He never felt compelling to me.

Same here and it was due in part to Bonnet being one of the worst picks as the "villain", the guy was not only fairly incompetent but very far from a "traditional" pirate in general. He also wasn't intimidating and he had even crew taken from under him on several occasions (Black Beard but still). When I saw him come into the story I groaned. The only thing the show got right was that he was wealthy. But he was born wealthy, it didn't come from his exploits. The guy was so far removed form seafaring that he even "bought" his crew and paid a wage as he had no idea on how to sail, pillage or even fight.

TLDR: Bonnet sucks as the choice and we needed someone who was actually a bad ass.