“Good Shepherd”

I found the ending to be a bit... egh. From Celes' 'we've never amounted to anything on Voyager, but we can here!' to Harren's ultimate change of heart, it was all a bit predictable and clichéd. Instead of going for an offbeat, just plainly antisocial character with Harren, they just reduce him to 'the lonely guy who finally stops hiding from the world'. Too bad. I did like the whole Deck 15-bowels-of-the-ship idea and decor though. All in all it's a well thought out episode with a rather iffy ending. It's a shame that you don't really care for the characters, as we'll probably never see them again.

I think there's a pretty egregious violation of established canon in this episode. Without exception, everyone who talks to Tal Celes or who refers to her uses the name "Celes." As we learned from Ro Laren and Kira Nerys, what we would think of as the Bajoran last name is actually the first name -- or, rather, the more familiar name. It's conceivable that Billy Telfer could call his friend "Celes," but it seems unlikely that Janeway would get that familiar with her right away, or that Seven would use the familiar name.

This episode might have made sense in season 1 or 2, but not in season 6. These "misfit" crewmen have survived the Caretaker, the Kazon, the Hirogen, the Borg, Species 8472, the Ankari, more Borg, Borg disconnected from the Collective, then baby Borg, then more Borg...well, you get the idea. And they still can't get it into their thick heads that they need to ship up?

Also, it presents Captain Janeway in a terrible light: that she can't even maintain basic discipline on her ship (which also runs completely counter to Captain Ransom's statement in Equinox, Pt. 1), and that she would tolerate these slackjaws without imposing any sort of corrective discipline. Instead, the episode portrays her in her "aw shucks, Ma Bell" routine where she trains her subordinates by treating them like misbehaving children.

The writers tried to duplicate the success of TNG's Lower Decks, but instead, they only managed to piss me off. Aye carumba.

I really liked Harren as a character. Frankly, I'd rather see the likes of "edgier" characters like Harren, Carey, Suder, etc. as a member of the *regular* cast than some of the bland, dull "feel good" folks we got in Voyager.

Other than that, this episode once again makes me hate Janeway (pompous, deluded, idiotic, take your pick) and the "Good Shepherd" stuff was sickening (the opposite of what we got in the - IMO - very good 'Lower Decks' of TNG).

Oh yes, and the is no ending, is there? Just Janeway's delusional ramblings. Also, it's a shame we'll likely never see these three again after all that... heaven forbid we have any sort of continuity or continuing characters, eh?

Final observation I'm surprised doesn't annoy more people... why the HECK do they need to physically CARRY the orders on a Padd from one end of the ship to the other?! Can't they use the comms? Or the computer? Or anything?! Oh, I noticed on the Flyer Janeway tells Celes to upload her tricorder info into the computer... and Celes seems to be punching it all in MANUALLY! I guess there is no wireless in Voyager's tech. Or intercoms.

One of the best lines, I thought, was when Janeway got mad at Harren for shooting the alien:

Janeway: "What the hell is wrong with you!"
Harren: "It was trying to kill us!"
Janeway: "You don't know that!"
Harren: "We were at risk!"
Janeway: "I gave you a direct order!"

Don't know why I liked that exchange, but I did.

This is a good episode, particularly because it focuses on fresh yet relevant characters, is fast-moving and does not philosophize too much. Harren is especially engaging and makes a nice difference from the usual "Dr. Phil Collective" identikit crewmembers.

Two things, as others have mentioned: It comes WAY too late in the day and it's difficult to believe that there are still "misfits" on the ship never previously identified, after everything Voyager has been thru. Secondly, the ending is poor, not so much because it's cliched, as EightofNine said, but because it is rushed, and leaves many questions unanswered and the whole conundrum of the show unresolved.

Three stars is perfect.

Nifty opening and teaser direction. Bit of a change from the usual fly-by and seemed to hint that something special was coming (it didn't, but then after the past few episodes anything decent is special I guess).

Love the concept, as something that hasn't really been done before (Lower Decks yes, but pretty different really).

I actually liked Janeway in this episode. For once she's balanced to an almost Picard-like level: caring and kind, but firm when she needs to be. This Janeway is far better than the battleaxe we are often faced with.

For the most part the misfits were interesting and it felt worth watching an episode about them. I thought yellowshirt was a bit too much of a brat sometimes though - credit where it's due to Janeway for her patience, as I'd have had the sarcastic and abrasive little turd dangling out of an airlock...

