August
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Introduction
| August | |
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| Season | 2 |
| Episode | 8 |
| Air Date | November 19, 2009 |
| Written by | J.H. Wyman Jeff Pinkner |
| Directed by | Dennis Smith |
| Starring | Main Characters |
| Guest Cast | Peter Woodward as August Michael Cerveris as The Observer Jennifer Missoni as Christine Hollis Paul Rae as Donald Long Lily Pilblad as Ella Eugene Lipinski as December Ryan McDonald as Brandon Amos Stern as July Mike Autonakos as Waiter Richard Cohee as Pin Seller Ali Liebert as Danielle Norman Misura as Security Guard Sunita Prasad as Waitress Ray Sammel as Mister Hess Mireille Urumuri as Receptionist |
| Previous Episode | Of Human Action |
| Next Episode | Snakehead |
| Transcript | |
| Additional Images | |
August is the eighth episode of the second season of FRINGE. It first aired on November 19, 2009. A public abduction in Boston sends the team chasing after one of the mysterious Observers. One observer has violated an important rule-of-engagement by saving someone he has cared for over the past two decades. As more observers gather to rein-in one of their own, they also have time to make a few observations about a member of the Fringe Division.
Synopsis
Prologue
In a city park, an observer, August, looks at his watch and takes notes while watching a young woman. A war veteran walks up to him and admires his binoculars. The pin seller gives August an American Flag pin and puts it on his lapel. The observer thanks the man and returns to watching the young woman, closes his binoculars and puts them in a briefcase, which contains a teddy bear as well. He walks up to the young woman, takes her by the arm and tells her, 'Come with me, please'. As she starts to scream, a good samaritan tries to stop the abduction, but is shot with a pulse weapon that thrusts him backwards. August injects the woman with something and shoves her in a car. A security man orders a halt, then fires his pistol several times at August, with no effect. In the car, August presses his thumb on the ignition keyhole to start the car and then drives away with the unconscious woman in the backseat.
ACT I
Olivia is at home napping on the couch. Her niece, Ella, wakes her and they excitedly plan their day together around the map of an amusement park. Olivia’s cell phone rings and her niece is immediately disappointed because she knows that Olivia is going to put off their trip to the amusement park.
At the Bishop’s residence, Olivia talks with Peter about the abduction in the park. Walter is in
At Walter's lab, Astrid tells the team that the abductors notebook was recovered, but the symbolic alphabet could not be deciphered. They watch the video of the incident, freeze-framing on The Observer, realizing that this Observer is different and that there must be more than one. They replay a scene again and notice that August caught a bullet in his bare hand.
ACT II
In Lowell, Massachusetts, August sits in a motel room with the young woman. He ties her to the foot of the bed. As she speaks, he speaks the same words almost at the same time. He gags her, puts on his hat and leaves.
Broyles tells Olivia that the young woman is Christine Hollis, a twenty-seven year-old student. Olivia ponders why Observers have watched for so long, but now they choose to get involved.
At Massive Dynamic, researcher Brandon recognizes some symbols from the notebook that have been found on ancient sites dating back thousands of years. He finds several pictures from the 1700’s and finds an Observer in the background, and again in 1914 at another historical event. He explains that their time is not linear like ours and it’s like they're "observing time". They’ve appeared at important moments, maybe two dozen occurrences in the last 5,000 years, but recently they’ve shown up twenty-six times in the last three months.
In a restaurant, several Observers are talking over photographs of Christine. She was supposed to be on a flight to Italy, and they question why August abducted her - as he has created an "irregularity".
An assassin receives a photo of the young woman and prepares for his assignment.
ACT III
In Allston, MA, Olivia and Peter are in Christine’s house talking to her friend, who is renting the house while Hollis is in Rome. Peter looks at a picture of Christine’s family and learns that they were killed in the big San Francisco earthquake of 1989. Behind the father in the picture is August.
In her Belle Motel room, Christine struggles to free herself. She breaks away from the foot of the bed and falls to the floor. As she does, August walks in with food for her. He is calm despite her attempted escape. He sits her back up and removes the gag. He looks at her wrists and sees that she is bruised, showing concern. He turns on the television news to show Christine why he took her.
In the car, Peter and Olivia talk about Olivia’s ruined day with her niece Ella. Olivia tells a story of going to a movie with her Mom and enjoying the time, even though the movie hadn’t started. On the radio, they hear a report of a plane crash near Italy – the flight was the same one
In the motel room, news of the airplane crash comes on and August tells her he saved her. She is surprised. He tells her he must leave and that he prefers not to gag her, but must for her own protection.
In Walter's Lab, Peter and Olivia discuss why August saved Christine. The blood sample shows high concentration of chili pepper juice, and as it turns out, it is not blood at all; it is from a specific type of pepper, and Astrid start to hunt down the peppers in Boston.
At a restaurant, August walks up to the table of the other three Observers.
ACT IV
The three asssociates, December, The Observer and July, ask him to explain himself and who Christine Hollis is. August says he has watched Hollis her whole life. They tell him they have interfered before only to correct a mistake of their own making. August says he sees her as important, and the group tells him that his mistake will be forgiven, but his mistake must be corrected.
