(S02E08) "Who are these people?" -- PeterAwww ... we have met The Observer, and he is shy and caring. Or a cold-hearted killer, take your pick.
At long last, it was good to learn a little more about these mysterious creatures, although there are still lots of questions about them. We know there are many of them, that they observe people throughout the course of their life, and that they're not supposed to interfere. Oh, and they like hot sauce, but we already knew that.
So even with all of the scary stuff she sees in her line of work, Olivia is scared of roller coasters. I guess it's one thing to peer down a dark corridor with a gun in your hand, and yet another to be at the mercy of the roller coaster builders. At least she and Ella got their day at the theme park. If only we knew what that Observer meant when he said ...
... "Look how happy she is. It's a shame things are about to get so hard for her." My question is, was The Observer referring to Olivia or Ella? My first instinct is Ella, and that maybe she'll lose her mom and end up in the care of Olivia. After all, the Observers know what's going to happen before it happens. They drill that point home by saying what the person is saying, as they're saying it. And how annoying would that be?
But, apparently, they aren't supposed to have feelings. As for why this particular Observer saved Christine, he said something to this effect, "I saw her many years ago. She was a child. Her parents had just been killed. She was crying. She was brave. She crossed my mind somehow. She never left it. I think it's what they call feeling. I think I love her. Will she be safe now?"
Ok here's where they lost me a little. Walter told the Observer that he had to make Christine important in order to save her, "and of course, whatever you do you must be prepared to face the consequences." But how did the Observer make her important? In the car, the other Observer said, "You made her important. She's responsible for the death of one of us."
Was he talking about the death of August? Because the assassin wasn't an Observer, right? All thoughts and theories welcome.
It was interesting that the Observer had been carrying around Christine's teddy bear all those years. It made me think of last week's episode, where Walter used Peter's teddy bear during the mind-control incident.
Regarding the time when The Observer saved Peter and Walter when their car crashed into the lake ... as has been mentioned before, we can assume that Peter died in that crash, and the alternate universe Peter was brought to this universe. Was this an instance where an Observer interfered "to correct a mistake of our own making"? Was the mistake made before the car crash, and thus the Observer felt compelled to save Walter and bring alternate Peter to this universe? Or was the mistake the fact that the Observer saved them at all, when they (or Peter) should have died? It's a mind twister.
Walter: "Please don't take my son. Your friend and I had a deal. An arrangement. I know what I did was wrong, but ..."
Observer: "That is not why I contacted you. I need your help ... you solved such a matter before. You saw beyond the limitations of your problems."
Walter: "I just missed my son."
Some Observer Notes:
- They can start a car with their finger and stop a bullet with their hand. Both skills could come in handy.
- They've historically shown up at important moments in history -- i.e. Paul Revere's ride, Boston Massacre, etc. -- but there's been a surge of Observers (26) in the past three months. Why?
Other Stuff:
- Walter trying to re-create his favorite ice cream ... with Wild Cherry cough syrup.
- I have a copy of the non-repeating code here. I'll try to post a picture of it in the next day or so.
- "King Cobra Chili ... I once ate one. The flatulence was horrible. Very embarrassing." - Walter
- The Observer knew that a likeness of a nitrogen molecule would attract Walter's attention.
I look forward to your observations on this episode.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
11-20-2009 @ 6:06AM
ral said...
I believe the Observer who was in love with Christine died after shedding the tear and finding out she was safe. So, he was the death that Christine "caused".
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11-20-2009 @ 6:54AM
Andrae said...
If the Observer has been seen at over 30 events, how come the FBI doesnt have somebody in the crowd looking for him? Just a random thought.
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11-20-2009 @ 6:54AM
CRVBOY said...
Ok, so they can start a car with their finger on the key slot, but they have to break a window to get into the car? why can't they just put their finger to the lock and open the door?
And why did the bullets from the assassin's gun kill the observer when the bullets from the gun that the security guard used, didn't?
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11-20-2009 @ 9:41AM
robert said...
in the video of the abduction when they slow it down frame by frame you can see that he catches the guards bullet. he let the assassin shoot him.
11-23-2009 @ 6:15PM
Ben said...
I was wondering about both of those things myself. My guess is as good as yours, but it looked like some sort of energy exited August's finger when he started the car. As a car needs a spark to start, this worked, but it wouldn't be altogether helpful trying to open a locked door. Most cars don't require electrical/combustible energy to open the door.
As for the bullets, I think August wanted to die to make the girl important. As the other Observer noted, she became important because she had caused the death of one of them.
Like I said, I really don't know what I'm talking about... those seemed to make the most sense to me.
11-20-2009 @ 7:59AM
mickey said...
yes it was the observer who died..that's what i thought..
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11-20-2009 @ 8:43AM
John said...
I think the observer let himself be killed by the assassin so that Christine would have caused his death and thereby be special enough to leave alive.
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11-20-2009 @ 9:49AM
Hank said...
I think last week's episode opened another possibility for Peter. That he's a clone.
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11-20-2009 @ 10:35AM
hotboudain said...
Anybody think the Observer's gun isn't actually out of ammo but there's something unique about Peter that allows him to fire it?
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11-20-2009 @ 11:52AM
D said...
