NB just wasn't up to doing more work in those latter seasons. They wanted to use him more but it wasn't feasible. I am glad he is back on his game and hope this new show is a success.

Okay rewatched Home.

Now does Conner belong like contractly to w&H?

I mean Angel did kill him, and they brought him back to life. So if they crumbled and were destroyed would Conner's contract be destroyed? OR like the signed shanshue is it all up in the air?

I don't think Connor was, strictly speaking, under contract. His re-creation was part of the terms of Angel's contract, but contracts pretty much have to be consented to, and there's no way any version of Connor would have signed anything like the W&R contract. The rest of the crew, however, are pretty much damned, post-mortality. W&R contracts don't break, or burn, as Wesley demonstrated, and all of them were holding VP level positions or better. My guess is that only Wes and Angel actually know this, though. None of the rest of them seem like the sort to read the fine print.

His re-creation was part of the terms of Angel's contract, but contracts pretty much have to be consented to, and there's no way any version of Connor would have signed anything like the W&R contract.

And I don't think there's any way Angel didn't make Connor's free-lance status a condition of the deal.

For that matter, I don't see any of his associate's positions, which were all contingent on him signing, involving more than the usual power corrupts-style risks to their souls if Angel had anything to say about terms.

The Big Broody, however, may be left hoping that he can outlive the Senior Partners if he doesn't want a replay of the end of "Becoming, Pt. 2" when he dies.

For that matter, I don't see any of his associate's positions, which were all contingent on him signing, involving more than the usual power corrupts-style risks to their souls if Angel had anything to say about terms.

I don't think he would deliberately go there, but his focus was so much on Connor at that point that I don't think that one's a given. He did choose on their behalf to make the deal and commence the mindwiping.

I also don't think it would have just been up to Angel - doesn't seem to me that Wesley, Gunn, and Lorne could have leins on their souls from contracts that were signed while their minds were being messed with at Angel's request. They'd still have to willingly barter their souls away for authority, power, or bling.

Well, the problem -- sorry, one of the problems -- with season 5 was that the premise changed. In "Home," Lilah says:

You win. We’re moving out. The Senior Partners are ceding this territory to you and to prove it, they want to give you controlling interests in our L.A. office. You get the building, assets, personnel, letterhead, paperclips, all of it. It’s yours to do with as you see fit.

She says several times that they can do whatever they want with all the goodies. And that it's a reward -- they're not being offered a job, they're being given a present. "We're leaving anyway, but here's some shiny stuff if you want it" was at least plausibly tempting. But then starting with "Conviction" they're just employees, they can't do whatever they want, and the SPs are still involved.

Meta-wise, yeah. But, c'mon, Lilah. She's like the definition of the "unreliable narrator." Even reformed!Lilah. And she does say "LA office", not even the offices in this dimension or something that implies even more autonomy.

See, I thought they were just the bosses of that W&H- but they had to turn a profit to keep the place running.