Whiskey

Whiskey was a female active for the Los Angeles Dollhouse. An attack by Alpha left her with permanent scars on her face, which rendered her unengageable and led to her being imprinted with the personality of Claire Saunders. Prior to this, Whiskey had been the L.A. Dollhouse's most requested active, to such an extent that her constant engagements were causing her physical strain.

Personality

Whiskey agrees to a treatment

As an active, Whiskey displayed a childlike mindset and was typically in a tabula rasa state while in between engagements. She sometimes made observations of people and her surroundings, once remarking "friends are nice" to Doctor Saunders. (S1: "Omega") Whiskey also seemed innately polite, at least when responding to her handler, Sophie Alvarez; on several occasions, even during engagements, Whiskey used "please" when accepting treatments. Whiskey has, at least on one occasion, forcefully stated that she was trying to be her best, showing frustration that she wasn't doing so (from her point of view). (S1: "Omega") Whiskey showed sadness at not being (what she perceives as) her best, perhaps upset at her physical limitations. (S2: "Getting Closer")

By the year 2019, Whiskey displayed an uneven capacity for basic concepts such as danger, as shown when someone threatened to cause her physical harm or aimed a gun at her. (S1: "Epitaph One") Still, understanding that Alpha was about to attack her with pruning shears, even displaying fear. (S1: "Omega") Whiskey seemed capable of self-preservation and was more than able to use the imprinting technology, locate the food she needed to survive and make anyone searching for Safe Haven understand that the imprinting chair was a necessary step in finding the sanctuary. (S1: "Epitaph One") Whiskey also appeared to understand and accept her fate when she remained behind to gas the invading butchers to protect the actuals escaping from the abandoned Los Angeles Dollhouse facility.

Biography

Whiskey became an active for the L.A. Dollhouse prior to Caroline Farrell becoming Echo, with whom she had gone on at least one engagement. (S1: "Omega"; S2: "Vows") Whiskey became the L.A. Dollhouse's number one doll due to being the most requested active, to such an extent where they were causing her physical strain, with Doctor Saunders requesting she receive a week of rest. (S1: "Omega") This led to Whiskey being attacked by Alpha, who slashed her face with pruning shears so that Echo could be number one. (S1: "The Target", "Stage Fright", "Omega"; S2: "Vows", "A Love Supreme", "Getting Closer") This led to Whiskey being imprinted with the personality of Claire Saunders, as she was unengageable, and the Dollhouse was in need of a physician "loyal to the cause" (S1: "The Target", "Omega"; S2: "Vows", "The Left Hand", "Getting Closer")

Whiskey participated in double engagements on several occasions, where she and at least one other active were assigned to the same client, or were at the same event. (S1: "Omega"; S2: "Vows") One such occasion was when Whiskey and Alpha were assigned to Lars for a crime spree fantasy, where Whiskey imprinted as Crystal and Alpha as Bobby managed to go off mission and torture Lars after Alpha noticed the black vans with Whiskey and Alpha's handlers inside. Another occasion was when Whiskey and Echo were at the same formal function, and the two were seen to embrace each other, despite seemingly already having dates. (S1: "Omega"; S2: "Vows")

Whiskey did not receive much downtime between her constant engagements, and was therefore physically strained, seeing Doctor Saunders on at least two occasions for her left shoulder. One of those times saw Adelle DeWitt herself speaking to Doctor Saunders about having her back in rotation as soon as possible, as she was at that point, their number one active. Another occasion saw Whiskey being brought into see Doctor Saunders by her handler, Sophie Alvarez, after the Miller Engagement, where Doctor Saunders said she was overworked and needed a week's rest. Alvarez quickly denied this, stating that DeWitt would never allow it due to Whiskey's number one status. (S1: "Omega"; S2: "Getting Closer")

