Fringe

We first met the Observer in the fourth episode of Fringe's fourth season, "The Arrival." Since then, viewers have been able to pick out the Observer's appearances in every episode of the series, from the pilot onwards. However, the Observer's next big appearance didn't come until eleven episodes later, in "Inner Child." That's when we found out he wasn't alone.

During that episode, a child similar in appearance to the Observer was found in a long-sealed building scheduled for demolition. The child possessed some form of emotional empathy, though he was mute. At the end of the episode, as he was being driven to a foster home, he just happened to pass a man in a suit and a fedora: the Observer. The two stare at each other for a moment, and then the child is gone to his foster home, and the Observer keeps walking.

"There's More Than One of Everything," was the season finale's title, but it also serves as a mantra for the Observers, especially since Fringe producer Roberto Orci gave away that we'll be seeing the Observer -- and some of his friends -- very soon.

“You’re gonna see more than one... You are going to see many Observers,” Orci told TV Guide in reference to the second season's eigth episode. “[It’s] going to tell you a lot about The Observers. You’re going to find out their role in the world, what they’re named after, and their connection to some of these characters."

I'm excited to find out more about the Observer and his people. They're quite possibly the biggest recurring mystery of the show right now, because we know so little about them. We've only really seen two, though according to Orci there are dozens more. It doesn't even appear that the government knows about more than just the Observer, because they treated him like an isolated case back at the beginning of the series.

So where do they come from? Creatively, the writers have confirmed that the Observer's character actually spawned from the scientific principle of observation (couldn't have guessed that), but soon evolved into a character (or characters) who will have a huge impact on the show.

Fringe's second season will premiere on September 17, a week from tonight, on FOX. The eighth episode of the season, in which the Observers will reportedly be centric, will most likely air in early November.