The difference is we weren't given the emotional journey for the payout that explains why she matters so much.
THIS. YES. I want to send you cookies now.
But seriously, this is why I can't wrap my head around her - because I don't know how she matters to me, the viewer, or to the characters in the story. Simply because I never saw Amy and Rory caring about her in the way I'd imagine parents to care for their missing child (i.e., desperately, with nothing else more important than finding their baby); I never saw the Doctor care about her in the way that was implied by the heavy-handedness of the writers. And that's why I can't find myself to be the least bit empathetic when she insists that she's trying to save the Doctor - because I don't understand why it matters so much to her that she's willing to destroy reality for it.
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THIS. YES. I want to send you cookies now.
But seriously, this is why I can't wrap my head around her - because I don't know how she matters to me, the viewer, or to the characters in the story. Simply because I never saw Amy and Rory caring about her in the way I'd imagine parents to care for their missing child (i.e., desperately, with nothing else more important than finding their baby); I never saw the Doctor care about her in the way that was implied by the heavy-handedness of the writers. And that's why I can't find myself to be the least bit empathetic when she insists that she's trying to save the Doctor - because I don't understand why it matters so much to her that she's willing to destroy reality for it.