Season 2, Episode 8:
August
An Observer, "August," abducts Christine Hollis, a 27-year-old art student in Boston. Olivia and Peter learn of the events and realize the assailant matches the description of the Observer. However, after viewing video footage they find that it is not "September," the Observer known for observing Pattern-related cases and who previously saved Peter and his Walter in 1985, indicating there is more than one Observer. Olivia is confused as to August's motives, as Observers are known to only observe events and not interfere with them. After questioning Christine's roommate, Olivia learns she was to take a flight to Rome, Italy. Peter finds a picture of Christine from her childhood before her parents were killed in the 1989 San Francisco earthquake, and sees August in the background, indicating he has been observing her entire life. The plane to Rome crashes, killing everyone on board. Because of this, the team realize August in fact saved her life.
At Massive Dynamic, Brandon theorizes to the team that Observers are time travelers, as they have been documented during several major events in history. They write in an incomprehensible language, and the number of Observer sightings has increased over the past few months, leaving the team wondering why. Meanwhile, August meets with the other Observers, who are not happy that he saved a girl who was supposed to die in the plane crash. To correct his mistake, they send Donald Long, an assassin affiliated with the Observers, to correct August's actions. In an attempt to save Christine, August sends a secret message to Walter. During the meeting, August reveals Christine will die because she is not important; Walter tells August that he has to make her important.
The team are later made aware of Christine's location at a motel outside the city. However, Donald is on the trail also. August attempts to stop him, but Donald shoots him several times, before Peter and Olivia arrive to kill the assassin. September picks up August and while driving, September asks August why he saved Christine. August reveals that he is experiencing "feelings" and that he loves Christine, and asks if she would be safe. September informs him Christine will stay alive because she is now important; she was responsible for the death of an Observer. August cries before succumbing to his wounds.
Afterwards, Olivia takes a day off to spend time with her niece, Ella, at an amusement park. Two Observers watch the two, and they remark that everything is about to get "so hard" for Olivia.
Tropes appearing in this episode:
- Bullet Catch
- Bound and Gagged
- Cymbal-Banging Monkey
- Fedora of Asskicking: August's hat
- Foreshadowing: First clue we get that the Observers are NOT good guys, though some of them are nice.
- Heartwarming Orphan
- I Ate WHAT?!: Surprise, Astrid! It's French Vanilla ice cream and cough syrup!
- Schizo Tech: It was nice to see the daisy matrix printer added to the old school technology used for communication (typewriters; Nina's 1980's era computer monitor)
- Self-Sacrifice Scheme: The only way for August to make Christine important in the eyes of the Observers is to make her responsible for one of the Observer's death. His own.
- Set Right What Once Went Wrong
- Surveillance as the Plot Demands: A security camera with a high enough quality screen capture to capture the bullet in flight?
- Well, this IS post-9/11. And chances are Massive Dynamic installed those cameras.
- Time Police
- The Watcher
- What Is This Thing You Call "Love"?
- Wham Episode: The Observer is revealed to be one of many who've been observing human history... and they've been increasing in number for unknown reasons.
