries to stop them and the Observer pulls a gun out and shoots the man.  It’s a unique firing signature, more like an electronic blast, and the man is sent flying.  They reach a car and the Observer smashes the window and injects the girl, putting her in the car.  A police man arrives and shoots at the Observer who pauses for a second, the bullet no phasing him at all.  He puts his thumb on the ignition, starts the car and drives away.

Opening credits.

Ella wakes Olivia up to remind her they’re going to the amusement park, she has a map.  Olivia says no roller coasters.  She’s scare of roller coasters.  Olivia’s phone rings, it’s the office.  She has to take a rain check and Ella is incredibly understanding.  Olivia goes to the Bishops to tell them about the incident.  Walter is making milk shakes trying to recreate his favorite flavor from a shop that’s closing down.  Olivia has him look at photos about the Observer.  Walter recounts the time the Observer saved him and Peter from an icy lake about 20 years ago.  Astrid says some security video has surfaced and that the Feds have found the notebook.  They also figure out the Observer is a different guy.  Peter notices the jump in the footage, they go slowly through it to see the Observer catch the bullet the cop fired at him.  Peter asks, “Who ARE these people?”  Walter glances away knowingly.

Lowell, MA.  The girl is in a hotel room with the Observer.  He ties her up.  She starts pleading and he mimics her, but adding a “to me” on the end of “You don’t have to do this.”  He then gags her saying it will safer if she stays quiet.  Donning his hat, he leaves the hotel.

Broyles tells Olivia the girl is Christine Hollis, an art student.  She’s no one special, nothing unusual.  Olivia is confused as to why a creature that just watches has taken to action.  Broyles says to find out why she’s special and she’ll find him.  Peter thinks he found blood on the book, asks Walter if the Observer ever said anything.  Astrid is having a hard time cracking the alien writing.  If it’s not writing, it may be a code.  Walter is secretly working on the code as well.  Walter says the orange blood might be hemophilia.  Astrid says someone else is investigating the symbols.

At Massive Dynamic, Olivia and Peter meet Brandon (again) who says a lot of symbols appear in ancient texts and tablets.  He then shows the two some pictures/paintings from 1770, 1793, 1914, dates that are important.  All of them have a likeness or image of the Observer in it.  Olivia says they’ve been around forever, Brandon says he thinks they see time differently and demonstrates using a straw and liquid.  He says they show up at important events, a few dozen over human history.  But lately he’s seen 26 in the last three months.  Why now, what’s about to happen?

At an Indian restaurant, the Observer we know and another but older Observer share some spicy food.  A third joins then saying they have situation with August.  He produces pictures of the first Observer taking the girl.  He then says she was supposed to be on a flight.  The older Observer says that “August” has created an irregularity and they’ll need to repair it.  They place a call via a strange communicator to Donald, a regular looking Joe.  In his car he opens a printer from a briefcase and prints off an image of Christine and loads his gun.

Olivia and Peter inverview Christine’s roomate who said she was supposed to be flying to Rome.  Peter finds a photo, the roommate says her parents were killed in the ’89 earthquake in San Francisco.  Peter shows Olivia the photo and the Observer is in it.

Christine is able to pull the footboard apart and partially free herself moments before August arrives with food.  He ungags her and is upset that her bonds have caused her injuries.  She asks again what he wants, he says it would be easier to show her.  He turns on the TV.

Olivia and Peter are driving the product placement and she uses the onboard hands-free product placement to check on Ella.  Peter asks what’s up and she talks about Ella and her going to the amusement park, then recounts a memory of her mom and the movies.  The radio recounts news of the airline disaster which they corroborate with the itinerary.  Back at the hotel, August tells Christine she was going to die as they watch news footage of the downed plane.  He says she’s not safe yet and he has to go out, then gags her even though he doesn’t want to.  She doesn’t struggle so much.

Walter’s still at the code as Peter and Olivia arrive asking a lot of questions.  Astrid brings Walter the results of the blood test, which isn’t blood, it’s chili pepper juice.  The Scoville reading suggests it’s very hot so they track who’s buying them.

August arrives at the restaurant.  The elder says it appears he’s been busy as the other two look on.

The Observers ask for an explanation, who is Christine Hollis.  August says he has watched her her whole life.  The original Observer says they don’t interfere.  August counters that they have before, but Original says only to correct their own mistakes; she has no future.  August says he sees one.  He may be in error and he’ll be forgiven, but she has to be corrected.

Olivia and Peter can’t see what’s special about this girl.  Astrid gives Olivia and Peter locations of who ordered the super hot King Cobra chilies, including a residence.  Walter sends Astrid out for cherries for his ice cream as a ruse so he can leave as well.

