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VACELTS
Brookie L. Crawford
Articles Posted: 329; Links Seeded: 707
Member Since: 3/2007Last Seen: 9/07/2009
Member Since: 3/2007Last Seen: 9/07/2009
31 Comments
PrintDoes the Observer Hold the Key to the Pattern on Fringe?
News Type: Opinion — Tue Sep 30, 2008 11:48 PM EDT
Live Poll
Who is the The Observer?
- He's a good guy that'll help Walter & Co.23%
- He's the victim that needs help from Walter & Co.3%
- He's one of the bad guys.3%
- He's a pawn of the bad guys.0%
- He's not a guy (or human) at all.67%
- Other (please specify)3%
Total Votes: 30
FRINGE: Walter (John Noble, L) and Peter (Joshua Jackson, R) examine a mysterious cylinder found among the debris of a construction site explosion in the FRINGE episode "The Arrival" airing Tuesday, Sept. 30 (9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX. ©2008 Fox Broadcasting Co. Cr: Craig Blankenhorn/FOX
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As if Walter isn't enough of a character, we meet someone even more unusual than him on tonight's episode of Fringe. "The Arrival" marks the arrival of two mysteries - the metal cylinder and The Observer (Michael Cerveris).
We meet The Observer in the opening sequence where he's watching a construction site. Aside from his unusual eating habits, - he ordered a raw roast beef sandwich with exactly 11 jalapeños on the side and added an entire shaker of pepper and Tabasco - The Observer has a few other unique characteristics.
For one, he's completely bald - he doesn't even have eyebrows. And he writes in a different language from right to left. Furthermore, he's been waiting for the arrival of the cylinder. When it shows up at the construction site, he makes one call and says "It has arrived."
But the cylinder isn't the only Pattern incident that our bald friend has been at. Olivia notices that he was at the hospital two weeks ago only to be told by Broyles that it took him a year to make the connection. They have photos of The Observer at some three dozen Pattern incidents.
But they aren't the only ones familiar with The Observer. The Bishops have met him before. It seems that The Observer saved Walter and Peter from a chilly death when their car broke through some ice on a Thanksgiving when Peter was a child.
The Observer communicated through "osmosis" that he would need Walter one day. When the cylinder appeared, Walter knew it was time to return the favor.
Walter sends Peter on an aluminum foil run, sedates Astrid, steals and hides the cylinder and meets with The Observer at a dinner where he can have a root beer float and confide that the cylinder is safe.
The Observer thanks him, adding that he can't touch the beacon himself. He tells Walter that "I know you have questions. Soon you'll have answers."
Unfortunately, John Mosley (Michael Kelly) - this week's bad guy - also has the ability to read people's thoughts with the help of a machine and works his way through the minds of people - including Peter - until he finds the cylinder.
But Olivia stops him from stealing the beacon (and possibly killing Peter). But the beacon gets away - exploding into the Earth.
The Observer is on site, makes another call - "departure on schedule."
Just who is he talking to? What is the beacon/cylinder thing? Why can't he touch it? How is The Observer tied to The Pattern? Who or what is he? Why does he apparently not taste anything?
What is The Observer's connection to Walter (and possibly Peter)? How is he communicating with them? What was he writing in the diner? What language is that?
The questions around The Observer are endless, but I think the answers are going to be critical to understanding The Pattern and the implications of it in the big picture.
Mostly, I'm wondering when and where we are going to see The Observer next.
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What is Fringe's Peter Bishop Hiding?
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 | What is Fringe's Peter Bishop Hiding? | vacelts | Wed Sep 24 | 28 |
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{"commentId":3235060,"authorDomain":"vacelts"}
The mystery continues to expand on Fringe and I'm guessing that The Observer holds the key to understanding The Pattern or at least part of it.
I'm still banking on there being something "special" about Peter. Something more than his near death experience as a child. Is it coincidence that Peter unknowingly knew information Walter hadn't shared? Is there something more to their relationship? Are they connected in a different way than most fathers and sons?
Peter's mom was mentioned again, but only in the fact that Walter considered her small-minded and that she questioned Walter's judgment (I can't imagine why).
And who did Peter call when he was planning on bailing on Walter responsibilities?
Did anyone else think that Olivia's reaction when she heard Henry Jacobson was a little weird? But when they met she acted like it was a pleasure to see him. And then he advises her to stay away from the cylinder. Was that because he was worried about her or was it a warning?
Favorite parts:
Walter reciting the formula for root beer at 3 a.m. because he might want to make some in the lab.
Walter sending Peter out in a hurry for aluminum because their lives depend on it and then asking him to stop off and pick him up a root beer float.
Walter likes to talk to Peter naked because he prefers the breeze.
