Ep. Idea "Where's Wesley?"

[Stingray]

I know you guys are set in your ways about Wesley, but here me out.

The beginning of the episode has Angel finishing up some other mission. Enter Roger Wyndom Price "Where is he?" he asks as he points a crossbow at Angel's heart. "Where's who?" Angel asks "Where is my son?" Roger asks angrily, and then (maybe) with a tear in his eye "where's Wesley?"

An old enemy of Angels has stolen Wesley from the grave. The plan is to reanimate the corpse, and send him after Angel. Angel tracks down where the ceremony is taking place. Around the end of the episode, Angel tries valiantly to stop the ceremony, but it is too late. Wesley's corpse is up and moving. Now you can go one of two ways. I'm not sure which you would want to go, but here's my favorite. Angel and Wesley fight, Wesley getting the upperhand with help from both Angels grief, and his newfound superhuman strength. Just as he is about to stake Angel, Fred yells out "Wesley, stop it!" When Wes sees Fred, his mind sort of starts to reboot. "Fred?" he sais. He's still programmed with all of this evil in him, and is unsure what he's supposed to do, so he runs off. And now Wesley's back, in a way everyone could understand. I see this as a season finale, myself.

The other way you could take it, is while Angel is fighting Wesley. Either Angel, or Wesley's Father kill him. More than likely it would be Roger.

If you are wondering how Wesley would look after all the time in the ground. I think he'd be very well preserved. There was a time when a man was dug up 10 years after his burial, and he was perfectly preserved.

Let me know what you think.

[Drew]

I have to say I think we've more than covered this ground already this season - especially in ep. 3 and 4. Episode 4 is essentially Angel realizing he needs to move on and put the past behind him. I don't think we want to dig it up again (literally, in this case).

[Joss]

I think that Drew pretty much covered it. Episode three and four were all about Angel trying to go back to how things were and getting disastrous results. He tried to get some of it back and he realized that digging up the past would just end up eating him up inside. He has to go on. We've had enough ghosts of Angel's past come and haunt him. No need to do it again.

[Stingray]

I can totally see where you guys are coming from. But I don't see Angel as someone who easily forgets. He sets alone in the dark, not because it's his "thing", but because he can't forget the things Angelus has done. And I see Wesley as being the one person he will always remember, because there will always be some reminder of the time Angel tried to kill him. The only times when he wasn't greif stricken, was when he was with his friends, and you can't just sweep that under the rug so easily. I know this from a more personal view. I know what it's like to lose all of your friends in one day, not by death, but still I know the fealling that you're never going to see your best friend again, or that the closest you'll ever get to the love of your life is a distant memory. Trust me, those fealings stick with you. And you never forget.

[Drew]

I don't think he will ever forget, and that is why he has this grief in him now from ep. 4. Sure, we're not exactly planning to have his mind-ghosts of Fred and Wes and Gunn and Cordy popping up every episode - or even ever again (the option is open, however), but this sadness and remorse over his lost friends is a part of his characters and should come out in subtler ways - through his actions and dialogue.
What I'm saying is, I'd rather we move onto different stories. That loss will always be a part of his character, but it doesn't mean we need to resurrect his dead friends to show this to the audience.

[ThePowersThatBe]

I have to agree; if we went digging up every buddy and companion that has died alongside Angel, we'd never have time for anything else!