One of the best written, true to life aspects of the show so far had been the fundamental futility and painfulness of Odo's longing for a woman who could never return the favor. The episode where the changeling impersonated her in the cave and pretended to be dying by some growing rock consuming her while Odo struggled to free her was one of the best treatments of this topic. A real life dynamic as old as literature itself, unrequited love. This never works out by the way in real life so you want to keep reality in the show. Instead with this episode the writers must have felt The Fonz was approaching the shark and time to jump because having Kira and Odo become a couple was cringeworthy and also a very bad moral lesson for all the nerds who need the opposite message from popular culture to hopefully prevent some real world stalking fiascos.
Combine this with hobby horse Vegas Casino Lounge Singer Mafia type content that didn't belong on DS9 and the by now annoying over reliance on "holodeck" episodes that had worn out their welcome long ago by the middle of STNG seven year run and you knew the writers were just padding in material. If you don't like this one you'd better get ready because there are going to be a lot more of these bad holodeck episodes over the final year and a half and none of them are anything but cringeworthy.
Combine this with hobby horse Vegas Casino Lounge Singer Mafia type content that didn't belong on DS9 and the by now annoying over reliance on "holodeck" episodes that had worn out their welcome long ago by the middle of STNG seven year run and you knew the writers were just padding in material. If you don't like this one you'd better get ready because there are going to be a lot more of these bad holodeck episodes over the final year and a half and none of them are anything but cringeworthy.