Okay, so if you’re wondering why I mentioned “The fires of Pompeii” an excellent episode from Series 4 with companion Donna, it’s because… Well, they bring it up in “The Girl who died” the newest episode of Doctor Who.
Spoilers are below.
You’re completely right. The fires of pompeii was very clear in that sometimes you can’t save everyone which is the exact opposite of moffats writing. he’s afraid to let people die and thus all tension is lost. A huge chunk of tens time and even parts of nines was that they can’t save everyone. And the biggest part about donnas time was that everybody, no matter how small, is important whereas moffats time it’s not really about the characters, it’s just about how important the doctor is but that’s neither here nor there.