How did Lilah get away with killing Billy?

[EmEeeCee]

So considering that she works for and is a high level employee at Wolfram and Hart, it sort of makes sense that Lilah was not prosecuted by the law for murder… but even then, it is mentioned that Billy’s family is “the closest thing this country has to royalty,” so wouldn’t his family be powerful enough to at least cause some disruption? In addition, Billy was also obviously important to Wolfram and Hart as a client and a valuable tool they could use to serve their evil purpose, so I would think that they would be highly displeased with Lilah killing him off. I guess Wolfram and Hart is so powerful that they can probably silence most humans (in respect to Billy’s family) and perhaps they valued Lilah and her overall purpose/destiny more than Billy (similarly to how they will not allow anyone to kill Angel despite how he foils many of their plans.) Any thoughts?

 

[thrasherpix]

I think the Senior Partners respected her right then, and that's the kind of attitude they admired (and encouraged, leading to her promotion later on with more killing).

Also, Evil Red Riding Hood said she liked evil, but not chaos. Billy was a force of chaos. (Though this is a bit different from how Babylon 5 defined Order and Chaos that I bring up at times to contrast the Higher Powers vs Senior Partners.)


If Billy's family felt entitled, as they very well may have, they may have made the mistake of DEMANDING something be done on their behalf. That would not fly with the Senior Partners who are more meritocracy than respecting lineages and the like. They'd also see it as a sign of weakness, possibly disrespect combined with weakness that comes from getting soft by being entitled.

The family would do better to act on their own in which case the Sr Partners would probably let it play out, but it seems to me ONLY the father even cared anyway, and Lilah could have him killed easy enough, further earning the respect of the Senior Partners, and likely still keeping the family as clients.

And if she was really savvy, and this is what I'd have happen if I wrote a fanfic about it, she even arranged for others in the family (both fearing and hating the man, AND in line to take his place, inheriting all his assets and power upon the death of Billy's father) to PAY her to have that man killed, which would make her a golden child to the Senior Partners.

 

[Stake fodder]

I think the Senior Partners respected her right then, and that's the kind of attitude they admired (and encouraged, leading to her promotion later on with more killing).

I agree, and also I think W&H would take the attack on Lilah as an attack on themselves. Billy is showing W&H that they can't control him. They couldn't have that, so Billy had to be disposed of. This would also serve as a rebuke to his "royal" family of who's really in charge.

 

[EmEeeCee]

Definitely great insight :] thank you guys!

Post automatically merged: Nov 24, 2021

I also wonder if it’s all part of a MUCH bigger plan, which I’m sure is a point of Angel as a series in particular. Especially with Skip being introduced when Billy is released and then being a huge part of Cordelia becoming accessible to Jasmine. Along with Cordelia being a strong way to manipulate Angel’s feelings and actions. Maybe from the start Billy wasn’t actually all that important to them at all in the long term sense. I definitely agree with the idea that Wolfram and Hart did not like that he could not be controlled and could become a liability as well.

 

[thetopher]

Plausible Deniability. The go-to for any good lawyer.

Or evil lawyer, as the case may be.

 

[Kendar]

Plausible Deniability. The go-to for any good lawyer.

Or evil lawyer, as the case may be.

This. After all, only Cordelia and Lilah know how he died. Admittedly her bosses have the power to find out what happened IF they care. But they might not care, esp. if Lilah told them something convincing (which may or may not be true).