Lilly Kane

Lilly Kane
Biographical Information
Affiliations
Appearances

Lillian "Lilly" Kane was the daughter of Jake Kane, the billionaire CEO of software company Kane Software, and his wife Celeste Kane. Duncan Kane is her younger brother. She was murdered on October 3rd, roughly eleven months prior to the time of the show's first episode. Her murder changed Veronica's life completely and was the catalyst for a series of events that included Keith Mars losing his job, Veronica's mother Lianne Mars leaving town, and all of Veronica's friends abandoning her when she needed them the most.

Life

In her life, Lilly belonged to the Kane family. Her mother was Celeste Kane, her father Jake Kane, and her brother Duncan Kane. Though she was a grade above Veronica Mars, the two became best friends. Prior to her death, Lilly had been dating Logan Echolls, but also had been in a relationship with Eli “Weevil” Navarro.

Murder & Case

Lilly's death occurred prior to the beginning of the series and set up the major story arc for the entire first season. The teenager was found by the Kanes' pool, her cause of death a wound to the head that had been apparently caused by an ashtray that had been thrown into the pool after her murder. Three months after the jarring crime, an anonymous tip led law enforcement to search Abel Koontz's home. Kane employee Abel Koontz confessed to murdering her. Don Lamb then found Lilly Kane's backpack and shoes while searching Abel's houseboat, backing up Abel's confession. Until this point, Keith Mars's investigation was squarely focused on the Kane family as suspects. At the time of the arrest, Keith Mars had already been ousted as Sheriff, after a recall campaign led by Jake Kane.

Lilly Kane's head wound as seen in a hallucination had by her brother, Duncan Kane.

A year later, when Veronica started to conduct her own investigation of Lilly's murder, she visited Koontz on death row twice. She was suspicious of Koontz's confession because he fired his attorney while on death row and she discovered that the same shoes that were found in Koontz houseboat had been in Lilly's room at the time of the murder. The young Miss Mars discovered that all details of the murder seemed to be a little off. Every surviving member of the Kane household had falsified their alibis and Lilly's supposed time of death was three hours off. It was also revealed that Clarence Weidman, the head of security for Kane Software, called in the tip that got Abel Koontz arrested for her murder. During the first visit, Abel figured out who Veronica was, and told her that Jake Kane was her biological father. Lianne Mars and Jake Kane used to date while they were in high school.

After Veronica met Abel, she sneaked into his doctor's office, and stole both his and Duncan Kane's medical files. She found out that Duncan had type-4 epilepsy, whose symptoms included violent outbursts and seizures. For the first time, Veronica realized that Duncan was a possible suspect in Lilly's murder. She also found out that Abel Koontz had stomach cancer, and that he was dying. She concluded that Jake Kane paid Koontz to confess to the murder, even though he was not the perpetrator so that all investigation into the Kane family would end. Koontz accepted the offer because he knew was dying and intended to give the money to his daughter.

During Veronica's second visit to Koontz, she told him that she knew that he was not guilty, and that he was dying, and that was why he was paid to confess to the murder. Koontz's innocence was further solidified when Keith went to Las Vegas to talk to a prostitute that was with Abel at the time of Lilly's murder. Koontz was later released from death row.

Finally, in the episode Leave It to Beaver, Veronica discovered several tapes in Lilly's bedroom, hidden in a wall vent, a hiding place Lilly had learned about from Logan. They showed Lilly in bed with Aaron Echolls, Logan's father. Seeing Lilly's outfit and the date stamp on the video, Veronica realized Lilly had been with Aaron the day she died, and concluded that Aaron killed Lilly to get the tapes back. When Duncan found Lilly's body, he went into a catatonic state. When his parents discovered him reeling over Lilly's dead body they assumed he had killed Lilly in an epileptic fit. To protect their son, they began an elaborate cover-up of the murder, that involved false alibis, altering the time of death, and getting Keith Mars kicked out of office. But before Veronica could take the tapes to the police, Aaron tried to kill her. Luckily, thanks to Keith, they managed to subdue him, and Aaron was arrested.

After that grueling night, Veronica had a dream about Lilly. The two of them were floating in a serene lily-covered pool. Leaning back and smiling, Veronica declared this was the way things were supposed to be, and how they were going to be from now on.

LILLY: You know how things are going to be now, don't you? You have to know.
VERONICA: Just like this... just like this.
LILLY: Don't forget about me, Veronica.
VERONICA: I could never.

Casting

Rob Thomas described Seyfried as "the biggest surprise of the year". When casting a series regular, he was able to see all the best actors in town, mainly because they all wanted to be a series regular. When casting Lilly Kane, who would only appear from time-to-time as "the dead girl", Thomas did not receive the same level of actors. Thomas said that he had "never had a more cut and dry audition" than he did with Seyfried. He said that she was "about 100 times better than anyone else that we saw, she was just spectacular". He continued by saying that she ended up being so good in the series that he used her three or four more times than he initially planned.[1]

Comparisons

Lilly often is compared to the character Laura Palmer from David Lynch's Twin Peaks, who was also deceased and appeared in Twin Peaks through various flashbacks as the plot unfolded. Laura's murder, and the mystery surrounding it, was a pivotal plot device in the first season of Twin Peaks, as Lilly's is in Veronica Mars. Comparisons could also be made to Jessica Costello on the first season of Murder One and Mary Alice Young of Desperate Housewives.

Appearances

Season 1

• 1x01 Pilot
• 1x02 Credit Where Credit's Due
• 1x03 Meet John Smith
• 1x04 The Wrath of Con
• 1x06 Return of the Kane
• 1x07 The Girl Next Door
• 1x13 Lord of the Bling
• 1x17 Kanes and Abel's
• 1x19 Hot Dogs
• 1x22 Leave It to Beaver

Season 2

• 2x01 Normal Is the Watchword
• 2x22 Not Pictured

The "ghost" Lilly that briefly appears in Normal Is the Watchword is a re-used effect from Kanes and Abel's. Amanda Seyfried did not film anything for "Normal Is the Watchword" and is not listed as a guest star.

Notes

• Veronica Mars: The Complete First Season, Warner Home Video, 2005, UPC 01256972774.