I'm sat here kinda speechless, because this is pretty much what I'd write (word-for-word) if I had the time and inclination for writing about S8. I recently likened reading s8 to how Cordy must have felt, waking up in 'You're Welcome'... "You're what? And where? And who's a hero now?" And if you watched the first part of 'Home', and then skipped straight to YW, then there would be a lot of WTF-ness. The key to *that* situation was Connor of course, and Angel's deal with W&H for his sake. I feel that there must be a similar key to the s8 set-up - something that pushed them in the direction of Scotland, and high-tech equipment, and Willow going AWOL, and Giles becoming even greyer than he was before...

Or, as you said: Remove the how of a character's development and the question why becomes moot

Until I have that key, I just don't 'get' it. And because of that I don't care.

Now I like Dawn too - and, from something I read, somewhere - apparently she'll have a conversation with Xander in issue 10 (or 11?) and the big (ha ha! Pun!) secret will be out. But he's been there ALL THE TIME! Why wait so long? *throws hands up in frustration*

Whenever Dawn interacted with someone new, however, it tended to take Dawn out of the story
That is a brilliant point. ::applauds::

the girl who loved math, the girl who handed the weapon to Amanda, the girl who bragged about stealing lipstick, the girl who sat watch over Tara for hours, the girl who stood up to Spike without blinking, the girl who couldn’t cheerlead to save her life, the girl who refused to leave her dead mother to a poltergeist or say goodbye to her sister before the big battle...
I love that! *cheers Dawn onwards*

(This comment is very non-linear, sorry. I think my brain is not working properly. But this is - seriously - some of the best meta I've read on S8!)