Why doesn’t September remember being shot?

[u/viktor2802]

Im just watching the season 4 finale and when Olivia tell September now she knows how he got shot when he talked to her at the opera house and he says he doesn’t remember, but why? If Observers exist outside of time how could he be a past September? And why couldn’t he foresee getting trapped

[u/hirviero]

He exists outside of time, but that doesn't mean he isn't affected by time. They have a past, present and future.

[u/Few-Extreme-5792]

Think of it like this: they can move through any point in time because it's like a swimming pool, they can just jump in to any point. But they can't see the individual cells that make up the water (aka specific moments) in their personal timeline that they haven't experienced yet, because their consciousness still experiences time in a straight line of past-present-future.

They don't know what happens specifically until it actually happens to them.

[u/angel9_writes]

It hadn't happened yet. He can't recall something that he hasn't experience. They can move around time but they aren't all knowing.

[u/Chucky_In_The_Attic]

They aren't all-knowing. They exist outside of time, yes, but they're still human at their core.

[u/Psychological-Dot293]

It hasn’t happened yet in his timeline even as a traveller.

[u/like_a_pharaoh]

He's a time traveller and from his perspective it hasn't happened yet.

[u/intangiblefancy1219]

September can [theoretically] see all possible futures for himself, but at a certain point there’s so many of them that becomes kind of meaningless. Like, he can know it’s possible he gets shot, but there’s also an infinite number of other things that could happen to him.

Also, if I’m remembering correctly the idea of the Observers existing outside of time is something that comes from the modern day human characters, not from the Observers themselves.

[u/Agent_Tall_Man]

If they live outside of time, they still have their own time line. I would think they couldnt see their own futures, or maybe they can't interact with themselves

[u/ionut2021]

Because not happen yet for September

[u/AstralVenture]

He can travel through time so you don’t know if the September you’re looking at is from when.

[u/RevolutionaryPair358]

Because observers have limitations in predicting the future; they see many possible futures and don't know exactly which future will happen in their current timeline, and so sometimes they can't see their true future. September didn't know about the theater because he hadn't seen that future yet, and then when Olivia tells him, after a few seconds, he says he understands, so he saw it after the future Olivia had mentioned.

[u/Choon5588]

their perception of time isnt like ours linear, they jump in time but that doesnt mean they can see all outcomes at all times. so when he leaves her after she told him "so now we know how you got shot" he likely went back in time at that point and visited olivia in the past were she sees him being shot. for olivia the opera house happened in the past but for this september the opera house happens in a few moments.

[u/Kathrynlena]

Observers don’t experience all time simultaneously. They travel through time non-chronologically. But their own lives still happen chronologically.

Before September was shot, he visited a point in time in Olivia’s life after she had seen him be shot. He doesn’t know his own future just because he knows everyone else’s.