Ordinary Joe, Donald Long arrives at a spartan apartment, gun drawn.  He sees photos of Christine all over as well as a wind up organ monkey.  Walter shows up at a restaurant where August is waiting.  He purposefully left the notebook behind with the likeness of a nitrogen molecule as a message, knowing it would attract Walter’s attention.  Walter immediately starts with, “Please don’t take my son.”  He had a deal with the other observer and he knows what he did was wrong, but August says that’s not why he contacted him.  He needs help.

Olivia and Peter arrive at the apartment as a Donald opens a phone book to the last looked at page with hotel names and tears it out.  Olivia busts in and Donald comes up behind Peter with his gun to his head.  Peter begins to go on his knees and then spins around and catches the killer in the face before he can get a shot off.  The man flees.

August tells Walter he has interfered.  He says the others won’t to correct his actions by killing Christine.  Walter solved such a problem before.  August can’t explain the reason behind his certainty of her importance.  Walter says he must prove her importance to the others and be prepared to face the consequences.  Peter shows Olivia a newspaper from 1884 as they investigate August’s apartment.  August returns to the hotel and unties Christine.  Asks she trusts him, she says yes.  Peter asks, “What are they looking for?”  Olivia gets a call about a sighting of the Observer.

Donald the gunman arrives at the hotel but it appears empty.  August bursts out of the closet and blasts Donald with his electro-zapper.  They chase for a bit and when August sees Olivia drive up, he says good-bye and allows Donald to shoot him.

Olivia and Donald exchange shots.  She chases him while Peter goes to check on August who gives Peter his gun.  Olivia goes up to the second level and Donald is able to get behind and above her.  Peter is there to shoot him with the super-taser as Olivia pops a couple shots into him.  They go back to the parking lot and August is gone, leaving only his hat.  Olivia finds Christine tucked in between the mattress and the headboard.  She asks about August.

August is in a car with the original Observer who asks why he saved her.  He recaps the story of losing her parents and how he never stopped thinking of her and how this must be what it is to feel, that he loves her.  He asks again if she’ll be safe, Original says yes.  He made her important, she is responsible for the death of one of them.

Peter, Walter and Olivia talk to Christine.  Walter gives Christine a teddy bear on behalf of the Observer, August.  It was hers when the bridge collapsed.  Peter is troubled and asks Walter what’s going on, he’s really trying to get answers from them.  Walter suggests they go for a drive.  Broyles gives Olivia some information on Donald and that the tip off came from a phone at the hotel, possibly from August attracting attention.

Olivia asks for the day off to go ride roller coasters with Ella.  Original Observer and the Elder one watch her and say it’s a shame things are going to get so hard for her.

BLIGHT

One thing that bothers me about Fringe that I never picked up on until now is the inconsistency of data retrieval.  I think I’m going to pay closer attention to all shows involving the FBI, CIA, NSA, MI5 & 6, or any other secret or not-secret government security and investigative agency.  Here’s a good example.  Broyles tells Olivia that Christine is an art student at a school in Boston in a masters program for fine art.  He gives her a whole packet with her info that apparently doesn’t include a home address.  “We’re still working on that,” he told her.  Is it that hard for the FBI to find a home address?  Really?  They can find a student’s course of study but not where she lives?  Even if the school can’t give the address out, surely voter registration or drivers license agencies (both government run) would have her in the system once you found her name.

It’s a pause to allow more action and dialog.  I get that.  I get that you need to squeeze in a few more lines and minutes on screen with your stars.  I get that you need to finish the scene, maybe put another scene in front of it for pacing, but don’t pass of fthat you can’t find information that I could find on Google.  It’s a bit insulting.

I say that only because the science this time was not important.  What is important is the reveal that there are other Observers.  According to the Fringe wiki, the four we see are named August, (our main character) September, (the original) December, (the elder one) and July, (the one that brought the information.)  Officially the only one we’ve heard in the show is August.  The others were press releases that we retracted or cast lists that don’t exist.  Eugene Lipinski, who plays December, isn’t even credited on IMDB as of this writing.

That aside, we now know that the Observers are a group.  There are at least four, and with the names of months, we can assume that there are (or were) at least twelve.  With things being as reliant on symbols as they are, having time sensitive aliens named after months of the year makes for good TV.  I liked Brandon’s explanation of time as well and how the Observers are able to see it all at once.  They remind me of Dr. Manhattan from Watchmen and how he exists at every moment in time.  I enjoyed that.

I also enjoy Michael Cerveris.  The other Observers were merely doing an impression of Data from Star Trek TNG, but something about Cerveris’s portrayal of the calculating watcher is just so perfect.  He’s unpassionate yet curious.  He’s also creepy as hell and that goes a long way with the eerie cello music.

This episode gave us a lot and it built up more toward the end times that William Bell told Olivia about.  Aside from the “Here’s her shoe size and favorite 80′s cartoon, but we can’t find a phone number” bit, I had a fantastic time watching this one.

Four and a half randomly chosen glyphs.