I found the following on YouTube. It depicts a relatively unpopular but (IMO) very valid alternative take on the Fair Haven episodes. It hasn't changed my feelings about them (I always kind of liked them), but it explains why they may be more than just the waste of episodes they are often regarded as. Worth a watch, I think...
I watched said review and found it quite amusing in places, even a few lol moments. However, the reviewer obviously has an intense dislike not only for most of the Voyager cast, but also barbershop quartet hats. Now you can crap on Janeway and Harry and Neelix if you want, though I rather like them, different strokes and all. But as a 13-year practitioner of 4-part a capella harmony, I cannot support someone who disses barbershop.
I feel Fair Haven is a story that has the primary problem of being about the wrong subject. The Voyager crew being fascinated by an objectively fictitious bunch of people that they invest a lot of their lives in is a lot more interesting than, "Are they alive or not?" Because, of course, the audience is going to be heavily invested in a bunch of fictional characters and their dramas.
It never made sense to me why they got obsessed on that village and it comes off as exoticism to me. Almost belittling in their attitude toward what they see as simple folk. But what makes it unwatchable to me is the way they took on serious risk just to avoid having any downtime. It’s just completely irrational.
The episode before Fair Haven, Reg Barclay, in Pathfinder, had been reliving his troubles with holodiction. and was living in a simulation, to feel like he was a part of Voyager's crew. Troi was at hand, to help like she had been back on TNG's Hollow Pursuits. Holodiction is a problem for people in Star Trek's future, and eventually, Barclay appreciated the help he received. Why is it in Fair Haven, and Spirit Folk especially, the crew has been allowed to become so attached, without this being seen as a problem? Why, in Spirit Folk, should it have been such a problem to reset the program when it started malfunctioning? It is also such a terrible setting for a holoprogram, being full of old-fashioned stereotypical takes on the Irish. I really dislike the Fair Haven episodes, in case you can't tell.
Think of it as like having to delete a Level 300 game character you spent long hours customizing and leveling and having as a part of your life, and just starting over at Level 1. If I were playing that game, I might just set my controller aside and decide that there wasn't any point in it.
Though I still enjoy FH, this review was just too funny not to link: https://www.trektoday.com/reviews/voy/fair_haven.shtml
You know what? I don't think I ever sat down and watched "Fair Haven" and "Spirit Folk" ever. The only two episodes I avoided. I manage to watch some really, really, really crappy ones like "Up The Long Ladder", "A Matter of Time", "A Night In Sickbay", "The Muse". But somehow I never could pass the 15 minute mark of those two episodes. I think maybe it's time to give those two episodes a chance. After all, t's possible they could be the best Star Trek episodes I ever seen. Right?
They are terrible episodes but on a recent rewatching after probably 15 years of last seeing them, they weren’t as bad as I remembered. Still bad though.
Certainly not Trek's finest hour. Speaking of alternative perspectives on Janeway romances, here's an article on "Resolutions" that I found thought-provoking. Thanks to TNG's "Lessons", I still agree with the decision not to take events of that episode further, but an alternate perspective can make you think: https://www.trektoday.com/reviews/voy/resolutions.shtml
I like the holodeck episodes because of the change in scenery and the cast could experience different settings and costumes.