Firstly - I agree with Deeva. Try not to be too despondent. Things couldn't've gotten much worse that Buffy diving off the board in "The Gift", remember? And she came back, didn't she? Death in the Buffyverse is not necessarily the end. There's all sorts of remedies - time-travel is only one. And I would trust ME to make us believe it, if they went that way. Or Tara coming back as a spirit guide.
As far as Willow suffering the same justice as Faith - I absolutely do not think the two girls can be compared. Faith killed her first victim (the Mayor's aide) accidentally. The second (the elderly archaeologist) was unarguably pre-meditated. Willow, from the wildfeed, is certainly not in her right mind, and her victim, Warren, is a stone-cold murderer. And I'm not saying that what she did (or is going to do, maybe I should say) is the right thing, I'm just saying the two cases should be looked at differently.
And really, how do we know that the start of S7 won't see Willow in prison?
I've been thinking about death and the Buffyverse. Or more specifically, the Scoobies. In the beginning there was Jesse. We, the viewers, weren't given any time to grow fond of him, and we never saw him being actually bitten and turned. Then he was dusted, and over the years haven't we become a little blase about the dusting of vampires?
Then Joyce. Her death wasn't mystical, but realworld. Very sad, but these things happen.
None of the SG have died violently, by human hands. With blood and grey matter splashed everywhere. Until now. Have ME decided to remind us what a terrible thing violent death really is? Do they think we need to be shaken out of our comfortable mindsets (Oh, everything'll come okay in the end, Buffy'll fix it!)? 'Cos maybe this time it's something she can't?
