Kate went from girl next door cute, sassy tomboy into a runaway loner criminal to a forced cheerleader love interest to a Mother Teresa peace corp worker on her return to the island.
In some ways, Kate being written into and out of corners mirrored the writers overall plot construction issues.
Her back story was confusing and incomplete to almost a stereotypical gangster babe like Bonnie. Perhaps the false, unbelievable and horrible legal writing on her character events ruined the character even before she would literally get away with murder in the wrong court and jurisdiction.
Many fans disliked Kate because she became so wishy-washy. First she was Jack's number one. Then, she went to bad boy Sawyer. Then she tried to get back with Jack, but there were trust issues. Then, out of the blue she got a bolt of motherly protection with Aaron. Then she abandoned the boy to return on a nonsensical journey to find his mother, Claire, not knowing whether she was still alive. And despite all of the inconsistencies in her back story and her treatment of the men in her life, Kate winds up with confused Jack in the church.
In the end, we really don't know who Kate really was as a person.
I suspect that if she was a feisty, independent woman from the very beginning of the series (a leader), then she may have been more liked as a character. Instead, she was used more as bait to get another love triangle started or wedge between people like Jack and Sawyer.
