Dollhouse theories
Okay, I just posted, but I was thinking about this a lot last night. So, here's me speculating about Dollhouse again:
I know this has been theorized before, but I just rewatched the relevant episodes and I’m really wondering if Dominic started working at the Dollhouse as Whiskey’s Handler. When he’s in Victor’s body and calls out to her, it initially just seems like a hint at Dr. Saunder’s past, but on further reflection, it seems weird that he’d call her that, even as panicky as he is in that scene. He looked at her and said it very deliberately. He could have been hoping to retrigger the Handler-Active bond to make her help him or at least hesitate to hurt him. It obviously didn’t work, but I wonder how she would have responded if he’d used a trigger phrase instead. (Topher’s treatment comment didn’t get a reaction, but he’s not a handler.)
Dominic was Adelle’s Head of Security for three years by the time of Spy in the House of Love, but he couldn’t have started out in that position. Boyd proves that being promoted from Handler is a viable route. Dominic got sent to the Attic about a year after Alpha’s escape, which means that Whiskey would have been an Active for 2-3 years before becoming Dr. Saunders. This makes sense, because Whiskey was there before Echo, and Echo has been there for 2 years by the beginning of Season Two, meaning she was there about a year before the Alpha thing, maybe a little less.
Of course, since Dominic was already Head of Security when Topher was hired, that would mess with the it’s-Topher’s-fault-she’s-a-doll-and-he-feels-guilty theories.
I wonder if Dr. Saunders ever interacts with Sophie, who was her Handler when Alpha attacked her. She still works in the Dollhouse, clearly. Come to think of it, I wonder how many people knew Dr. Saunders was a Doll. Adelle, Dominic, and Topher, obviously. Sophie must know, and so would any other staff members who survived the Alpha attack, unless their memories were altered. And how many people know that Dr. Saunders knows? Topher was the first, and clearly Boyd knows now. Did Topher or Dr. Saunders tell him? Does Adelle know? She was vague when talking about her leaving, but Topher and Boyd were also vague about it when talking with Adelle. They both have reasons to try and not bring up the subject. Of course, if Adelle doesn’t know, she certainly suspects. She is Adelle, after all. We don’t see much of the other staff members, but Ivy just seems puzzled by the Saunders/Topher feud and its effect on Topher, so she probably doesn’t know anything about the whole situation. Couldn’t say with Paul, but they seem to be trying to keep him in the dark.
Going back a little, I can’t decide whether or not I think Topher knew Whiskey pre-Dollhouse. On the one hand, he did seem pretty keen on her learning who she used to be, and his talk of contracts and making her hate his smell is rather suspect. On the other, he seems just as keen on insisting Dr. Saunders is a human being. He treats her like a person without any of the awkwardness or condescension he treats the other Dolls with, even when they’re imprinted.
If he did know her before, I think it was definitely in a friend or lover capacity. I might have bought her being a relative after Omega, but not after their scene in Vows. Topher was majorly freaked out, but he wasn’t grossed out. He wasn’t reacting like someone whose sister or cousin was coming on to him.
Maybe the original Whiskey was a criminal like Alpha.
Moving on to more immediate speculation, here is my current theory for Episode 2.04, and it contains discussion of Season 2 spoilers for anyone who would like to avoid that:
Topher learns about Sierra’s less-than-voluntary status at the Dollhouse and tries to help her, because this ruins his mantra about the Actives being volunteers and he cares about the Dolls way more than he pretends to and may even have a special fondness for Sierra since she was his birthday friend once. He somehow winds up either directly or indirectly causing the death or serious injury of Nolan, who is clearly a wealthy and powerful client. Because Topher was acting in the best interest of her Actives, is rather invaluable to the Dollhouse, and Adelle is protective of her employees when they aren’t spies or rapists, Adelle pulls some strings to keep Topher from being fired, sent to the Attic, or put in jail, but he winds up losing a lot of privileges and maybe even has to be monitored or have periodic psych evaluations or something. That would explain why there’s apparently soon to be a lot of changes to Topher’s office in the Dollhouse, but Topher is obviously still working there according to the released episode summaries.
Vague, disjointed, and may not exactly mesh with the filming schedule, but those are my thoughts at the moment.
…Is it bad that I kind of want an AU fic with Topher as Whiskey’s Handler?