Yeah the gun thing stood out to me.Either it takes a specific person,or more interesting is maybe a person from another reality which we all think Peter probably is.
I find it also interesting that the death of an observer would be so important.Maybe they don't often die?
And did anyone else also think Olivia was trying to sell us a Ford Taurus?
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11-20-2009 @ 12:14PM
chrissthomas said...
August definitely dies. That begs the question, do they all have names of months? Why do you suppose they like hot sauce? Do you think it is anything like the need for mercury that the shapeshifters have?
I think that the mistake that was made was saving Walter and Peter and because of this Peter later had to be killed because he was supposed to die and that is why Walter went to get the other Peter from the alternate universe. Either this or my other theory from what the Observer said is that somehow they caused the crash and Peter died as a result. Because they caused it, they somehow helped Walter steal the alternate Peter, possibly without Walter even knowing they helped.
I was thinking the same thing about the statements of the boss Observer at the end. I also think that he was talking about Ella and not Olivia but I wonder if there is more significance to the overarching themes of the approaching war than just some difficult family stuff. I think this episode was one of my favorites so far. I find the Observers intriguing and along with Leonard Nemoy probably the best part of the show.
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11-20-2009 @ 12:51PM
dee said...
I think that Peter and Walter were in the car crash because they returned from the other universe with "momentum" as did Olivia. The observer saved them because they were not supposed to die, he knew their future was important.
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11-20-2009 @ 1:25PM
Christopher said...
Thats a great theory. It also would explain how Walter got (alt.) Peter.
Fox is killing this show putting it on Thurs, they need to move it Wed or Tues.
11-20-2009 @ 1:40PM
Parl said...
Great episode, great comments. I really wish a show like Heroes would learn more from this show. There is just enough going on in each episode to make it interesting by itself, but at the same time, there's just enough to keep you interested in the overall story arc that's running through the season.
Agree with Christopher above; I'm concerned they're hurting the show by putting it on what I think is the busiest night of the week.
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11-20-2009 @ 1:59PM
Europa said...
Okay, I don’t know if this qualifies as a ***SPOILER*** or not but consider yourselves forewarned!!
People keep speculating about whether Peter is from this dimension or the other or if he’s a clone, etc. I have an answer direct from the horse’s mouth (as it were) but again …
***SPOILER ALERT!!!!! DON’T READ MY POST ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON’T WANT TO KNOW.***
I was in Los Angeles a couple of weeks ago and the local FOX news affiliate had a special segment on Fringe right after the 11/05/9 episode aired (I guess for November sweeps). One of their reporters traveled to the set in Vancouver to interview Joshua Jackson (who was obviously suffering from the flu or a very bad cold – poor guy). They both revealed – without warning it might be a spoiler, arrrgh! – that Peter is definitely from the other dimension and that everyone (i.e. Olivia, Broyles, Astrid, etc.) all find out before he does which makes him very angry. Joshua said a great part of the rest of the season has to do with how he handles it. Does he stay angry about it? Does he stay on this side and help out or go back to the other side and try to connect with his family there? Or does he say, “screw it” to all of it and does nothing and goes AWOL? So there, this Peter is definitely from the other side according to Joshua Jackson. So unless TPTB lied to him or have changed their minds, we can stop speculating about that aspect of the storyline. When I returned from LA I was fully expecting to see this information in Spoilers Anonymous but unless I missed it TVSquad didn’t post it.
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11-20-2009 @ 2:39PM
D said...
Well if that is true we'll get that pretty soon,probably during sweeps,so nice added element to go out before the break and then come back with.
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11-20-2009 @ 6:48PM
johngaltx said...
No Fringe next week----what a bunch of MORONS at Fox!
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11-22-2009 @ 1:48PM
Brett Alan said...
You really think it would be a good idea to put a new episode on Thanksgiving night? I don't think so. Lots of people would forget about it, and others would end up watching something else because they're around family members who don't watch and such. It's not like Fox is unique here--most shows don't run new episodes on Turkey Day.
11-21-2009 @ 2:40AM
Keith said...
Ok, I really enjoyed this episode (as I do most of them), but one thing bothered me. And I know they did this to establish that the Observers show up throughout history and are present at important historical events, but why are they in paintings and etchings of these events? Even if the artist in question was present and painting from firsthand knowledge, he didn't create the image on the spot like a photograph. At best, he would have sketched out a vague thumbnail of the event and paint (or draw or etch) it later. I doubt seriously that he sketched out each person exactly as they appeared, so I don't buy that the Observer would have even been painted into the crowd.
It's a very minor point, but it still bugged me.
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11-21-2009 @ 9:38PM
David said...
Did you forget when the observer and walter went to a house in a beach to find something walter had forgotten? The observer said that they had a deal, I'm sure it had to do with Peter's issue.
Besides, if the observer wanted Walter to find that device to close the "interuniversal" door,it means that the observer wanted that door closed, so they (the observers) were intentionally interacting (maybe to save William Bell's life from Jones fury because the travel from a universe to another is "forbidden" and thats why Walter is concerned when he talks to August).
It is like if the observers are not concerned with the upcoming war. They may pertain to a deeper and darker history we'll see in a long time, in nexts seasons. Greetings from Spain.
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