Doctor Who ruined Donna Noble's arc. Let me explain:
When we first meet Donna she is a deliberately annoying, infuriating character, who's only goal is to be married to someone with more money than her. She has nothing going for her - she's in her thirties living with her mother who constantly puts her down, and making her feel like nothing.
As she spends time traveling with The Doctor, and seeing the injustices and pains around the universe, she becomes so much more assertive in a very meaningful way. She stands up for the people she believes are being mistreated, and won't let people treat her as "just a Human" when she is with the legendary last of the Time Lords.
By the end of our time with Donna she has become so much more than the "unimportant", man wanting, gossiping woman we first met, and she finally knows she is more than that. That is why it's so heartbreaking when she is forced to forget everything.
When Donna absorbs some of The Doctor's mind and finally feels like she is worthy. It's not because she sees The Doctor as worthy, and now he's part of her, but because it finally allows her to see herself as she is - an intelligent, brilliant, strong, capable woman.
The Doctor's mind is killing her though, and it's time for her to say goodbye to all her experiences with The Doctor, and in turn her character arc. She is sobbing and begging not to have him removed from her mind, she can't go back to how she was, she can't do it, she can't go back to that life, she can't go back to that mind, she can't be who she was. But she has to. She's back to the "unimportant", man wanting, gossiping woman we met, who will die if she ever remembers who she was or what she did, and it's heart wrenching, and arguably the most painful companion departure ever.
Fast forward to The End Of Time where Donna does remember The Doctor, but she's fine, she just passes out. This definitely takes away the impact of her departure "If she ever remembers me her mind will burn and she will die" only it doesn't, and she doesn't die? A better way to have her and her family back in an episode would be to have her actually die in the episode, or have her sleep through the whole invasion from The Master.
We don't see Donna again until the 60th anniversary specials, and I think, although a great money making plan to get 2000s fans back watching the show, was an awful story plan. Don't get me wrong, I love Donna, but it just irks me. I mean we have a whole episode pretty much of her not knowing what's going on and somehow not remembering, and then a scene where she remembers with so little impact, because it's so clear she's going to be okay, and then she just "lets it go"?? So you're telling me after all that pain and torment she's just okay and living with the doctor in the end??
Rewatching her original departure after knowing all that just makes it seem over dramatic not important or impactful. It's a real big shame, because her story was so heart wrenching and perfect, and now she's just okay and happy. Sure it's lovely for the character, Donna deserves the world, but it's just boring for the story.
