Real easy for them to coordinate timing. Send Spike off into the wild to try to save Dru and some such for, umm, a couple of issues covering a year or two, or however long it would take to drop Spike into Season 8 long enough to go "Buffy, what the hell happened to you?" and then back to wherever it is that Lynch wants to send him.

I agree that the hardening seems to be on the table -- and this is where I think Allie's inability to see the big picture might be in play. Whatever caused that hardening/isolation could well be part of the same thing that prompted the BtBR decision. But if it's not labeled "big BtBR decision" Allie might not see that at the end of the day that such a revelation would in fact be what I was asking about. Not sure where all this incurable optimism comes from. It's not normal for me.