"August" is the eighth episode of the American

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...

television series A television show, TV program (), or simply a TV show, is the general reference to any content produced for viewing on a television set that is broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, and cable, or distributed digitally on streaming plat ...

Fringe Fringe may refer to: Arts and music * "The Fringe", or Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the world's largest arts festival * Adelaide Fringe, the world's second-largest annual arts festival * Fringe theatre, a name for alternative theatre * Purple fri ...

''s second season. The episode was co-written by

J. H. Wyman Joel Howard "J. H." Wyman (born January 5, 1967) is a film and TV producer, screenwriter, director and musician. He is best known for his work on the Fox Broadcasting Network, Fox science fiction shows ''Fringe (TV series), Fringe'' and ''Almos ...

and

Jeff Pinkner Jeff Pinkner (born November 16, 1964) is an American television and movie writer and producer. Early life and education Born to a Jewish family,Dennis Smith. The episode marked the first prominent appearance of more than one Observer, and follows the events that occur when one of them saves a girl from boarding a soon-to-be crashing plane. It featured two new guest stars,

Peter Woodward Peter Woodward (born 24 January 1956) is an English actor, screenwriter and stuntman. He is best known for his role as Galen in the '' Babylon 5'' spin-offs '' Babylon 5: A Call to Arms'', ''Crusade'' and '' Babylon 5: The Lost Tales''. He ...

and Eugene Lipinski. The episode first aired on November 19, 2009 in the United States to mostly positive reviews, with many critics praising the new revelations about the Observers. An estimated 5.746 million viewers watched the episode on its first broadcast.

Plot

An Observer, "August" (

) abducts Christine Hollis ( Jennifer Missoni), a 27-year-old art student in

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

Olivia Dunham Olivia Dunham is a fictional character and the main protagonist from the science fiction television series ''Fringe (TV series), Fringe'', created by series' co-creator J. J. Abrams, and is portrayed by actress Anna Torv. Olivia is the series' p ...

(

Anna Torv Anna Torv (born 7 June 1979) is an Australian actress. Her performance as Olivia Dunham in the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox science fiction series ''Fringe (TV series), Fringe'' (2008–2013) earned her four consecutive Saturn Award for Best A ...

) and

Peter Bishop Peter Bishop is a fictional character of the Fox television series ''Fringe''. He is portrayed by Joshua Jackson. Fictional character biography Peter Bishop was born on September 18, 1978, in the alternate universe, to parents Walter Bishop, al ...

(

Joshua Jackson Joshua Carter Jackson (born June 11, 1978) is an American and Canadian actor. He is known for his portrayals of Pacey Witter on The WB's teen drama ''Dawson's Creek'' (1998–2003), Peter Bishop in the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox science fic ...

) 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" (

Michael Cerveris Michael Cerveris Jr. (born November 6, 1960) is an American actor, singer, and guitarist. He has performed in many stage musicals and plays, including several Stephen Sondheim musicals: ''Assassins (musical), Assassins'', ''Sweeney Todd: The ...

), the Observer known for observing Pattern-related cases and who previously saved Peter and his father

Walter Walter may refer to: People and fictional characters * Walter (name), including a list of people and fictional and mythical characters with the given name or surname * Little Walter, American blues harmonica player Marion Walter Jacobs (1930–19 ...

(

John Noble John Noble (born 20 August 1948) is an Australian actor. He is best known for his roles as Denethor in ''The Lord of the Rings'' film trilogy (2001–2003), and Dr. Walter Bishop in the Fox science fiction series '' Fringe'' (2008–2013). ...

) in

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a n ...

, 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 Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. Peter finds a picture of Christine from her childhood before her parents were killed in the

1989 San Francisco earthquake 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...

, and sees August in the background, indicating he has been observing her entire life. The plane to Rome would later crash, killing everyone on board. Because of this, the team realize August in fact saved her life. At Massive Dynamic, Brandon ( Ryan McDonald) 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 visits 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 (

Paul Rae Paul Rae (born June 27, 1968) is an American film and television actor. Biography Rae was born Paul Rae Stuart in New Orleans, Louisiana, the son of Jean Rushing and the late Norman Stuart, and was raised in Bogalusa, Washington Parish, Louisian ...

), 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 A motel, also known as a motor hotel, motor inn or motor lodge, is a hotel designed for motorists, usually having each room entered directly from the Parking lot, parking area for motor vehicles rather than through a central Lobby (room), lo ...

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. In the end, Olivia takes a day off to spend time with her niece, Ella, at an

amusement park An amusement park is a park that features various attractions, such as rides and games, and events for entertainment purposes. A theme park is a type of amusement park that bases its structures and attractions around a central theme, often fea ...

. Two Observers watch the two, and they remark that everything is about to get "so hard" for Olivia.

Production

"August" was co-written by co-showrunners

and

Jeff Pinkner Jeff Pinkner (born November 16, 1964) is an American television and movie writer and producer. Early life and education Born to a Jewish family,NCIS NCIS or N.C.I.S. may refer to: Law enforcement * National Criminal Intelligence Service, the predecessor to the Serious Organised Crime Agency of the United Kingdom * Naval Criminal Investigative Service, a United States law enforcement and intelli ...

