I know you're making the comparison against where the other girls are by Episode 9, but it always comes off (to me) as double standards, or just making excuses because you don't like Zoey (at least Macky qualifies that by saying he finds Zoey to be a boring character – that opinion is fine).
Ok, speaking of "boring".
I already said it in this thread once about why I consider Josy, for example, a boring character. I said it, and I say it now.
I do not draw this conclusion based on her personality traits, no.
I say it because Josy does not bring anything significant or meaningful to the story.
The same applies to Zoey.
Her appearance is a plot device that was supposed to add drama to the story.
But in fact, it added a bit of tears and snot. And it looked rather comical.
MC's behavior in scenes with Zoey makes me "Spanish shame".
The plot device with Zoey's return does not add anything else to the story.
And there are no signs that this will change.
Tears and snot do not make a story great.
Great stories can be different in genre and content, but all great stories have one thing in common - conflict.
Shakespeare was the greatest storyteller, and all his stories have conflict.
What would the story of "Romeo and Juliet" be without the conflict between their families?
It would be usual bullshit that would be of no interest to anyone.
But the conflict must be high stakes.
There is a conflict in the BaDIK.
No matter what anyone says, the central event of episode 9 was the conflict with Vinny.
The reason for which was Quinn's activities. It is Quinn who is responsible for the main "problematic" aspects of this story. Without her, it would turn into a mixture of tears, snot and dubious humor.
Therefore, Divine Quinn is the most important character in this whole story.