Final Fantasy VI + Voyager combined in-joke: This time Celes couldn't get a Locke.

Spot the mouse pointer moving around the LCARS interface in the escape pod. Um?! :D

All in all pretty good. It used Voyager's premise to its advantage, which I always enjoy. Three stars seems absolutely right.

I didn't really get Janeway having a go at Harren for "murdering" the lifeform. Surely if it had accessed the environmental controls it would have killed them all instantly (regardless as to whether that was its intent)?

I kept trying to imagine these characters (particularly Herrin) in the predicaments that we saw earlier, like "Year Of Hell" and "The Killing Game".

Another enjoyable episode, kind of hybrid of Lower Decks and Learning Curve. I agree with two points noted above: this ep would have been better suited to the first 2-3 seasons. The entire crew has been through HELL by this point, these guys 'wetness' seems a bit unlikely given this. And yes, it was a gigantic damp squib of an ending that wasn't dramatically satisfying. We needed to *see* some change in these characters as they returned to the ship to make the journey worthwhile, not just a glib comment by Janeway. It was as tough the writers ran out of time.

I enjoyed the guest characters though - so much so I kind of wish they could be grafted onto the main cast. There are so many pointless 'hangers-on' in Voyager's main cast of characters. I'd happily dispense with Harry, Neelix, Chakotay and Tuvok in order to make way for someone like Harren, who struck me as the most potentially interesting of the three. Even Celes and Billy had a freshness about them that could have reinvigorated the series a bit. I'd love to see them in the series again...but I know that's 99.9% unlikely (forgive me if I'm wrong, I don't think I've seen any Voyager beyond this point).

The "specifications" that Seven entered ino a pad for Celes to take to Torres...couldn't they have been transferred directly to he in engineering via the computer?

Reminds me of the original V series where they had this advanced technology, but messages were always being delivered to Diana and the others in person, and on actual paper notes.

For the most part I liked this one, mainly because it's one of the rare anti-liberal episodes in the Star Trek universe.

Haran's explanation of how it's his genes that determine who he is not where he grew up as well as Celes's about how she knows she doesn't belong in Starfleet and that she got in only due to sympathy votes are blasphemy on liberal-dominated TV.

Janeway claimed that she'd memorized the entire layout and schematics for all of Voyager before taking command, but here she needed to be told to turn left instead of right...

@Jack That *was* 6 years ago, and she's probably never been there in person in all that time.

My nitpick is this: When does how much anti-matter remaining determine the *top speed* a ship can go? (Or shuttle, in this case.)

Combined with how often they're looking for more dilithium, I'm starting to wonder if the writers got the two mixed up. And after burning food in a replicator, I think the writers forgot how the ship works.

Or they just don't care.

Like Iceblink, this also reminded me of Learning Curve. Eh, it was okay; certainly a change of pace. I didn't really find it all that exciting, though. I probably would have given it two stars.

The thing that bugged me in this episode was the way the alien being shot was just glossed over in one exchange. Given the federation morality, I'd expect that vaporising a probably sentient lifeform with fairly little cause would be one of the most heinous crimes a starfleet officer could commit. I'd expect instant court-martial actually. What, aliens that don't look humanoid are ok to vaporise point blank when they seem a bit threatening? it's just a little annoying to Janeway for 20 seconds but no big deal? I don't buy it, they bend over backwards to avoid harming even clearly hostile aliens all the time, but this one was exempt because it wasn't human enough to make a big deal over?... can you imagine if a random crewman got twitchy and just fired a high setting phaser at an alien on the bridge who got a bit shovey with Chakotay or something? it seems so out of place to me.

>"Final Fantasy VI + Voyager combined in-joke: This time Celes couldn't get a Locke."

And then Locke posted. My day, made.

Ahah, it's even better that my nick is actually taken from the FF VI character, rather than all the other Lockes around XD... AND I noticed the Celes thing when I read the review (having forgotten her name).

This episode really is strange, it has no final act as Jammer said, it's just 4/5ths of a story.

I didn't really get a sense that there was no ending...the sickbay scene was sufficient.

What were you looking for, the scene to last until they "came to", and dramatically pondered the first day of the rest of their lives?