'' veteran Dennis Smith. They began shooting the episode during the second half of September 2009, right after wrapping production on " Of Human Action". Supervising producer

Josh Singer Josh Singer (born 1972) is an American screenwriter and producer. He is best known for writing '' The Fifth Estate'' (2013), '' Spotlight'' (2015), ''The Post'' (2017), '' First Man'' (2018), and ''Maestro'' (2023). He won the Academy Award for B ...

later noted how "August" helped them write the rest of the season, "There was one episode, 'August', which was all about the Observers, that I feel was mythology without being mythology. And somehow, in working that episode, we sort of found a new creative vein. And it's not that that episode was necessarily so related to everything else we did. But I feel like it sort of opened us up in terms of how we were feeling about the year". Up to the point the episode "August" aired, only one character that was part of a group known as "Observers" had been introduced. In this episode, two more such individuals were revealed:

August August is the eighth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars. Its length is 31 days. In the Southern Hemisphere, August is the seasonal equivalent of February in the Northern Hemisphere. In the Northern Hemisphere, August ...

(played by

) and

December December is the twelfth and final month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars. Its length is 31 days. December's name derives from the Latin word ''decem'' (meaning ten) because it was originally the tenth month of the year in t ...

(played by Eugene Lipinski). The creation of Observers was one of the first ideas the writers of ''Fringe'' thought of when developing the show in its early stages, when they asked each other, "What if there were these characters where all they did was watch?". Pinkner and Wyman thought of creating Observers by "looking for something... iconic" that had the "quality of being invisible". Though the Observer called September has appeared in every single ''Fringe'' episode in a brief cameo, he was first featured prominently in the fourth episode of the first season. The producers thought of unique characteristics for "somebody who wasn't of our world," evolving to the Observers having bald heads, no eyebrows, and "largely deadened" senses, which led to a love for extremely hot peppers. Before the second season premiere aired in September 2009, co-creator J.R. Orci hinted that the audience was going to meet "many Observers", and that in the season's eighth episode, "You're going to find out their role in the world, what they're named after, and their connection to some of these characters." Later on, when still leading up to the airing of "August" in another interview, Roberto Orci elaborated that "Individuality will be one of the things that they will be fanatically struggling with, actually. That was a fun one, because that one was one where you're finally getting to pay off things you've been setting up for a year. You finally get to open the toy box and really play with those toys". Actor

, who plays September, commented in an interview that as a result of the episode, viewers would learn that the Observers "are not completely devoid of feelings, and are not incapable of being attached to people they're observing". He also expressed relief that his character was no longer the sole Observer on the show, joking that "it was nice to feel like I'm not the only freak in town for once". Actress

stated in an interview with ''

MTV News MTV News was the news production division of MTV. The service was available in the US with localized versions on MTV's global network and an online news team. In 2016, MTV refreshed the MTV News brand to compete with the likes of BuzzFeed and ...

'' that "August" was one of her favorite episodes because "We sort of get to meet the Observers. At the moment what we know about them, they... seemingly just observe. That's kind of it, but nthe episode that we have coming up, we're not sure if all they do is just observe".

Reception

Ratings

"August" premiered to an estimated 5.746 million viewers in the United States, with a 2.0 rating. The episode was down 9% from the previous week's episode " Of Human Action", which had a rating of 2.2.

Reviews

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

's Josh Wigler thought the episode was "a touching, sad tale with a healthy mix of mythological advancement," and couldn't wait for more episodes about the Observers. Ramsey Isler of

IGN ''IGN'' is an American video gaming and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa district and is headed by its former e ...

gave the episode 7.6/10, writing that despite the hype, the episode was "just plain average". He did however appreciate the new revelations about the Observers. After previewing the episode, ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American online magazine, digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, ...

''s Ken Tucker graded the episode an A−, explaining ''Fringe'' had become "one of the fastest, smartest, wittiest shows on television now". Andrew Hanson from the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'' called it a "good story peppered with a lot of great details... 'August' showed a greater connection to the larger ''Fringe'' universe". Noel Murray of

The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was created in ...

graded it with a B+, praising the "wonderfully moody" episode and how it was able to make the halting Observer dialogue work. Murray found some aspects lacking however, as he thought it was "a very sketchy episode, plot-wise and mythology-wise. Not a whole lot happened". Website blogger

io9 ''io9'' is a sub-blog of the technology blog ''Gizmodo'' that focuses on science fiction and fantasy pop culture, with former focuses on science, technology and futurism. It was created as a standalone blog in 2008 by editor Annalee Newitz under ...

listed "August" as one of the "crucial" episodes new viewers must watch to get into the show.

References

External links

"August"
at

Fox Foxes are small-to-medium-sized omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull; upright, triangular ears; a pointed, slightly upturned snout; and a long, bushy tail ("brush"). Twelve species ...

* {{Fringe (TV series) Fringe season 2 episodes 2009 American television episodes