Those last two episodes really did have a lot of ground to cover: the action was necessary (there were multiple bad guys to be defeated), and there were a lot of characters who deserved 'their moment'.... I actually got a lot of emotional satisfaction just from the scene where a group was playing Dungeons and Dragons (or whatever they were playing) the night before the battle... It was very sweet and funny and poignant.

I agree w/your interpretation of the metaphor... of course what thrilled me the most is that I didn't see it coming: I never dreamed that the whole power sharing was an option, and even if it was, that Buffy would have been the one to go for it.

When Joss was in the middle of filming Serenity (and completely in love with Firefly/Serenity) he made some crack about being sick of Vampires. And I think, at that moment, he really was... I don't think he cared about the Spike/Angel debate because I don't think he ever envisioned Buffy being dim enough to marry a vampire (or is that just me who thought that?). Loving is one thing, but building a life and a future around a corpse (even one that walks and talks) doesn't seem to be the ideal. But it was kind of Joss to be diplomatic and allow the fans to decide for themselves who Buffy really loves, leaving plenty of room for fan fic.