but that’s what happens in the World of Whedon. just look at his previous creations, Buffy and Angel
[spoiler]in Buffy we lose Jenny, Tara, Joyce, Anya and Spike (though he’s reincarnated in Angel). In Angel there’s Doyle, Cordy (twice), Fred, Wesley, and as it appears in the finale, the whole fang gang (who, of course, find life after apocalypse in comics). Each of these losses is heartbreaking and moving because we have come to love the characters. And that kind of loss is a staple in the Whedonverse[/spoiler]
as Pike says, it works for the story.