Despite everything I still like the Reed character in particular, as Hoshi's sis said, I thought the section 31 arc was good and, had it had time to draw itself out, could've been a highlight if for example they made Reed go through a "prodigal son" sort of story.
Yeah the backstory thing is a big problem with Ent IMO. I'm not sure if they had a direction for the series or even an extensive series bible but it just doesn't show. Coto tried to do what he could and you can feel a little more direction but at that point TPTB had already used up all the credit they had between Voyager and much of the first two seasons of Ent and I think people just weren't interested a shame because Ent sort of grew on me and I think it could've become even better despite some of its inherent flaws.