Astrid finds that three restaurants and one private person had ordered the peppers previously.
The assassin picks the lock of an apartment, which happens to be the same address of the person who had ordered the peppers, and enters with his gun drawn. On the wall he sees photos of Christine, from when she was a child.
Walter enters a restaurant, as he’s decoded the note left by August. Walter begs August not to take his son and that he knows what he did was wrong. August says that’s not why he contacted him, he needs Walter’s help.
Peter and Olivia enter the residence. The assassin is waiting in the house and puts a gun to Peters’ head. Peter surprises him and hits him. The man escapes.
ACT V
In the restaurant, The Observer tells Walter that he’s interfered in the natural order of events, and to correct it, the others will kill Christine Hollis. He can’t see any course of action that will prevent her death. He believes Walter can help because once Walter saw beyond the limitation of his problems to solve them. Walter asks why she is important and he can’t explain, he can merely see it. He sees it with such certainty, but the other can’t see it. Walter tells August that he must convince the others of her importance and that he must make her important.
At the residence, Peter and Olivia find a New Bedford newspaper from 1884, predicting a record year for local whaling.
At the motel, The Observer removes the gag from Christine. He asks her if she trusts him. She says she does. Then you must do exactly as I say, He tells her.
At the residence, Peter and Olivia wonder what exactly are they looking for. They receive a call, somebody spotted August at a motel in Lowell.
At the Belle Motel, the assassin bursts in. August pops out of the closet and shoots the assassin first, propelling the intruder backward. The Observer leaves the room with the man in pursuit. The man asks where the girl is. Peter and Olivia pull up. The Observer says 'Good-bye' before he is shot multiple times by the assassin.
ACT VI
The assassin shoots at Peter and Olivia. They approach August. He takes Peter’s hand and puts his weapon in it while Olivia pursues the assassin. She climbs the stairs of the motel and walks down the hallway. The man is on a roof, but is shot by the new pulse weapon that Peter has. The man falls to
Olivia enters the motel room, calling for Christine. She finds her under the bed, and helps her up. Christine asks about August and Olivia doesn’t answer.
August is in the back of a car, with The Observer driving. August says he saw her when she was a child, after her parents had been killed, she was crying but she was brave. He has deep feelings for Hollis. A tear rolls down his face, as he inches toward death.
Olivia asks Christine who The Observer was. Christine doesn’t know. He never told her why he saved her. Walter tells her that August asked him to give her something in case he didn’t make it and pulls out a teddy bear for Christine. She looks at it and remembers that her dad won this for her playing skeeball right before her parents were killed. Peter corners Walter on the fact that he concealed his knowledge of the observers... Walter deflects the inquery - he wants a tuttie-fruitie milkshake.
The man shot was Donald Long, an assassin responsible for six murders along the eastern seaboard.
Olivia and Ella make it to the amusement park and are riding the roller-coaster. December and The Observer stand among the park patrons and watch the two ride and scream in delight on the ride above. December comments on how happy she is. And that it is a shame things are about to get so hard for her.
Quotes
- "I saw her many years ago. She was a child. Her parents had just been killed. She was crying. But she... she was brave. She crossed my mind... Somehow, she never left it. I think... it's what they call... feelings. I think... I love her. Will she be safe now?" - (August, to The Observer on the reason why he saved Christine Hollis)
Trivia
General
- The final scenes were filmed at Playland, Canada's oldest amusement park.
- The King Cobra (Bhut Jolokia) chile pepper, mentioned by Astrid and Walter, is the spiciest (capsicum heat) known pepper.
Production Notes
- Blair Brown (Nina Sharp) was credited, but did not appear in the episode. Nina was only mentioned by lab technician Brandon.
- The names of two of the newly introduced Observers were not mentioned, or seen, in the episode. However, December (actor Eugene Lipinski) and July (actor Amos Stern) appeared in the closing credits.
Continuity Errors
- A single large Canadian flag on a tall flagpole is visible for a moment, in the background, when Olivia and Ella are riding on the roller coaster. The amusement park outing was set in the greater Boston metropolitan area. A US Flag would be a more likely sight at a US amusement park.
Recurring Themes
- Green-green-green-red light sequence. Sent as a message to the assassin, is similar to the light sequence that appeared in The Equation and other episodes.
- Mind Reading. August anticipating, and simultaneously repeating, every word that Christine Hollis says, is similar to the conversation and confrontation The Observer and Peter had at the end of The Arrival
Music
• Jamaica Say You Will by Jackson Browne 
Glyphs
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Unanswered Questions
| Theories about these unanswered questions should be placed and read at August/Theories |
| Unanswered questions |
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- How many observers are there?
- Is Peter able to use the Observer's gun because he's from "over there"?
- Is the observer referring to Olivia or Ella when he said that things going to be hard for her?
- What is the deal/arrangement between Walter and The Observer?
- After August died, why did Christine remain important?
- Do Observers age?
- How can the "likeness of a nitrogen molecule" serve as a message?
- Is there significance to the New Bedford 1884 whaling article reference other than showing that August must have been around in 1884?
- Broyles said they found nothing to connect Donald Long to the Observers: What happened to the cell-phone he was carrying that they used to contact him?
- If there was evidence, was Broyles covering it up?
