High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! "The Arrival" is the fourth episode of the first season of the American science fiction drama television series Fringe. The episode was written by the series co-creator and executive producer J. J. Abrams and executive producer and show runner Jeff Pinkner. Paul A. Edwards directed it. The episode concerns a mysterious cylindrical object called "The Beacon" which appears at a construction site in New York City. The story also involves the relationship between Walter Bishop (John Noble) and the mysterious Observer (Michael Cerveris in his first feature appearance).