“The Arrival” is episode four of season one of Fringe.
A strange looking man, bald and with no eyebrows, places a very precise order for a sandwich and water in a diner in Brooklyn across from a construction site. He writes in a book whilst looking at the site, not the book, checks the time and then opens up some very high-tech binoculars. He adds the entire contents of a pepper pot and a lot of Tabasco to the sandwich, which he then eats quickly, before checking the watch and using the binoculars again. The ground starts to shake and there’s an explosion at the site. Everyone but him is panicking. The man calmly leaves and then calls someone saying it has arrived.
Peter is escorted to Olivia in the Federal Building – he lacks clearance – and complains about his father who had been reciting chemical compositions of his favourite drinks all night. Olivia says they’re getting an apartment but Peter says he’s not needed. Strange things are happening somehow connected to the insane work Walter as doing, but he’s the one with the answers. Olivia disagrees that Peter isn’t needed, and says if Peter goes, his father will too.
They all arrive at a warehouse in Chelsea, Massachusetts, and Broyles tells them about what happened in Brooklyn. The public was told there was a gas main explosion. Technically true, but then there’s what caused the explosion. A strange cylinder, sort of like a huge bullet. It came from underground to rest on the surface. Walter says it’s iridium and vibrating. He has an idea but doesn’t want to share. Broyles says there was a similar incident at Quantico in 1987; Colonel Jacobson, who Olivia knows, was in charge of the investigation. Walter wants the item transporting back to the lab.
Jacobsen, when Olivia speaks to him, explains that a metallic cylinder was found on the Marine base after the motion sensors went nuts. He realises that another has appeared. Jacobsen says that the cylinder was transmitting a signal they couldn’t decode and, 48 hours after it arrived, exploded downward, and was gone. It was a weird one and he advises Olivia to stay away.
Astrid is with Walter in the lab as he strikes a tuning fork, causing a rising sound. A man gets out of a car outside the warehouse carrying a strange gun; when it’s fired, it looks like it might be sonic. He shoots anyone in the way and has come for the device, asking a scientist where it is.
Olivia is woken by a call to her mobile. The voice sounds like John Scott. Afterwards, she calls for a trace to be told that there was no record of an incoming call. Perhaps it was Scott; he didn’t look as dead as he should at Massive Dynamic.
Peter is quizzing Walter, trying to get him to say what he thinks the cylinder is. Walter talks about a DoD project, Thor, to create a subterranean torpedo that could be fired through the Earth’s core at targets on the other side. Olivia is examining the photos of the 1987 event that Jacobsen gave her. She sees the bald man – in 1987, he looks identical – and calls them over. Olivia says she has a good memory, and digs out a photo from the hospital in “Pilot” where the bald man also was.
Jacobsen answers the door, to be shot by the warehouse attacker.
Olivia shows Broyles the photos of the bald man and he tells her to come with him. They enter a room with many photos of the bald man. Broyles says it took them a year to spot him; she did it in three weeks. Olivia asks who he is. An excellent question. There’s no record of him on any database. He’s been seen at three dozen scenes related to the pattern. Watching. Observing. They refer to him as the ‘Observer.’ Then Broyles gets a call.
Peter is arguing with Walter when Astrid answers the phone. It’s for Peter. The team at the warehouse is dead; they need to move the cylinder. Walter asks if someone is coming for it. When told yes, he demands aluminium foil to shield the frequencies being given off. When Peter leaves, Walter asks Astrid for a syringe., Which he then sedates her with.
Walter appears to know something more than he’s saying, and appears to have at least some idea as to what is going on. And there’s a surprise at the end.