I agree with Jay about the ending. Harren went into action instead of just being a theorist. Celes took responsibility when she refused to just escape and Telfer got better after the alien incident. I liked the way there was no separate scene to explain it.

Agree with some of the comments here.

1. No need to take all 3 newbies in one away mission.

2. Surprised Janeway didn't know the way to a particular area.

3. Janeway seemed to be overly upset when the alien lifeform is killed (true to Trek philosophy though).

Rather late response, but yay Locke actually being named after Locke XDD

Just saw this again on CBS, or half of it anyway. Forgot about the mouse pointer appearing, but spotted it again! Hilarious blooper.

Agree with my own assessment of Janeway as pretty decent in this one.

Yellowshirt guy was still insufferable. I think he needs more than this mission, he needs a good slap. He makes early Squall (FF8) look friendly and extroverted. The other two weren't too bad, they were a bit loser-ish for people who've been on the ship for 6 years but they pulled through. That guy though, ugh.

I liked this episode, though it would have fitted better in the second season. What bothers me is the idea that the captain doesn't know her small crew: they're less than 150 and have lived together for 6 years !

The other thing I find awkward is about Seven. Has she become the efficiency officer ? If I were a crewman, moreover a Starfleet officer with years of training, I'd be pissed to know that a former Borg has that much influence. In addition, I'd resent her "I'm superior and better than you" attitude. I'd have understood if she had asked a private meeting with Janeway to complain, but here, it looks like a formal senior officer's meeting.

Granted, that's a nitpick about an otherwise very enjoyable episode, but it's something that's always bothered me.

Hey, Jay Underwood! I remember him from that TV movie series, "Not Quite Human," where he ironically played an android who wanted to be human. Kinda wish he was playing that role here after watching this character. I get that it takes all kinds but seriously...would a guy like this have even made it into Starfleet? And Captain Janeway is WAY too lenient with his constant mouthing off. I don't remember him asking permission to speak freely. She's still his captain for pity's sake! Picard would have cut the little puke down to size in a few seconds for insubordination like that.

Also, the other kid is more of a hypochondriac than Barclay and he went 6 years without this being brought to light? Barclay's idiosyncrasies were called out a very short time after he came on board and that's on a ship with a complement of over 1,000 people, where slipping between the cracks would be easier to do. I am in full agreement that an episode like this would have been far more suited to season 1 or 2. I didn't hate it but I didn't love it either.

Season 6 had been great all round for its first half, then it seemed to get a little stuck in a rut with one too many bad episodes and an very uneven quality...but this one was good Voyager, almost refreshing after being a little deflated with the season for a while.

It was very solidly made and I loved the fresh, mismatched, quirky characters who made the story work that much better (it would have been very dry if it had just been the regulars solving yet another crisis without a unique hook or a hint of freshness).

I got a kick out of the impressive space visuals, although I think a good old fashioned slime-drenched prop would have worked better for the dark matter creature!

I liked the characters and I liked this fun, little unconventional Voyager adventure. 3 stars from me, I'm glad to finally be a little more positive about the second half of season 6 for a change!

I know we got to watch the 3 black sheep grow, but i did think there should have been a last scene with the 3 members, but i guess the writers couldnt think of a good one.

mostly, cause we wont see these 3 again.

Harren's character was a hoot. i kept thinking,"how can you talk to a captain like that." but dang it was fun.

it had a 4 star start..but i think it ended with 3.

For all its belated good intentions, this one's a dud in my book. The 3 new characters are crudely drawn stereotypes - more caricatures than real people - and the actual plot concerning the dark matter centipede or whatever it is that invades the guy's body and then can somehow interface with the ship's computer systems just by sitting on the console is laughable B-movie shlock.

As others have pointed out, it comes far too late in the day, and we've never seen these characters before and never do again. The fact they could still be this incompetent, neurotic and attitudinal by this point in the series beggars belief. It's a small ship.

I'm still trying to figure the ending part where Janeway says to Harren "You made a mistake, don't make another one!" What exactly was his first mistake? Following her order? Was it a mistake to decide not to stay with the rest of the crew to protect her, after she ordered them to leave anyway? First she orders them to leave, then when he does she calls it a mistake? Or am I missing something else?