Whiskey tidies her station prior to an engagement

Whiskey was about to be sent on an engagement when Alpha attacked her with pruning shears, slashing her face and leaving permanent scars due to his desire for Echo to be number one. As she was therefore left unengageable, being a damaged doll, and Doctor Saunders was dead, Adelle DeWitt ordered Topher Brink to imprint Whiskey with the personality of Claire Saunders to act as the house physician. (S1: "The Target", "Stage Fright", "Omega"; S2: "Vows", "The Left Hand", "A Love Supreme", "Getting Closer") After the imprint, Whiskey no longer seems to respond to any of the active scripts, and no longer responds to her name. (S1: "Briar Rose"; S2: "Vows")

Whiskey is who Echo recognizes, despite the fact that Claire Saunders was imprinted into the active. (S2: "Vows")

Adelle DeWitt considers Whiskey to be a rogue doll, due to the fact that the Claire Saunders's personality fled the L.A. Dollhouse after discovering her true nature. (S2: "Belle Chose")

Topher Brink would later use Whiskey to suspect that Bennett Halverson was actually an active. (S2: "The Left Hand", "Getting Closer")

Whiskey still contained the Claire Saunders personality when found by Boyd Langton and later had sleeper subroutines imprinted into her, which would later cause her to murder Bennett Halverson. (S2: "Getting Closer")

After the Claire Saunders personality was removed from Whiskey, Clyde 2.0 was imprinted, making Whiskey the newest body that personality has inhabited. Additional skills were imprinted into Whiskey during this, including various hand to hand combat and weaponry abilities and knowledge. (S2: "The Hollow Men") With this, several of the L.A. Dollhouse employees were careful not to cause fatal damage to the body when combating Clyde. (S2: "The Hollow Men") Whiskey was removed from the Rossum building in Tucson, Arizona prior to the bombing of the building by Echo. (S2: "The Hollow Men")

The Clyde 2.0 personality was later removed from Whiskey and replaced with the Claire Saunders personality, allowing Whiskey to continue serving the L.A. Dollhouse. (S1: "Epitaph One") However, the Claire Saunders personality would eventually be removed or fade from Whiskey by the time she is found in 2019 inside the abandoned L.A. Dollhouse. (S1: "Epitaph One")

"I've found your friend"

By the year 2019, Whiskey has become the benign guardian to the L.A. Dollhouse sometime after it had been abandoned, and despite her doll state, Whiskey is able to retain some knowledge, such as how the imprinting chair works and that food can be found in the kitchen. Whiskey also understands that potential actuals would be looking for Safe Haven, and was able to inform the group that a wedge containing a backup of Caroline Farrells personality would be needed, as well as imprinting herself with various memories of former Dollhouse staff members and actives. After Caroline Farrell is imprinted into Iris, Whiskey informs her that her name is as such, and not Claire Saunders, signaling that the Claire Saunders imprint had either been wiped or faded since Caroline Farrell had last seen her from the backup's perspective. When a group of butchers found their way into the L.A. Dollhouse, Whiskey refused to follow the actuals and Iris, stating that she had to wait within the Dollhouse. Moments later, Whiskey activated a gas system which brought down the butchers, by either killing them or rendering them unconscious, with Whiskey sitting down on a balcony and closing her eyes. (S1: "Epitaph One")

As of 2020, Alpha had returned to the L.A. Dollhouse and reinstated it as a sanctuary for "Dumbshows" or unimprinted dolls. He does not make any reference to Whiskey and her ultimate fate is unknown. (S2: "Epitaph Two: Return")

Relationships

Alpha

Alpha and Whiskey were known to be paired on engagements together, much to the chagrin of his handler, Mr, Blevins. After Caroline Farrell joined the L.A. Dollhouse, Alpha came to resent Whiskey as she was number one, and felt that Echo deserved the title. As a result, Alpha attacked Whiskey with pruning shears just as she was about to be sent on an engagement. Alpha would remember Whiskey after his composite event and taunt the personality of Claire Saunders who was already suspicious after a comment from Laurence Dominic when was imprinted into Victor, allowing the personality to discover she is in fact, Whiskey. (S1: "The Target", "Stage Fright", "Briar Rose", "Omega"; S2: "Vows", "The Left Hand", "A Love Supreme")

