Lilah Morgan
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| Image:LilahMorgan.jpg Stephanie Romanov as Lilah Morgan | ||||||||||||||
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Lilah Morgan is a fictional character from the television series Angel, played by Stephanie Romanov. She first appeared in the first-season episode "The Ring", and would appear regularly in seasons one and two. After Lindsey McDonald left, Lilah would become the primary face of Wolfram & Hart, and figure largely into the Season Three and Four story arcs. She guest starred in more Angel episodes than any other recurring character.
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[edit] History
[edit] Season One
Lilah is a lawyer for the evil law firm Wolfram & Hart, and in her first appearance she tries (and fails) to persuade Angel to work for her employers. Lilah then works to kill Angel; she is co-architect of a plan to hire renegade slayer Faith Lehane in order to do just that. Over time she and another lawyer, Lindsey McDonald, become rivals, competing for the favor of their superiors.
[edit] Season Two
The vampire Darla is returned to life as a human by Wolfram & Hart and ultimately re-sired (turned back into a vampire) by Drusilla. Darla and Drusilla massacre a group of Wolfram & Hart lawyers in the wine cellar of Holland Manners. Only Lilah and Lindsey are spared, and with only the two of them left on the Special Projects Team, their rivalry reaches an all-time high as they start a power struggle for the vice-presidency of the team, as well as for survival. Eventually, Lindsey is offered the promotion, but he elects to leave the firm, disillusioned by the extent of its evil. He tosses his promotion to Lilah, thereby saving her life.
[edit] Season Three
In the third season, Lilah ups the ante in her vendetta with Angel, and blackmails him into freeing a mysterious man called Billy from a Hell dimension by torturing Angel's friend Cordelia Chase. In the episode "Billy", the effects of these actions come back to haunt Lilah. Billy, a half-demon misogynist, has the ability to bring out primordial violence in men simply by touching them. He touches Lilah's newest rival, Gavin Park, causing Gavin to beat her severely. Lilah hides herself and her bruises in her apartment for a time, and refuses to assist Angel when he comes to her for help in sending Billy back to Hell. Later on, Cordelia also comes to ask for aid in ending the evil Lilah helped begin, and Lilah again refuses. "I am not Lindsey McDonald," she states flatly. "I don't switch [sides] whenever it gets tough." In response, Cordelia calls her a "vicious bitch." Lilah shrugs. "So you know me."
"Please. I was you, with better shoes," Cordelia snaps. Still, Lilah asks why she should help them. "[Because] no woman should ever have to go through that. And no woman strong enough to wear the mantle of 'vicious bitch' would ever put up with it."
Lilah gives in, telling her where Billy is going and letting Cordelia go confront him on her own. The final conflict among Billy, Cordelia, and Angel takes place on the runway of a private airport, and Lilah arrives at the eleventh hour to fire the fatal shot, killing Billy and regaining her own sense of self-worth. It is around that time that she also receives a new boss, Linwood Murrow, who joins Lilah in trying to manipulate Angel and kidnap his son, Connor.
Lilah herself investigates the return of Daniel Holtz, an old enemy of Angel's. Holtz has broken away from his partnership with the demon Sahjhan, who wishes to eliminate Angel for his own reasons, and he seeks out Wolfram & Hart. He brokers a deal with Lilah, a deal that ultimately results in baby Connor and Holtz being lost into the Quor-Toth dimension.
At the end of the third season, Lilah begins sleeping with Wesley Wyndam-Pryce after his betrayal of Angel and ejection from the core group. She tries to convince him to join Wolfram & Hart, but he continues to refuse those advances.
[edit] Season Four
That relationship with Wesley, which begins as a series of one-night stands, continues throughout the fourth season, through the emergence of The Beast and the destruction of the Los Angeles branch of Wolfram & Hart that results in the death of all employees present except for Lilah, who is able to escape with Wesley's help. Shortly before that time, she kills her boss, Linwood Murrow, and once more rises in power.
Lilah is killed shortly after the release of Angelus, stabbed to death by Cordelia (under the possession of Jasmine) and left for Angelus to drink from. Wesley believes that Angelus was responsible and is forced to behead Lilah, as he believes she could rise again as a vampire. When Wesley prepares to decapitate Lilah's body, she appears standing across from him, and the two of them discuss their relationship and Wesley's regret that he could never save Lilah from her own evil. The vision of Lilah implies that she had loved Wesley, though Wesley refuses to believe it, and with the decapitating swing of his axe, the vision is gone.
As shown earlier in the series with Holland Manners, an employment contract with Wolfram & Hart does not terminate with death, and Lilah returns at the end of the fourth season wearing a scarf around her neck to hide the scar from Wesley's axe. She presents Angel with a tempting offer: full control of the Los Angeles branch of Wolfram & Hart with all its resources. During a tour of the facilities intended to seduce Angel Investigations into accepting the offer, Wesley attempts to burn Lilah's Wolfram & Hart contract in order to give her peace. Though the contract cannot be destroyed, Lilah is touched by the attempt, and tells her former lover in their final scene together, "It means something that you tried."
Angel takes Lilah's offer in an attempt to save his son Connor from a life of misery, and Lilah apparently returns to the Hell division of Wolfram & Hart. In the fifth season, Eve takes over as liaison for the Senior Partners.
[edit] Characteristics
Lilah appears to be cold-hearted, ruthless, self-serving, and deceitful. Cordelia once called her a "vicious bitch," a title she liked. This is unusual given the overall themes of feminism and woman power in Joss Whedon's universe. However, as the show goes on, we learn more about Lilah, the logic behind the choices she has made, and the circumstances of her life.
[edit] Romantic Relationships
- Marcus Roscoe: While in Angel's body, Marcus Roscoe made a move on Lilah and kissed her. She responded, and the two continued kissing and undressing until Marcus bit her.
- Wesley Wyndam-Pryce: After Wesley was estranged from the rest of Angel Investigations, Lilah took an immediate interest in him in an attempt to seduce him into sharing his knowledge and resources with Wolfram & Hart. Though Wesley saw through her ploy, the two eventually embarked on a secretive, distrusting relationship that would haunt Wesley as much as it would give him solace.
[edit] Appearances
Lilah has appeared in:
- Angel
- Appearing in 35 episodes in total, Lilah appeared in the following episodes:
- Season 1 - "The Ring", "Five By Five", "Sanctuary", "Blind Date", "To Shanshu in L.A.".
- Season 2 - "Judgment", "Untouched", "Reunion", "Redefinition", "Blood Money", "Reprise", " Dead End".
- Season 3 - "That Vision Thing", "Carpe Noctem", "Billy", "Quickening", "Lullaby", "Dad", "Loyalty", "Sleep Tight", "Forgiving", "The Price", "A New World", "Benediction", "Tomorrow".
- Season 4 - "Deep Down", "Ground State", "Slouching Toward Bethlehem", "Supersymmetry", "Apocalypse, Nowish", "Habeas Corpses", "Calvary" (dies), "Salvage", "Peace Out", "Home".
[edit] External links
- Notorious: A Lilah Morgan Resource
- Femme Fatale (Lilah Morgan Fanlisting) Features screencaps, quotes, and a biography.