@Susan: phasering the dark matter centipede was his first "mistake". The biggest issue with this episode is the pacing, whereby the events and logic of the last act or so are so crammed that one has to fill in many gaps. I believe this also accounts for Jammer's impression that there was no ending; it's there, but the lack of screen time requires one to infer a lot about what might have transpired offscreen.

To those who don't like the ending, I think it was perfect. Firstly, a lack of denouement allowed the time for the extended dialogues between each of the yellow shirts, ie. more backstory. We the audience already know that all the characters were rescued, so it wasn't necessary to show them again.

Lastly, due to the character's collective experience in the shuttle craft, we can all infer that they have indeed changed, and will not be quite so isolated from the rest of the ship from this point onward.

The episode was also a great character study for Janeway, allowing her to display different aspects of her leadership philosophy.

As I stated in Equanox comments, This episode would have had my attention more if it had some of Ransom's crew rather than nameless fools we never heard or wonder why they are still misfits 6 yrs later.

I’m glad Voyager did its own « Lower Decks », and this is certainly one of the better efforts of the season. I have no problem with the ending; Telfer gets some closure, while Tal and Harren pretty much stay who they are. It feels just about right.

The problem is that three new characters appearing out of nowhere at this point in the series is implausible. It was okay on the Enterprise-D because it was a big ship and personnel transfers happened all the time (and there was Sito, whom we had seen before).

Not a bad episode, just bad timing to be in season 6. Amazing that Janeway allows the attitude of Harren. No other Captain in Trek would tolerate such behavior. Its an insult to the viewer that such poor use of them chain of command is not followed.

Not a bad episode at all, although a bit too formulaic for my taste. I certainly do not agree that this episode sort of didn't have a proper ending (and it kind of shocks me to read someone asking more of an ending than it had). But I wholeheartedly agree that this is just a pale incarnation of TNG's "Lower Decks". Still, with such an unusual structure it still felt like a breeze of fresh air.

I'm not terribly fond of the way Janeway treats her crewmen like children. These people are adults, they deserve to be treated as such. They're not behaving properly, they should be disciplined accordingly. They should be treated like adults, not frightened children.

That said, I did like Janeway's trying to understand them. Several moments between them worked for me. It's a shame they're never going to be seen again. The standard for Voyager, obviously.

I'm also not a fan of the "good shepherd" routine, again implying that Janeway is a parent and the crewmen her children that need to be rescued. It makes her seem like a self-righteous ass.

I found the guest characters annoying and unsympathetic. Once the stage was set, the rest of the show was dull, predictable, and again cliche ridden. Hypochondriac gets infected with an alien centipede? How appropriate. He shouldn't worry though, it probably means him no harm and seeks peaceful coexistence.

By the way, you don't get to be captain of Starfleet's newest ship without knowing the deck plan. Even if she didn't before, she had 6 years to become familiar with a whole 15 decks. Come on. I know that scene was meant for comic relief, but this stupid writing makes Janeway look bad.

The only thing I liked about this episode was the brief exterior shots at the beginning and end. I remember them doing this occasionally in the first couple of seasons, then they seemed to forget about it? It's a shame this effect wasn't used more.

Just to input a little science, dark matter isn't technically real. Scientists have observed that some planets in other galaxies spin too fast for the gravity of their star to keep them in orbit, and yet the planets don't fly off. So some have come up with the idea of "dark matter": some sort of undetectable mass that strengthens the gravity of the galaxy and keeps the too fast planets where they are.

There's more to the dark-matter hypothesis than that--it has to do with the whole structure of the universe. Given that it remains not-directly-observed, dark matter *might* not be real, but nothing *else* has been proposed that accounts for observations.

I think this was an average episode. Not as good as TNG Lower Decks but it wasn't bad.It needed a better ending.

Arachnea - I had the same reaction. Who is Seven to call out someone's inefficiency at a senior staff meeting? I thought she worked in Astrometrics anyway. I believe Seven is an interesting character but I always thought that Janeway gave her too much latitude.

"Dark matter" is more a description than a hypothesis. Gravity is detected where seemingly insufficient mass is observed. The only thing we know of that generates gravity is matter. Therefore this "dark" matter must be the additional, unseen mass needed to explain the gravitational effects.

Be that as it may, the dark matter centipede was very creepy and none the worse for being an obvious and predictable plot point. Actually the episode was enjoyable despite the overplayed caricatures and Kate Mulgrew's contemptible on screen presence.

