but I think it let her deal with some of her guilt, and it showed her that there is at least a possibility of forgiveness.

Hm! You're right. Maybe I should go rewatch the ep and give it another chance.

except for the shooting/stabbing thing, which had me convinced that Buffy was going to try to kill herself in S3--so glad she didn't, because that would have been way to R&J

So glad she didn't as well.

And I just set a record for the number of parenthetical statements in one sentences without any parentheses!

Go you! ;o)

Happy Valentine's Day!