Billy (episode)

Billy is the sixth episode of the third season of Angel and the fiftieth episode overall. Written by Tim Minear and Jeffrey Bell and directed by David Grossman, it was originally broadcast on October 29, 2001 on the WB network.

Angel and the gang investigate a wave of violence against women throughout Los Angeles which he soon discovers is the work of a partially demonic young man named Billy Blim (the same man Angel was forced to rescue from a fiery hell dimension by the lawyers of Wolfram & Hart in "That Vision Thing "). Billy is capable of infecting any normal man by mere touch with a murderous anger toward women. While Angel sets out to find Billy and stop him, Fred soon finds herself trapped at the hotel by Wesley, who's become infected by Billy's misogynist mojo. Meanwhile, Cordelia tries to find Billy in her own way, seeking the aid of a battered and reluctant Lilah, also a victim of violence from Billy's power.

Synopsis
At the hotel, Angel gives Cordelia lessons in using a sword. They have a little disagreement as Angel teaches her only defensive maneuvers to use until he "swoops in to save her," while Cordelia wants to learn how to finish her opponent off. Plus, she points out that he might be the one she has to fight.

At Wolfram & Hart, Billy, the young man Angel freed from his own cage in Hell in order to save Cordelia from her increasingly violent visions in "That Vision Thing", is in Lilah's office. It turns out he is the nephew of congressman Nathan Blim and part of one of the most distinguished political family in the United States. He has been missing for three days, and Wolfram & Hart has just recovered him. Lilah finds him in her office, talking to Gavin. Once Billy is safely back with his family, Lilah starts arguing with Gavin for coming into her office and "sniffing around" one of her clients, and for trying to take credit for Billy's recovery when he actually had done nothing. Mild-mannered Gavin abruptly turns on Lilah and starts punching and strangling her.

The gang are all having dinner at Wesley's house, and they're having a good time. It turns out that Wesley is attracted to Fred, and invited her over for dinner... but he also invited everyone else over so he wouldn't be alone with her. Cordelia suddenly has a vision of a man beating his wife to death in a convenience store. But the events described occurred a week earlier. They investigate and find that the man had no history of violence, but that the security camera shows that Billy was in the store at the time. Cordelia blames herself because the guy was freed to save her. Angel tells her that she shouldn't feel guilty, as he was the one who rescued and freed Billy from his prison.

Angel goes to confront Lilah in her apartment, and finds her drunk and with a badly beaten face. She explains that Billy can never be caught because he never lays a hand on women, plus his extremely rich and powerfully connected family will protect him. She points out that Angel's chivalric concern is misplaced since she knows he wants to kill her, and she slams the door in his face.

Angel sneaks onto the Blim estate and confronts Billy. He walks right into the house without needing an invitation, indicating to him that his hunch is correct&mdash;Billy is not fully human. The police arrive, presumably to arrest Angel for trespassing, breaking and entering. But no, an unperturbed Billy explains that they are there to arrest him, and that they found a body right where he said it would be. He set it up as a way to get off of the family estate, since they have been trying to keep him there. As they take him away, Billy touches one of the cops, and the place where he touched glows for a moment. It turns out that Billy has some kind of demonic power such that when he touches a man, he brings out some kind of "primordial misogyny" in them, causing them to attack and perhaps kill nearby women. On the way to the police station, the male cop attacks the female cop who is driving the police car, and she shoots him. Billy is able to escape. At the crime scene, Angel smells that Billy's blood is not fully human. Wesley takes some blood samples, touching Billy's blood in the process and getting infected. As Angel tracks Billy's path, he comes across non-demonic misogyny on the way as he meets men who speculate that the women just had it coming, or were nagging.

Meanwhile, Cordelia goes out to stop Billy, explaining to Fred "How can I not [go]?". Cordy first visits Lilah, and connects with her despite being on opposing sides as Cordy mentions Lilah's face, and that she's been crying. She cleverly uses Lilah's own pride in her ruthlessness to fuel her desire to rebel against the horror that is Billy, against the interests of Wolfram & Hart.

Billy has made his way to a party of some kind where he meets his cousin Dylan, who is very uneasy around him. After he leaves, Angel arrives and has a talk with Dylan who is more than obliging with information once Angel states he's looking to kill Billy. He explains that the whole family has a set of rules when dealing with Billy with the most important being that you don't, under any circumstances, touch him. Billy is heading to Santa Monica to get away on a private plane, and Dylan also reveals that Cordelia visited earlier and he gave her the same information.

Back at the Hyperion, Wesley and Fred do some sleuthing. They figure out that Billy's misogyny is transmitted by blood, as Wesley, already infected, slowly starts to treat Fred with more hostility. He tells her that she has been dressing too provocatively, that men are wired a certain way, that she secretly mocks men, and then he slaps her, knocking him down. Fred flees, and Wesley starts chasing her with an axe, repeating common misogynistic statements as he goes. Gunn arrives and helps Fred escape, but because he knows he has been infected (having touched the blood which Wesley was examining), he gives Fred a chair leg and begs her to knock him out. At first she refuses, but when Gunn starts to turn and tries to get the chair leg back so he can beat her with it she knockes him out cold. She then subdues Wesley with a trap.

Cordelia, armed with a crossbow, finds Billy at the airport, waiting to get onto his private plane. She confronts him, but before she shoots him, Angel arrives, and Billy infects him and goads him to attack Cordelia. Instead, he attacks Billy&mdash;he is not affected by the hatred. But while they are fighting, Billy is shot dead&mdash;by Lilah.

Later, as the entire gang have decided to take a few days off to reflect on everything that happened to them, Angel talks with Cordelia and they speculate why he was not affected. Angel thinks that the hatred and anger was something brought out in men, a primordial misogyny that is always there but that Angel lost that a long time ago, back when he was evil. Angelus never killed because of hatred&mdash;he did it for the sheer pleasure of it. Cordelia notes that, in a very strange sort of way, the demon inside of him is less petty than humans.

Meanwhile, Wesley has isolated himself in his apartment, as Fred tries to induce him to come back to work. He is too ashamed, feeling that Billy brought out a hatred that he didn't know he had. She argues that what he did was not his fault, that it was something that was put there, rather than something was let out. Wesley agrees to return to work, but as Fred leaves he starts to cry. Fred, hearing this, considers returning but decides to leave him be.

Production

 * This is the 50th episode of Angel.


 * The episode was filmed only shortly after September 11, 2001, making the airport scenes a challenge.

Other

 * All the female recurring characters in the episode are self-reliant, and do not depend on men to rescue them&mdash;they each rescue themselves. Cordelia strikes out on her initiative to find Billy before Angel, and defeats him without any assistance. Fred is able to subdue both Wesley and Gunn, and Lilah takes the initiative to kill Billy, heedless of her firm's concerns.


 * The attacks against women are usually preceded by some kind of misogynistic comments that are of the kind that are frequently employed but without any recognition that they are misogynistic. For example, Gavin tries to put Lilah in her place, Wesley blames Fred for dressing provocatively and not taking proper consideration for men, who can't be expected to control themselves, and Gunn comments to Fred that comments like those she's making will get her beat up.


 * While Billy's origins are never stated, Lilah makes oblique reference to Billy having "family connections" in Hell.


 * The crisis Wesley faces at the end of this episode is similar to the one Xander will face in Hell's Bells. Both characters catch glimpses of themselves as not necessarily how they are, but how they could be, and what that would mean for the women they love.


 * On the commentary track, the writers, Tim Minear and Jeffrey Bell, explain Billy's backstory: his father raped a "good" demon, and the result was Billy.