These three sixth-year misfits are far more interesting than any of the main characters.

And, for the record, if we're ever on a smallish space ship and a dark matter centipede alien bursts out of someone's neck and starts destabilizing the core or whatever, you shoot it. That's an order.

I agree with the 3.0 rating, and ONLY because I was left hanging at the end saying the same thing Jammer was saying, "where the hell is the ending?" You spend nearly the entire show building up these 3 lower deck characters, we as an audience start caring about them (especially Celes, that whole exchange where she says to Janeway that she doesn't belong here really got to me), and then we're all sitting there waiting for the payoff only to be stunned by the ending credits. WTF!?

As others have said, this episode came far too late and ends up looking silly when you think about it (like a lot of VOY). The misfit not being like everyone else can't be that bad given that Voyager has made it this far without them causing major problems.

It is incredible that these three can still be how they are after 6 years, especially Billy, who after being experimented by the Caretaker, being stranded on Hanon IV, brushes with Borg nanoprobes, macroviruses and telepathic pitcher plants to name a few, is still a hypercondriac!? If I'd survived all that intact I'd think I was invincible! Tal being incompetant is another that in 6 years no one tried help her of give her something she could do.

Now I can understand Herrons annoyance. It was Janeways fault they're out here. But Janeway, nor Seven, seemed to realize they could have solved 2 out of 3 problems by switching Tal and Herron's jobs. Put Tal on Deck 15 pushing buttons that I think someone said even a monkey could do and have Herron in astrometrics doing something he's trained in and would actually be good at! Maybe then he wouldn't feel as bitter...

Someone above mentioned Janeway having memorized Voyagers plans but couldn't navigate Deck 15. Well she had been down there since taking command; the spatial rift that she used in "Deadlock" was on Deck 15, which interestingly didn't look nearly as cramped as it does here!

And in the briefing near the start, Kim talks like he doesn't know Tal (hard to believe with a ship of 150 after 6 years together but whatever), but later we learn in "Haunting of Deck Twelve", which is a flash back to before this episode, Tal smashed Harry in the face with a toolbox, and he didn't remember her for that alone!?

I liked this episode more than "Lower Decks," mainly because I thought the crewmen were both more interesting and Celes more likeable and Janeway's interactions with them were more enjoyable and in-character than were Worf's or Picard's or Riker's; the plotting also felt pretty interesting until the forced climax and heroism (Barclay's saving the day in "Hollow Pursuits" worked much better). It's too bad they weren't seen later (aside from one Celes appearance set earlier). I'm not sure why there's hostility to introducing previously-unseen characters, a crew of 150 is still fairly big especially when the series does focus mostly on the main characters interacting with each other.

The only thing the Good Shepherd saved was her delusions of grandeur. Janeway a Good Shepherd? Remember how she treated Harry in The Disease? Gimme a break! She is one erratic, conflicted, disorganised "captain". Mulgrew is fab, and for the most part I enjoy Voyager enormously, but the writing and directing is beyond inconsistent.

I loved this ep! It is a different beast than the "Lower Decks" episode though, because that one was more of a slice-of-life account of other lower crewman we don't usually see. Shepherd on the other hand I think is trying to show that even though we think we often think we've seen it all, the best way for us to really understand ourselves and the world is to get out and do new things. You have the self-acclaimed genius who doesn't even bother to consider the thoughts of others, the neurotic guy who can't get out of his head and the insecure person who does not believe she is worthy despite evidence to the contrary. It's classic Trek in sending a human message under a layer of a lot of weird alien stuff (diamond crystals? I wasn't exactly sure what was even going on there) about the power of seeking new experiences. It's also something that could've never happened with the regular cast because they are all way too perfect and already understand most of the things these lower deckman do not yet. Just such a shame that there is no good conclusion, it would have really tied everything together. 3.5/4

A great episode. I like seeing different perspectives from different characters. It reminds me of the old Smurf cartoons where I wanted to know all 100 of the Smurf's names. A new Smurf was introduced regularly. I wish we could see more of the staff, especially the Maquis crew, since we know they don't come from perfect Starfleet backgrounds.

Just rewatched this. Jay Underwood quietly scintillates in this episode. Beautifully pitched characterisation and his intonation and inflections have a naturalness lacking in much formulaic ST. Pity they didn't have him as a recurring character. I luv how he questions Janeway's assumptions to the point where she is lost for words. How often does she NOT have the last word?

