Personally I loved Dead Things just by itself, but it's also the point at which the storyline started to fall apart in confusion as the various writers each wrangled for their personal vision of S/B. And sadly, the waffling pretty much destroyed the effect of Buffy's DT catharsis by ignoring it in the very next episode. Unfortunately by the end of S6 I was too worn out to do the fanwanking necessary to make S7 palatable.

(But it's a great essay anyway. :) )