Execution and writing - yeah! Part of my "I wish they had done this even if it was impossible" list. That is purely Watsonian - immersed in the world as if it were real. I also think Dawn should have had some better storyline as a former big ball of inter-dimensional energy. Of course my heart wants to take away all sources of conflict but my head knows it is all conflict and conflict is critical to story...sigh.

Yeah - Xander and Anya - don't get me going there because I need this computer so I can't through it against the wall. Xander, the self righteous, hypocritical, whiny and entitled....we will have to move on now...

I can't see why you don't see Spike as having died and been ressurected. He was crumbling into a pile of ashes and still burning when last we saw him. This is a universe where more than a few characters are brought back to life, but that doesn't mean that they didn't die. Darla, Buffy, Joyce, Angel, Buffy again....they all died and they all came back.