{"commentId":3235060,"threadId":"374309","contentId":"1937797","authorDomain":"vacelts"}
- 4 votes
#1 - Wed Oct 1, 2008 12:07 AM EDT{"commentId":3235273,"authorDomain":"sbutki"}
Walter is just plain a fun character.
I think there's something medically wrong with Peter. That would explain his intense physical examination of him - the eyes, the comment on his weight - and wonder if that's also one reason why he says if Peter leaves then Walter leaves too. What ever that secret is it's not a matter of time until Nina tries to use it against him or Olivia.
I loved the scene where Peter goes to sleep in the tub to get away from his dad and get some sleep only to realize the tub's not even dry.
{"commentId":3235273,"threadId":"374309","contentId":"1937797","authorDomain":"sbutki"}
- 3 votes
{"commentId":3235423,"authorDomain":"vacelts"}
{"commentId":3235497,"authorDomain":"sbutki"}
I wonder if the actor stays in that character all the time. Wouldn't it be great if he did?
{"commentId":3235497,"threadId":"374309","contentId":"1937797","authorDomain":"sbutki"}
- 2 votes
{"commentId":3235509,"authorDomain":"vacelts"}
{"commentId":3235549,"authorDomain":"sbutki"}
Ah, you made a typo. Let me fix it
No. It would drive me to drink root beer.
{"commentId":3235549,"threadId":"374309","contentId":"1937797","authorDomain":"sbutki"}
- 2 votes
{"commentId":3237606,"authorDomain":"vacelts"}
{"commentId":3245211,"authorDomain":"sphinx"}
Maybe I misheard, but the first time Peter was distracted by Walter reciting numbers in bed, didn't Walter say that he wasn't reciting numbers aloud? Perhaps Peter has some ambient telepathic ability with his father's mind.
{"commentId":3245211,"threadId":"374309","contentId":"1937797","authorDomain":"sphinx"}
- 3 votes
{"commentId":3246175,"authorDomain":"vacelts"}
{"commentId":3246199,"authorDomain":"ryanbooker"}
In one the earlier episodes? I think he said something more like "Oh was I?"...
{"commentId":3246199,"threadId":"374309","contentId":"1937797","authorDomain":"ryanbooker"}
- 2 votes
{"commentId":3260253,"authorDomain":"sbutki"}
What typo?
i was kidding - i changed it to from beer (your answer) to root beer (my answer)
when his son first started singing row row row
I wondered for a second if his son WAS the guy who used to sing it at the asylum.
{"commentId":3260253,"threadId":"374309","contentId":"1937797","authorDomain":"sbutki"}
- 2 votes
{"commentId":3268653,"authorDomain":"vacelts"}
{"commentId":3441405,"authorDomain":"sbutki"}
Just read the Television Without Pity recap of the most recent episode of Fringe
A few favorites:
In Roseville, Va., Jacobson, played by That Guy! stalwart Nestor Serrano, greets Olivia with a hug on his front walkway. Inside, he talks about his wife dying last year, and says she took care of everything, and apologizes for the weak coffee. Olivia says it's fine. I mean, what else is she going to say? "I'm sorry your wife died, but that's no excuse for CRAPPY COFFEE"? Of course, this serves as a reminder to Olivia of John's death, which Jacobson knows about. Olivia gets all stone-faced at the mention of John's name, and asks him about what happened in Quantico.
Olivia's woken by the sound of her cellphone ringing. She picks it up, and the reception is crappy. Hey! She uses the same carrier as I do! A faraway voice says "Olivia." "John?" she says. The call cuts off. Yeah, dropped calls -- that's totally my network. She dials a number, and I'm assuming she's calling her cellphone company to get this charge taken off her statement, because calls from the afterlife are expensive. No, sorry, she's calling FBI dispatch to find out where the call came from, and dispatch tells her there haven't been any calls to her phone in hours. Olivia should try star-69ing him. You know, like what she and John used to do, but with a star in front of it.
Then he asks Scowly when the last time his father kissed him was. "I think that's your lamest question yet," says Peter, which prompts Scowly to crank a dial again. Peter looks like he's simultaneously passing a kidney stone, delivering a baby, and having his urethra cleaned with a toothbrush. And not even a soft toothbrush, but one of the hard ones with knobby rubber things. And it's kind of stiff from old toothpaste, too.
Walter tries to joke that if it would help her feel any better, she could inject him, but he'd most likely enjoy it. Astrid says nothing. Well, that's all the material Walter's got, so he dejectedly turns to Charlie and they leave. Astrid glances up to watch him go. Don't forgive him! You know what they say: "Incapacitate me with a syringe to the neck once, shame on you. Incapacitate me with a syringe to the neck twice, shame on me."
{"commentId":3441405,"threadId":"374309","contentId":"1937797","authorDomain":"sbutki"}
- 2 votes
{"commentId":3235439,"authorDomain":"stevehouse"}
What is The Observer's connection to Walter (and possibly Peter)? How is he communicating with them?
