August - Recap

In Boston, Massachusetts, a bald man outside a museum wearing an old-fashioned black suit and using high-tech binoculars is checking a watch and writing notes in a journal in an unknown language. A pin seller approaches and offers him an American flag pin for free and places it on his lapel. Distracted, the bald man realizes that a college student, Christine Hollis, is walking by. He puts his binoculars in his briefcase and goes after her, forgetting his journal. He grabs the girl and tells her to come with him, and then starts dragging her toward his car. When she struggles, the bald man injects some kind of sedative into her. A man tries to intervene and the abductor fires an odd-shaped gun that slams the man back several dozen feet. A security guard arrives and opens fire, but the bald man seems immune to the bullets. He gets into a car, hot-wires it simply by touching the ignition, and drives away.

Olivia wakes up and her niece Ella reminds her that they were going to the amusement park. She asks to go on the roller coasters but Olivia insists they’re not because she’s scared. Before they can get ready, Broyles calls and notifies her of the abduction and the fact the Observer is involved. Olivia apologizes to her niece, who says she understands that her aunt has an important job.

Olivia goes to collect Peter and Walter at their house. Walter is busy trying to create the milkshake that his favorite store made before it closed. They finally convince him to go. At the lab, she asks Walter what he knows about the Observer, who he once said was a friend. Walter insists that he doesn’t know anything else about the Observer except that he saved Walter and Peter from drowning in a car accident when Peter was a boy. They get the footage from the security cameras at the museum and watch the abduction. However, Olivia realizes that the bald man is not the Observer that they’ve seen before. They go over the footage in slow motion and discover that the new Observer caught the security guard’s bullets with his bare hands.

In Lowell, Massachusetts, the new Observer ties Christine to the bedpost. When she tries to talk to him, he echoes back her words. He then gags her and leaves.

Olivia meets with Broyles, who has run a background check on Christine, learning she has no parents and in no way seems to be important. Olivia is worried that they have nothing to go on, but Broyles figures that if they learn why the new Observer abducted Christine, they'll be able to find where he is

As Peter goes through the new Observer's journal, he finds a spot of red liquid that appears to be blood. As he shows it to Walter, he insists that they're close to finding the Observer and determining why he saved them from the car accident. Meanwhile, Astrid tries to decipher the handwriting in the journal but can only determine that it has over a thousand unique characters and no repetition of characters: a seemingly impossibility for a written language. Oliver arrives as Walter examines the blood and suspects that the owner had hemophilia due to its orange tint. Peter starts contacting hospitals to get lists of hemophiliac patients, while Astrid discovers that someone else has been researching the handwriting.

Olivia and Peter go to Massive Dynamic and meet with the research, Nina Sharp's scientist Brandon. He explains that some of the symbols date back to long-dead languages thousands of years old. He's been unable to decipher the symbols, but has learned something else in his research. He shows Peter and Olivia paintings and engravings of the Boston Massacre, Arch Duke Ferdinand's shooting in 1914 Sarajevo, and the French Revolution in 1793. In each of them, the Observer can be seen in the background. Brandon speculates that the Observers can somehow experience time in a non-linear manner but are only able to observe, not act. Further, he can only find a dozen Observer sightings in the last 5,000 years... but 26 in the last three months. He wonders what is coming that requires the Observers to become more active.

The Observer meets with another of comrades at an Indian restaurant that serves hot food. A third Observer comes in and informs them that their comrade, August, has abducted Christine Hollis. They are aware that she was supposed to be on Tropos Air Flight 821 and that by abducting her, August has created an anomaly. They decide to contact Donald, a human assassin they have on retainer. Donald gets a pager signal and checks his fax, which has a picture of Christine and orders to dispose of her.

In Alliston, Massachusetts, Peter and Olivia talk with Danielle, a friend of Christine's. Danielle doesn't know why her friend would be important enough to abduct, and says that Christine was supposed to be on a flight to Italy. As Olivia asks for Christine's itinerary, Peter notices a photo of Christine with her parents. Danielle explains that during the San Francisco earthquake of 1989, Christine's parents died when a bridge collapsed. Peter notices something in the photo's background and shows Olivia that the new Observer is lurking in the background.

Christine finally manages to break the bedpost and free herself. However, August arrives with food and ungags her, and then gently sits her up. He notices the ligament bruises on her arms and realizes she's hurt herself, and expresses concern. Christine asks again why he wants her, and he turns on the television and tells her to wait a few minutes.

Peter and Olivia are driving back and Olivia calls to check on Ella, who is with the neighbors. Peter notices that Olivia is concerned, and she talks about how she loved the times when she went to the movies with her mother. As they talk, the radio news comes on with a broadcast about the crash of Tropos Air Flight 821, which was en route to Italy. There were no survivors.

