The Scientific Observers

Honestly, during my first watch of the episode, I was not really happy with the big reveal that the Observers are scientists from the future. But after a couple of rewatches, trying to digest every detail of the revelation in the episode, it creates a bigger impact than I ever thought it would have. Perhaps, this episode – “The End of All Things” – is another step up to the level of my fan-ness of the show.

Fringe has never been just about the story or the characters. It’s also about reflection of our life, our choices in life, a perception of our society, of our family, of our relationship with others. Indeed for me, this is the only series that makes me feel so involved, because mainly the (or one of the) central characters is a scientist – Walter Bishop, which opens up a lot of interesting storylines, ideas and the way of thinking of science and scientists. To reveal that the Observers are scientists is yet another level added to this.

Scientists Observe, Analyse and Report

Basically that sums up what scientists (and observers) do – well, not really, I left out the word – experiment, but I’ll deal with that later. Observers observe important moments in history. So do scientists observe events that are potentially groundbreaking – a chick cracking out of the egg, bacterial growth in a flask, or a color change that indicates a positive reaction.

Scientists gather this data and note them down on their trusted lab books, while the observers use cryptic language on their small notebooks. Still wondering about the odd symbols? Scientists love symbols. Not to mention, we are always accused of using too much jargon. The Observers are no different on that aspect.

Then scientists publish their results. “It has arrived” is one of the unforgettable call made by September… who is he reporting to?

And finally scientists do experiments. Many of us not just observe the natural environment, but we alter the conditions and see how these conditions affect the subject of interest. The Observers, despite supposedly not getting involved, have always involved themselves, and many times – they do manipulate conditions to create their desirable outcome – August sacrificing himself to make Christine important; September manipulated Roscoe Joyce to deliver the message to Walter. Makes you wonder if the whole incidents, the whole story of Fringe is merely one big experiment for these Observers.

Detached Objectivity

One of the key aspects of being a scientist is you need to develop a sense of objectivity. We need to be able to have no emotional connection between ourselves and the work we are doing. Not surprising that the writers made the character of Observers emotionless. What has to be done has to be done. But that is not always achievable. Scientists are humans. Like any other kind of work, especially work you love, you got an emotional connection with it. For example in my case, I have a deep emotional bond with the subject of my area of research. Anyone who says it sucks or not important will definitely get a rant from me. And it is not at all surpring for September to develop emotional bond with our characters – Walter, Olivia and Peter. To put it simple, he had invested his time, effort and understanding to these characters. Having seen them on their childhood, adulthood, sufferings and happiness, definitely put him in the spot to start caring. Things are no longer as simple as it seems… it gets more complicated… and sometimes, compromises the job.

And that is why scientists never work alone. Scientists work in a team, to keep each other in balance. Peer-review journals, regular meetings, presentations, conferences – all of these are key to the success of science. And so does the 10+ more observers have to keep in check on each other.

Women in Science

Science has been criticized to be male dominant field. It is a sad fact that when you step on the academic world, there is a small chance that you will meet a female professor. In our building, there are only two female lecturers. Sadly, it seems to reflect in the show as well. I can’t remember any female scientist in the show (except for the Kate Green in And Those We’ve Left Behind) – so feel free to correct me if I’m wrong. So, it is not at all surprising that there’s no female Observer. (Or maybe we don’t know yet…)

But hopefully our universe AND timeline will lead us a better future for women in science.

Baldness and the rest

Baldness. Usually it denotes to being old and wise. (Ahem… ) But I still think the hairlessness of the Observers are actually due to the time travelling rather than anything else. I like to use the analogy of hairlessness of many swimmers. Removal of hair makes a swimmer more aerodynamic in the water. So to apply the analogy, time = water; so the Observers are somewhat swimming in time.

Tastelessness. I’m guessing this is just one of the things that Observers lose in order to accomodate a new sense – which is ability to see things better. However, it also makes me wonder if they are unable to taste is just another way of quantifying scientists (well, mostly hard science). We don’t really take sweet, sour, salty as a good result – because those are subjective… which goes back to observers should be objective.

So, there you go. I’m glad that I have to stop making comparison between observers and mole rats. Perhaps, it is time to ponder on who are the funders of this team of scientists? And what the hell is their objective? Certainly all scientists have their own objectives. Why do they want to study these two universes?