Fringe: A Short Story About Love

"A Short Story About Love" is the fifteenth episode of the fourth season of the Fox science-fiction drama television series Fringe, and the series' 80th episode overall. The series follows members of a Federal Bureau of Investigation "Fringe Division" team based in Boston, Massachusetts that uses "fringe" science and FBI investigative techniques to investigate a series of unexplained, often ghastly occurrences, which are related to mysteries surrounding a parallel universe. "A Short Story About Love" centered on a scientist extracting the pheromones of his victims, all male spouses, and using the resulting substances as a perfume to get close to their wives. While the Fringe team investigates, Peter learns more about the Observer September. It was co-written by executive producer J.H. Wyman and co-producer Graham Roland. Wyman also directed, making the episode his directional debut. He sought to write a story that had love as a central motivation, and described it as "an episode that's really close to me." Guest stars featured in the episode included Michael Massee as the villain Anson Carr, Ona Grauer as Dianna Sutter, and Michael Cerveris as September. First airing on March 23, 2012 in the United States, "A Short Story About Love" was watched by an estimated 2.87 million viewers, a decrease from the previous episode. It received mixed to positive reviews from television critics; the villain attracted mixed reviews, and most praised the revelations surrounding a beacon that was last shown in a first season episode. In 2013, it landed on several lists detailing the best Fringe episodes of the series.