 = August ( Fringe ) = 
 
 " August " is the eighth episode of the American science fiction drama television series Fringe 's second season . The episode was co @-@ written by J. H. Wyman and Jeff Pinkner , and directed by 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 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 " ( Peter Woodward ) abducts Christine Hollis ( Jennifer Missoni ) , a 27 @-@ year @-@ old art student in Boston . Olivia Dunham ( Anna Torv ) and Peter Bishop ( Joshua Jackson ) 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 ) , the Observer known for observing Pattern @-@ related cases and who previously saved Peter and his father Walter ( John Noble ) 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 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 ) , 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 . In the end , 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 . 
 
 = = Production = = 
 
 " August " was co @-@ written by co @-@ showrunners J. H. Wyman and Jeff Pinkner , while being directed by NCIS 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 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 ( played by Peter Woodward ) and December ( 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 Michael Cerveris , 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 Anna Torv stated in an interview with MTV News 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 [ in ] the 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 '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 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 '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 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 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 listed " August " as one of the " crucial " episodes new viewers must watch to get into the show . 
 
 