Ahh, I forgot about that. I think they should have just committed to having Kylo Ren kill her. He pulled the trigger, after all, the intent was there.

I liked Holdo as a character. I believe she was meant to come across as overbearing and arrogant because part of her role was to teach Poe that his recklessness was doing as much harm as good. He had to learn to work with other people, and Holdo was the one to show him that. She had to be (initially) unlikeable so that Poe would chafe against her command