I believe this is Joss's way at getting back at UPN and the fans for not letting him kill Xander at the end of Buffy S6. Rumour has it that the original plan was for Xander to die instead of Tara, and Nick Brendan to come back as The First.

Joss may be our master, but he's still a very bad man. I was in such shock, I couldn't even cry.