August and Christine watch the broadcast on the television and the Observer explains that he abducted her to save her life. However, she's not safe yet and he tells her she'll have to stay at the motel while he takes care of something else. Claiming it is for her own protection, he ties and gags her again before leaving.

Olivia and Peter meet with Walter at the lab. Astrid brings in the lab report on the red substance and Walter confirms that it's capsaicin, the main component of chili pepper juice. It's derived from king cobra peppers, one of the hottest and rarest peppers known, and Astrid and Olivia figure they can track any buyers in Boston.

August goes to the Indian restaurant to meet with Observer and the other two Observers, July and December. They ask who Christine is and August insists that she's important. When they wonder why he interfered, August notes that they have interfered before, but the Observer insists that they only intervened to rectify their own error. August insists that he can tell that Christine is important, but the other Observers believe he is mistaken. He concedes they might be right and they say he won't be punished... but they have already sent someone to correct his mistake and eliminate Christine.

As Peter and Olivia examine Christine's files, Astrid comes up with the address of one private citizen who has bought king chili peppers. After Olivia and Peter leave to check the address, Walter offers Astrid a sample of his milkshake recipe. When she discovers that it includes cough syrup, Walter asks her to go to the store to get some fresh cherries. As soon as she's gone, Walter slips out.

Donald goes to the address, which belongs to August, and discovers that the Observer has taped up photos of Christine on the walls.

Going to an address sent to him accompanied by a schematic of a nitrogen molecule, Walter arrives at the Indian restaurant. August is there and Walter assumes he's there to change their arrangement and take Peter back. August doesn't know what he's talking about and says that he needs Walter's help. Walter suggests that he call Peter and Olivia, but August warns that they're otherwise occupied.

At the apartment, Donald finds the phone book crimped to the page with the motel's advertisement. Peter and Olivia arrive and search the place, and Donald gets the drop on Peter. Peter manages to fight back but Donald escapes and slips away in the crowd before Olivia can catch up to him.

At the restaurant, August explains that because he has altered the timeline and kept Christine from dying, the other Observers will try to rectify the error and eliminate her. He doesn't know how to save her and asks Walter for his help, since he was able to overcome the limitations of a situation in the past. Walter tries to determine what is special about Christine but August admits that he can only see it, not describe it. Since August can't demonstrate why she's important, Walter says that he has to find a way to prove her importance, and be willing to accept the consequences.

As Peter examines August's apartment, he finds dozens of newspaper clippings on the walls, covered hundreds of years of history.

August goes back to the motel and unties Christine. He asks her if she trust him and Christine reluctantly admits that she does. August says that she must do exactly what he tells her.

As the FBI search August's apartment, Peter looks at the clippings and wonders what it is that the Observers are looking for. They get a call telling them that someone has called in a tip that August is at a motel in Lowell.

Donald goes the motel address and breaks into August's room. It appears empty but when he moves toward a closet, August bursts out and shoots him with the pressor gun. He runs outside but Donald follows and tells him to turn over Christine. August sees Peter and Olivia arrive and he says goodbye to Donald. He stands still and lets Donald shoot him. Olivia chases after the fleeing assassin while Peter checks on August. The dying Observer puts the gun into Peter's hand. Meanwhile, Donald gets up to the roof and prepares to shoot Olivia in the back. Peter sees him from the parking lot and shoots the killer, knocking him off the roof so he falls to his death. They go back to August, only to discover that he's disappeared. They check the motel room and find Christine hidden behind the bed. She wonders what happened to her abductor and Olivia tells her that she's going home.

The Observer drives through the night with the dying August in the backseat. He wonders why August saved the girl and August explains that he saw Christine in San Francisco as her parents died. She was crying, but he realized that she was brave. He's been unable to forget her ever since, and wonders if she has what the humans call "feelings" for her. August wonders if he loves her, and with his dying breath wonders if she'll be safe. The Observer assures him that now that August has made her important by being responsible for the death of an Observer, her life will be spared.

Olivia and Peter take Christine back to her apartment. She wonders what to think of it, and Walter gives her a teddy bear: a final gift from August. Christine realizes that it was the teddy bear her father gave her before he died, and she was holding it when her parents died. Walter assures her that she'll be safe now. As they leave, Peter asks Walter for answers but Walter says he has nothing new to add. He suggests that they go for a long drive and buy a tutti fruiti milkshake.

Olivia meets with Broyles, who has traced his gun to a series of assassinations over the last ten years. However, there is nothing to connect the hitman to his current employer. The gun is useless, and the techs believe that Peter fired the last shot. They traced the call that the anonymous tipper placed, and it was made from the motel. Olivia figures that August called them when he realized he couldn't protect Christine on his own. She asks Broyles for a day off and he asks if she has something important to tend to. Olivia says that it's just personal business.

Later, Olivia is riding on a roller coaster with Ella and enjoying herself. On the ground, the Observer and one of his comrades watch her enjoy herself, and admit that it's a shame that she'll soon have many problems.

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