Okay, that took a long time to type and make coherent. It's dinner time now.
I know this has been theorized before, but I just rewatched the relevant episodes and I’m really wondering if Dominic started working at the Dollhouse as Whiskey’s Handler. When he’s in Victor’s body and calls out to her, it initially just seems like a hint at Dr. Saunder’s past, but on further reflection, it seems weird that he’d call her that, even as panicky as he is in that scene. He looked at her and said it very deliberately. He could have been hoping to retrigger the Handler-Active bond to make her help him or at least hesitate to hurt him. It obviously didn’t work, but I wonder how she would have responded if he’d used a trigger phrase instead. (Topher’s treatment comment didn’t get a reaction, but he’s not a handler.)
Dominic was Adelle’s Head of Security for three years by the time of Spy in the House of Love, but he couldn’t have started out in that position. Boyd proves that being promoted from Handler is a viable route. Dominic got sent to the Attic about a year after Alpha’s escape, which means that Whiskey would have been an Active for 2-3 years before becoming Dr. Saunders. This makes sense, because Whiskey was there before Echo, and Echo has been there for 2 years by the beginning of Season Two, meaning she was there about a year before the Alpha thing, maybe a little less.
Of course, since Dominic was already Head of Security when Topher was hired, that would mess with the it’s-Topher’s-fault-she’s-a-doll-and-he-feels-guilty theories.
I wonder if Dr. Saunders ever interacts with Sophie, who was her Handler when Alpha attacked her. She still works in the Dollhouse, clearly. Come to think of it, I wonder how many people knew Dr. Saunders was a Doll. Adelle, Dominic, and Topher, obviously. Sophie must know, and so would any other staff members who survived the Alpha attack, unless their memories were altered. And how many people know that Dr. Saunders knows? Topher was the first, and clearly Boyd knows now. Did Topher or Dr. Saunders tell him? Does Adelle know? She was vague when talking about her leaving, but Topher and Boyd were also vague about it when talking with Adelle. They both have reasons to try and not bring up the subject. Of course, if Adelle doesn’t know, she certainly suspects. She is Adelle, after all. We don’t see much of the other staff members, but Ivy just seems puzzled by the Saunders/Topher feud and its effect on Topher, so she probably doesn’t know anything about the whole situation. Couldn’t say with Paul, but they seem to be trying to keep him in the dark.
Going back a little, I can’t decide whether or not I think Topher knew Whiskey pre-Dollhouse. On the one hand, he did seem pretty keen on her learning who she used to be, and his talk of contracts and making her hate his smell is rather suspect. On the other, he seems just as keen on insisting Dr. Saunders is a human being. He treats her like a person without any of the awkwardness or condescension he treats the other Dolls with, even when they’re imprinted.
If he did know her before, I think it was definitely in a friend or lover capacity. I might have bought her being a relative after Omega, but not after their scene in Vows. Topher was majorly freaked out, but he wasn’t grossed out. He wasn’t reacting like someone whose sister or cousin was coming on to him.
Maybe the original Whiskey was a criminal like Alpha.
Moving on to more immediate speculation, here is my current theory for Episode 2.04, and it contains discussion of Season 2 spoilers for anyone who would like to avoid that:
Topher learns about Sierra’s less-than-voluntary status at the Dollhouse and tries to help her, because this ruins his mantra about the Actives being volunteers and he cares about the Dolls way more than he pretends to and may even have a special fondness for Sierra since she was his birthday friend once. He somehow winds up either directly or indirectly causing the death or serious injury of Nolan, who is clearly a wealthy and powerful client. Because Topher was acting in the best interest of her Actives, is rather invaluable to the Dollhouse, and Adelle is protective of her employees when they aren’t spies or rapists, Adelle pulls some strings to keep Topher from being fired, sent to the Attic, or put in jail, but he winds up losing a lot of privileges and maybe even has to be monitored or have periodic psych evaluations or something. That would explain why there’s apparently soon to be a lot of changes to Topher’s office in the Dollhouse, but Topher is obviously still working there according to the released episode summaries.
Vague, disjointed, and may not exactly mesh with the filming schedule, but those are my thoughts at the moment.
…Is it bad that I kind of want an AU fic with Topher as Whiskey’s Handler?
Okay, that took a long time to type and make coherent. It's dinner time now.