IMO--telepathy. Have you noticed the size of the top of the front of his head? It bulges slightly, and apparently (to me) that was drawn up while he was reading Peter's thoughts. It's been pretty standard in my limited sci-fi experience for telepathy to be seated in a larger-than-average frontal lobe.
I was disappointed in the aluminum foil scene. There were so many jokes to be made about using it to fashion a hat! Make one ! Crimony! :p
Sometimes I also wonder about Peter. I hate the actor by the way, I keep seeing scenes from Shutter in my head. That was a phenomenal movie (to make fun of). But I wonder sometimes whether he's not actually human life created, perfected. You know, like on of the weekly villains who had to eat pitutary glands or whatever it was he ate, but without that little aging defect. I also wonder whether it'll turn out that Walter's really on the bad side, and the "bad side" is actually trying to stop him. That would be one helluva plot twist and it's stuck in my head now, so there, I unloaded it.
{"commentId":3235439,"threadId":"374309","contentId":"1937797","authorDomain":"stevehouse"}
- 3 votes
#2 - Wed Oct 1, 2008 1:01 AM EDT{"commentId":3235503,"authorDomain":"vacelts"}
{"commentId":3245294,"authorDomain":"sphinx"}
{"commentId":3236511,"authorDomain":"EnSoi"}
Just who is he talking to? What is the beacon/cylinder thing?
Those two questions hit me the hardest, although this episode raised so many more bizarre questions. Great review, as usual, vacelts.
{"commentId":3236511,"threadId":"374309","contentId":"1937797","authorDomain":"EnSoi"}
- 2 votes
#3 - Wed Oct 1, 2008 6:25 AM EDT{"commentId":3237609,"authorDomain":"vacelts"}
{"commentId":3237640,"authorDomain":"edomaniac"}
My guess is that he is part of some supernatural task force the keeps things in tact. He can't intervene though, which is why he needs Walter. The observer thing just kind of reminded me of Dogma when Alan Rickman's character said "They're called 'Watchers'--guess what they do."
{"commentId":3237640,"threadId":"374309","contentId":"1937797","authorDomain":"edomaniac"}
- 3 votes
#4 - Wed Oct 1, 2008 9:08 AM EDT{"commentId":3237812,"authorDomain":"vacelts"}
{"commentId":3246214,"authorDomain":"sphinx"}
My guess is that he is part of some supernatural task force the keeps things in tact.
Wouldn't it be awesome if they find out that the Observer is actually calling Hellboy?
{"commentId":3246214,"threadId":"374309","contentId":"1937797","authorDomain":"sphinx"}
- 3 votes
{"commentId":3246276,"authorDomain":"vacelts"}
{"commentId":3246296,"authorDomain":"stevehouse"}
Ba ha ha ha! I think at that point I'd simply bow before the writers.
{"commentId":3246296,"threadId":"374309","contentId":"1937797","authorDomain":"stevehouse"}
- 2 votes
{"commentId":3486757,"authorDomain":"vacelts"}
The Observer made another appearance in this week's "Power Hungry." He got off the elevator just before it crashed. Wonder what that means?
{"commentId":3486757,"threadId":"374309","contentId":"1937797","authorDomain":"vacelts"}
- 2 votes
#5 - Tue Oct 14, 2008 11:06 PM EDT{"commentId":3489246,"authorDomain":"EnSoi"}
I just asked if you saw the Observer over at your review. I guess this means you did! :-)
{"commentId":3489246,"threadId":"374309","contentId":"1937797","authorDomain":"EnSoi"}
- 2 votes
{"commentId":3490854,"authorDomain":"vacelts"}
{"commentId":3491069,"authorDomain":"EnSoi"}
I'm not buying that it was a coincidence
Nope, not at all. My guess (right now) is that he's observing for Massive D.
{"commentId":3491069,"threadId":"374309","contentId":"1937797","authorDomain":"EnSoi"}
- 2 votes
{"commentId":3491334,"authorDomain":"vacelts"}
{"commentId":4031734,"authorDomain":"vacelts"}
The Observer makes an appearance at the Frankfurt Airport in "In Which We Meet Mr. Jones." But what was he observing?
{"commentId":4031734,"threadId":"374309","contentId":"1937797","authorDomain":"vacelts"}
- 2 votes
#6 - Wed Nov 12, 2008 11:17 AM EST{"commentId":4042760,"authorDomain":"EnSoi"}
haven't had a chance to watch this episode yet, nor have I had much time to check Newsvine *sigh*. I'll check it out Friday night before I read your review. I'm sure it's exccellent as always :-)
{"commentId":4042760,"threadId":"374309","contentId":"1937797","authorDomain":"EnSoi"}
- 1 vote
{"commentId":4046272,"authorDomain":"vacelts"}
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