School Hard was a watershed ep for me, less because Spike shows up and more because a character like Spike shows up (along with Dru). Does that make sense?

Yep, it definitely does. I think it kind of ties into what snickfic was talking about, with Spike killing the Anointed One. Spike and Dru are definitely different from most of the vampires we've seen before, and Spike in particular embodies a lot of what makes the show great.

And the gravitas of "Prophecy Girl" is definitely what caught my attention. Buffy's emotional response to the prophecy? OMG. That might be when I first loved her.