thedeadlyhook

Yes, that was a stellar example of a metaphor that actually worked. And more importantly, it wasn't Buffy's fault that he changed, at least not in any way she could have predicted. She made her choice, based on love and trust, and was burned by his shitty behavior after the act, but not because she did a bad thing. There was a sense of real consequences to your actions in "Innocence" that didn't imply judgement the way this episode did.