... this episode makes Xander look like a loon, and I simply don't like that. I wouldn't have done it that way, because in the earlier seasons Xander was neither loony nor so cowardly and self-absorbed. Are we supposed to infer that he is becoming an alcoholic like his parents, even though we've seen him nursing beers much only recently?
This is not how Xander's life should have progressed; it is not where he was heading. Amy is an example of someone whose character degrades with time. I could buy Giles's increased resemblance to Polonius, as he struggles to remain a voice to whom others defer, when the deferral increasingly belongs to Buffy. With Xander and Dark Willow, though, that's ... it's soap opera, not character development. I want character development. (STTNG had character development.)