Hmmm....maybe. But then we would have lost that scene when Janeway and Chakotay enters the Shuttle bay to say goodbye to those who had decided to leave the ship and there's no one there.
It just didn't make sense to me, though. Of 150 people on the ship, every single one chooses to risk the nearly impossible journey home on a ship with limited resources and amenities, instead of living out their lives in a relatively safe place? Including 30 people who never wanted anything to do with Starfleet in the first place?
Janeway would need cult leader level charisma to pull that off!
Did that vendetta start already in the early seasons of the series? What had poor Garret done to wake the fury of the "gods"?
By his own admission, he made some poor choices. Enough that they were at least considering firing him and presumably killing off his character. For reasons that vary by who you ask, they went after Jennifer Lien instead.

One indication of this is that Wang was the only person not given a chance to direct an episode. But i think the biggest tell is that he stayed an ensign the whole series, even in the face of viewer complaints, when every other recurring ensign on every previous Trek was promoted at some point.
Im not so sure that the character would grow by being beaten up the way he did in that episode.
Trauma and loss of innocence often have that effect. And they cause you to rise above yourself, as Harry did. And, it could have strengthened his friendship with Tom. Just as you get emotional at the end of "The 37's", I'm affected by Tom's last words to Harry in "The Chute".
Ah, come on now! Tony DiNozzo is funny! Number 2 on my NCIS favorite list after Gibbs.
I'm not saying he wasn't funny, and that I actively disliked him... but you have to admit, he was a prick to McGee sometimes.