Topher Brink & Claire Saunders

Name: Claire Saunders

Age: Around 24-25

Job At Dollhouse: Health Care For Dolls.

Played By : Amy Acker

 

Dr. Claire Saunders is the doctor/physician at the Dollhouse. She gives the dolls exams and check ups after they get back from their engagements, and sometimes before. In some cases she preforms surgeries that are required for an engagement (True Believer).  Claire is a quiet person, reserved, and the only friend to the Actives at the Dollhouse. She has genuine concern for the actives and doesn't really approve of the whole opperation. How she got her job is yet to be revealed.

Something you  first notice about Claire is the scars across her face. The scars are from a terrible incident that occured three months before the show starts. An active named Alpha turned rogue after an experimental permanent imprint was put into him by Topher  Brink upon request. He goes on a murderous ramage, slaughtering many of the actives, Echo's handler, wounding Topher, and scarring Claire's face for life. He then escapes, leaving few of the actives alive. Claire is scarred both physically and emotionally by the event, and doesn't really like to talk about it. Three months later, when the body of a ranger that tried to aid in Echo's murder during an engagement, (he was caught and held captive by Boyd), turns up dead, Claire has an inkling feeling that Alpha is responsible for the death, as the murder has the same M.O. as the murders at the Dollhouse (Echo) .

 

Claire's relationship with Topher is somewhat of a love/hate relationship. They're friends, but at the same  time, Claire does have some resentment towards Topher, him being the programmer for the dolls (and a slight ego). But through some observations, it seems  like they are friends. In a weird way, they rely on each other to talk about their troubles. They often stick together when they both believe in the same thing, and when they are repremended, they go down together. Despite the love/hate feel of their relationship, the two of them seem to be very close, as if they were childhood friends. They are both a little insecure, and have their own personal space that they both value. However, when it comes to eachother, the personal space seems to be gone . They're comfortable around each other. Once , Topher noticed that Victor was having ...man reactions as he calls it, in the shower, and went to Claire for help. They spent hours looking through three months of shower tapes to see when it all started. They seem to be very comfortable around each other in the scene .There is a slight underlying during one of the scenes, that Topher might have feelings for Claire and vice-versa, when they find out the source of Victor's problem is another active, Sierra.

 

 

Name: Topher Brink

Age: Probably 25, 26

Job At Dollhouse: Active Programmer

Played By: Fran Kranz

 

Topher Brink is the Active Programmer at the Dollhouse. His job is to erase/wipe the active's memories when they first come, then later, put in imprints specified by clients of the Dollhouse. Later, when the actives come back from their engagements, Topher wipes their minds again, erasing the imprints. During the time between imprints, the actives are called dolls, and are as helpless little children. They are Tabula Rasa, blank slates. It's Topher's job to imprint and wipe the dolls. Topher , while generally egotistical, is a nice person. He is a genius, probably with a 200 or higher IQ. He's a humorous character, and does have a sarcastic side to him. Many of his jokes are based off his sarcastic remarks , usually towards Boyd or Laurwrence.

Topher isn't always sarcastic and upbeat though. During a criminal engagement , Echo is remotely wiped, which, according to Topher, shouldn't happen, shouldn't be possible. He is freaked out, and goes into a depression during the remainder of the engagement, skulking around his office. His assistant , Ivy, tries, and fails to console him, but assures him that it wasn't his rival. He tells her that the only person that is good enough to do this scientific feat is dead . When he says this, he is reffering to the rogue active Alpha, whom they were told was shot dead by the guards outside the Dollhouse. At the end of the episode, Topher confronts the boss of the Dollhouse, Adelle DeWitt about the problem. He tells her that Alpha is the only one capable of doing a remote wipe, and asks her if he is still alive. She takes out papers from her desk and asks him to sign them. Frightened, Topher thinks he's being fired. Then , Adelle tells him that they are papers to get him higher security clearence. Topher's worst fear, that Alpha is still alive, is confirmed. (Gray Hour.) .  

Three months before the show starts, there is a tragic incident at the Dollhouse. An active that Topher was told to put a permanenent, self defence imprint in , turns rogue after the imprint . He goes crazy and slaughters many of the dolls , wounds Topher, kills Echo's handler, and attacks and scars Claire. He then escapes from the Dollhouse, followed by the guards of the Dollhouse, but he escapes. Topher blames himself for what happened, and also doesn't like to talk about it, even though it wasn't his fault (Echo) .

Topher's relationship with Claire is a love/hate relationship. Topher isn't entirely comfortable with Claire, as he always calls her 'Doctor', 'Doc,' or 'Doctor Saunders', never Claire, but he also seems to like her as well. Claire on the other hand, always calls him Topher. During one episode, he and Claire go through three months worth of shower security tapes, trying to pinpoint the time when a certain problem with the active Victor (man reactions Topher calls them), they seem to be very comfortable with each other. There is a slight underlying during one of the scenes, that Topher might have feelings for Claire and vice-versa, when they find out the source of Victor's problem is another active, Sierra.

 

Topher: [looking right at Claire, a slight dreamy look in his eyes] He likes her.

Claire: [blushing slightly, she can feel his eyes on her] Yeah.

 

They seem to actually spend some time with each other, as in the same episode, Topher sets up shop for a bit in Claire's office as they prep Echo for her recent engagement , a spy in a radical religious cult. (True Believer)