I don´t really care if they tried to recreate a Spock/McCoy rivalry. Pulaski is a great character by herself. Don´t let your sympathy for Data cloud your judgement. Pulaski is introduced as a character full of prejudice against synthetic humanoids, who overcomes her bias while actually getting to know Data. She learns to see her mistake and ends up fully respecting Data as an equal, sentient being. It is one of the earliest examples of actual character development on the show and much more interesting to watch than two dimensional, over perfect characters.