I've had a look and couldn't find much on this episode but my search wasn't exhaustive so apologies if I'm retreading old ground! I've been re-watching the odd episode of Voyager recently and have been reacquainted with the season 6 episode "Good Shepherd". This isn't a bad episode, pretty average for the season in my opinion, I've just had a few thoughts and wanted to know what other people thought. To me this would have been a great episode to do in season 1 or 2; it seems weird to me that after five years on such a small ship where everyone has faced death together countless times that you'd have any disfunctional crewmembers not pulling their weight (I imagine you'd have severely emotionally damaged crewmembers but that's not how they come across), also surely everyone knows everyone by now. In the earlier seasons it would have made much more sense; it wold have been a great vehicle to develop and explore Janeway's character and also setup one or more of these characters who could return in later episodes as a recurring character (if only to die and add a bit more weight to a death rather than random crewmember #73 who everyone says they care about but who is never seen and so the death carries not weight with the audience). Alternatively they could have kept it in season 6 but made it about the Equinox crewmembers who came aboard at the end the season opener, it wasn't exactly a high budget episode so surely it wouldn't have been too expensive to bring one or more of them back? I feel it's a huge waste that they were never seen again! Anyway, these are just a few thoughts that I decided to share. Again it's not an awful episode, but it feels like the writers missed a trick!
There was a kind of rudeness from that one 'sheep'. He (Harren) showed open contempt or lack of respect for Janeway, so I watched the episode waiting for him to ease up. I got this sense the episode was like a way to set these new characters up for future use. Like they were a B team but it never happened. I agree, it was an odd diversion. The Captain going out of her way to get to know them, but Janeway was that kind of captain. They were under-performing and given how limited crew members were, a captain in the Delta quadrant needed to bond and get the best out of her limited resources. If they had been in the Alpha quadrant those guys would've fallen through the cracks.
I always see it as Voyager's attempt at "Lower Decks", though as the OP says it doesn't make much sense so late in the series. Had VOY made more of their crew and had a larger pool of recurring characters, it would've been a great episode to have had the focus on them (with the main cast only in a few scenes at the beginning and end). So we could've seen how the 'little people' deal with tough situations without our heroes around to save the day.
I agree, Refuge, it did feel like they were being built up for something more, they were all rather annoying but endearing enough that you feel they could have been used again. I made the same comparison regarding Lower Decks, which also didn't take the opportunity to use the characters again beyond Ensign Sito, who had already been established previously. The scenes at the start of Good Shepherd were a glimpse of what the rest of crew of Voyager get up to. We always hear about repair teams and security teams but never really see them beyond being nameless extras in the background of scenes with no sense that they're under stress or anything other than model crewmen. Surely after several years in the delta quadrant these teams would be diminished with multiple causalities and close-knit teams, little subcultures within the ship. These aspects of the show were begging to be explored and the guys in Good Shepherd would have been a great starting point to explore more of that.
I agree with you it would have made sense as an earlier season episode. At least they used Tal Celes one more time in The Haunting of Deck 12.
There is a "Lower decks" angle during the first act, but not so much for the rest. There is an early Voyager episode like this. It's called "Learning Curve" in season 1. It's probably the superior story also. There are some positives imo about Good Shepherd. -It has wonderful cinematography and direction, and it is well paced and edited. -I think it is a good time for this episode. In the last few seasons of Voyager, no one dies really. After season 5 people would start becoming complacent. They would be established in their comfort zone and know what they can get away with. Every leader has to be vigilant of the human nature of complacency. It takes time to set in though. This isn't a season 1 or 2 problem as people are dying, space isn't safe. The ship is being hunted. Learning Curve makes sense for season 1 as the story revolves around 4 Maquis who have no experience working in a command structured environment. In both episodes, the action taken builds confidence in the inadequate crewmen. This will make them feel that they are valuable contributors to the mission. They will then strive to do better, and be involved. Also, these aren't unknown people. Everyone knows them. B'elanna is complaining about Mortimer. She tells Paris to try talking to him, and Paris is like "no thanks" She dares him, and he makes an attempt. Paris knows who Mortimer is and what kind of guy he is. B'elanna is his boss.