I feel like Nikki was wasted

Nikki the absent mother of Jenny comes back in the very same season Luke and Karen discuss how Dan actually wanted to be there for Lucas but Karen decided they'd be fine without Dans help.

It just seems so weird how the show decided to depict Nikki as irredeemable and incapable of being a mother when she came back and was fighting so hard to be around for her daughter with the obvious juxtaposition of Dan and Karen.

It could've been a great chance to show a flipped scenario of what might've been if Karen let Dan co parent.

They cut a character instead of adding one (loosing Jake instead of adding Nikki) and I just think it was overall a wasted opportunity to show more of a females perspective on the show both as a young parent (before Haley had Jamie) and as another young women on the show in general as she was only a few years older than the Highschool ladies.

Obviously she'd need some sort of redemption arc as she bailed on her own daughter but thats just one of many stories she could've helped to tell for the show.

A love triangle with Jake and Payton or a square with Lucas. The tribulations of co-parenting with Jake. Struggling to acclimate from only taking care of your self to being a responsible mother. Just so many stories to tell imo.

Do you all have any thoughts on the matter?