What did we feel was better? They was a barrage of promo and endless Aaron love from ITV for this episode, completely ignoring the fact that Donna, a character with a 20 year history was being killed off. Too me His return was pretty limp and unneeded. I think ITV made a mistake in promo'ing his return over her departure which was alot better and more historical than him.
Opinions?

Donna's death was suitably epic and a great way to end her arc. I felt very underwhelmed by Aaron's return- despite rating Danny Miller quite highly.

Promoting Aarons return was better as it didn't spoil Donnas death. I admit though Donnas death completely overshadowed the return of Aaron.

Michael Parr has become a great addition to the Emmerdale cast it must be said.

I dont think we really need Aaron back. Its been ok without him . Plus hes another soap "star" that thought he could do better ....then found out he couldnt

Donna's death, obv.

I have no idea what the point of Aaron was in the Donna/Ross thing. He didn't do anything.

Agreed.

I agree.

Very true.

It depends on how you look at it from a marketing point of view.

Yes - it was Donna's exit - and it was marketed as such.
The Donna & Ross storyline has proved quite popular with those currently viewing - it was suffice to market it as her exit without giving too much of the plot away.
Danny Miller was very popular in the show when he was here previously, but many of his fans have drifted away once he left - putting a big push on marketing his return in an episode that a lot of effort had gone into was a way of getting his fans back - and getting them thinking that ED is maybe a show worth watching again because of the quality of the ep (even though it wasn't Aaron centric)

Very good point.

As a very casual viewer of Emmerdale, i was planning to watch tonight as i heard Aaron was returning. My friend told me earlier today to catch up on donnas story (so long since ive watched that i only seen her initial return scenes). Even after a very basic catch up i found the donna scenes unmissable. Just angry that i hvent properly followed this storyline as in not quite sue what the club guy had done

Agreed. Donna Windsor's exit should have been the MAIN priority. As you've said she's been in it for 20 odd years, the character has been in it since a 7 year old arriving 5 months BEFORE the plane crash. My god Eric Pollard is the only one left pre-Plane crash, no doubt when the time comes when decides to leave Aaron will over shadow his exit in some way!

They don't really seem to care about the long term characters on Emmerdale, Viv's exit was just like an ordinary episode

No, same. I totally get what sheepiefarm is saying - having both happen in the same episode was a way of hooking the Aaron fans back in to some high drama. But actually, Ross and Donna were so good, and Aaron's involvement was so pointless, it pretty much overshadowed him I thought. Might have been better to let Donna's story play out, then build up some excitement for the next big thing in the village - Aaron's return (even tho' I don't rate him myself).

Having said that, Aaron being pointless aside, I thought it was all fantastic. Verity Rushworth and Mike Parr were great. Agree that it was a bit daft really, plotwise, but somehow they just made it brilliant by throwing themselves into it so you got carried along. Great performances, and really good direction tonight as well, properly exciting.

I feel a bit devastated that Donna is gone, and leaving so much pain behind.

I'm glad he didn't do much besides trying to make Adam see sense [God, seeing him punch Adam was satisfying] It would have been too easy and too predictable to have him make a big dramatic entrance and be the hero at the end.

Aaron will probably dominate soon enough, but they got it right. He appeared out of nowhere [I actually thought I missed the episode since they didn't make a big deal out of it. Even if finding Adam was too convenient] tried to help Adam, Donna and Ross and didn't play the big hero [like he and even Cain are often accused of being] at the end of the episode. Aaron returned but it was quite obviously Donna [and Ross'] story.

Oh yes, I totally agree with you (and with Cyril&Shirley) - I was delighted they didn't try and make it all about Aaron, but I certainly had expected them to.

He punched Adumb! That's good enough for me.