Sophie Alvarez

Sophie Alvarez was Whiskey's handler and therefor programmed to respond to her as such. While not clear on whether or not she was being serious, Sophie Alvarez seemed to display pride in Whiskey's status as the L.A. Dollhouses number one doll, and expressed doubt to Doctor Saunders request that Whiskey receive at least a week of downtime to recuperate from her previous engagements. Sophie Alvarez was also one of the first people to rush to Whiskey's aid after Alpha attacked her, and was often responded to in a mannerly manner when asked if she wanted a treatment, even during an engagement, (S1: "Omega")

Blevins

Whiskey & Doctor Saunders

Mr. Blevins was Alpha's handler, and did not seem to like Whiskey as he regarded her a "bad influence" on Alpha, often wondering why the two were paired together on engagements. (S1: "Omega")

Doctor Saunders

The original Doctor Saunders was the house physician during Whiskey's tenure as an active, and often complained about her lack of downtime between engagements, citing her to be overworked. Whiskey regarded Doctor Saunders as being nice after she saw him for her sore shoulder while staring at a lollipop he had given her. The two also seemed to be able to engage in mild conversation, such as when Whiskey proclaimed that "friends are nice" and he agreed with her. (S1: "Omega")

Engagements

Episode	Client	Alias	Personality	Engagement
"Ghost" to "Vows", "Getting Closer"	L.A. Dollhouse	Claire Saunders	Scarred physician	Maintain care of Dolls and staff. Replace original Dr. Saunders.
"Omega"	Lars	Crystal	Criminal	Crime spree fantasy (flashbacks)
"Epitaph One"	L.A. Dollhouse	Claire Saunders	Loyal physician	Physician and programmer (flashforwards)
	None	Whiskey	Whiskey with traits of Claire Saunders.	Guardian of the Dollhouse (flashforwards)
"Vows"	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Attend a formal function
"The Hollow Men"	Clyde 2.0	Clyde 2.0	Rossum co-founder, with upgrades	New body; assist Boyd

Appendices

Appearances

• Dollhouse Season 1
  • "Omega"
  • "Epitaph One"
• Dollhouse Season 2
  • "Getting Closer"

Background

Whiskey was portrayed by actress Amy Acker in all three of the character's appearances, it should be noted that this only considers the personality of Whiskey, and not Claire Saunders, Crystal or the unnamed personality as seen within a flashback in "Vows".

Topher Brink also used the term Whiskey 1.1, in reference to this active, but it was unclear exactly what the reference was for, moments after using the name, Topher had received a case with Whiskey's imprint's and he had gone for one particular imprint wedge, without considering the others. It could stand to reason that the term Whiskey 1.1 in its entirety, refers to the wedge containing the Crystal personality and nothing else (meaning that 1.1 is the imprint designation), however, further references throughout the series (particularly "The Attic" and "The Hollow Men") would seem to suggest that Whiskey 1.1 (or at the very least 1.0) would refer to the personality, with the sub number perhaps referring to the imprint number,

Whiskey's final fate is not made explicitly clear, as the end of "Epitaph One" seems to imply that Whiskey dies from the gas used on the butchers, which is further supported by a lack of appearance or mention in "Epitaph Two: Return". However, the commentary for "Epitaph One" suggest that it's merely a knockout gas Whiskey had used to allow the actuals to escape, thereby still being alive. It is notable, however, that the arriving group in "Epitaph Two: Return" seemed to be generally surprised that the L.A. Dollhouse was not a destroyed mess filled with the bodies that were left behind in "Epitaph One" with an implication from Alpha that he had disposed of the bodies upon his arrival and turning the Dollhouse into a new safe haven for actives.

Trivia

• Coincidentally, in an episode titled "Damage" of the Joss Whedon television series, Angel, Amy Acker's character, Winifred Burkle discovers that a whiskey factory is the key to finding a lost psychotic slayer.
• In an episode of the same series, titled Underneath, Illyria (portrayed by Amy Acker) mentions that Wesley Wyndam-Pryce drinks too much whiskey.
• The active file on Whiskey was later placed on an eBay auction, information within (according to the auction information) included active and medical information.
• Whiskey is the only major Active character whose original identity remains unknown.