I'm just not sure that Joss is going for that mood, or that that mood would serve Joss's story-telling aims. In fact, since he spectacularly fails to achieve it, I'm going to go out on a limb and say he wasn't trying to achieve it. You can say he *should* have been going for that mood and even better if you can say why that would better serve Joss's story telling aims. But to me the argument as I read it is like saying that Batman the series fails because it doesn't achieve the somber mood of Dark Knight. That's not a fair complaint to make of the series, no more than it would be to say that Dark Knight fails to capture the humorous spirit of the TV show.

Thanks for your kind words, though, and I do agree that Twilight left us in a mass of confusion, and if we're still all confused at the end of Last Gleaming, I'll get out my pitchfork and join y'all.