I thought the most thought provoking comment in this episode was that on any ship there would be crew who just weren't suited and would wash out it a year. But on Voyager, they're just stuck with it - and as noted above, we don't get to see the screw-ups, we just see the problem solving geniuses every week.

The characterisation is not quite en pointe here - Telfer is a little broad and Harren a little off putting - but Celes right on the money as someone who just isn't really good enough to be on the ship. And it is of course a classic cliche for a group of misfits to bond together in adversity. But that's not to say this isn't handled well enough, it's just a little Sesame St in its lessons. 2.5 stars.

Some random thoughts:

- That was a horrible FF6 pun Cloudane, and I applaud you for making me laugh from it!

- I wonder what Sheldon from Big Bang Theory thinks about this episode? Namely because Crewman Harren is that exact same personality. Extremely intelligent, extremely selfish, extremely arrogant.

- I for one don't think this episode was necessarily "too late" in the series. It is not surprising that Janeway doesn't know about these problem crewmen: it's not her job. It is the first officer's job to take care of personnel issues (see Lower Decks for another example of this). And by all accounts, Chakotay did that job as well as possible. Harren was being antagonist? Give him a job away from everyone. Tal Celes was incompetent, so put her in the least important job possible. And Telfer does his job just fine, as long as he doesn't go on away missions. None of that requires Janeway's attention. None of it necessarily requires Janeway's attention even now, but she wants to deal with things because she feels motherly towards the crew.

- Wait, so Janeway is now comparing herself to the Good Shepherd? She is literally comparing herself to God now? Whoa, her random mental problems took a weird turn there.

- I think it helps to look at this episode more as a "slice of life" than a deep character development episode. Like I said, I don't think anyone necessarily required Janeway's attention, but she tried to be a good shepherd here. It was a nice gesture, but they don't need to solve all the problems in a magical 45 minute episode. Unfortunately, that seemed to be what the writers wanted.

But what, exactly, did Janeway do? Telfer's problem was cured by dealing with a nightmare situation, not any wonderful psychological help from Janeway. Tal is still incompetent, so nothing changed there. That leaves Harren... Well, is he changed? He was still insubordinate, still ignoring the chain of command, still not communicating. Admittedly, he was willing to sacrifice himself for the good of the ship, indicating that he was starting to feel a sense of community with the crew he's ignored for 6 years. But then again, maybe he calculated that he was dead anyway and this was his best shot... Still, I will grant her one instance of helping out, even if it is a small one.

But that's good. Turning these crewmembers into perfect little officers in one away mission would be unrealistic and trite, about what I'd expect from Voyager's character episodes. Instead, we only see the start of a change, and perhaps the only change that happens. Maybe Celes never improves; in fact perhaps it's logical that she never improves. But she can at least come to accept her limitations and know the captain is accepting of her. Perhaps Harren will remain selfish and arrogant, but he might spend a bit more time with the crew or be more willing to use his talents for the good of the ship. Little changes, that's all we need. So while I think the ending was a bit trite, with Janeway claiming her mission was a success, the fact that we don't blatantly see it helps.

- The fact that they kept calling her Celes instead of Tal did bug me at first, but this might have actually been an accidental continuity reminder of something nearly forgotten. Remember when the Bajorans were introduced in the episode Ensign Ro? She mentioned that many of the Bajorans switched their name around to adapt to Federation standards, even though Ro did not. So maybe Celes was one of those people. We never heard of this on DS9 because, well, maybe that was only true for refugees. DS9 focused on the Bajorans who stayed on Bajor, not the refugees, so maybe they never changed. See, it totally makes sense!

- Speaking of Celes, I was quite surprised. I would never have expected Hollywood to show, quite blatantly, the problem with affirmative action. They actually handled it reasonably well; it was clear that that was the analogy, but it wasn't overstated and didn't get preachy. Show, rather than tell. Probably because the writers themselves didn't make the connection. At the very least, it was a decent enough justification for why Celes managed to graduate and join Voyager. And who knows, maybe she was wrong. Maybe she did just barely pass on her own, but her own insecurities cause her to consider herself more of a failure than she actually is.

Skeptical: "It is not surprising that Janeway doesn't know about these problem crewmen: it's not her job."

It should be surprising. Janeway is, essentially, the mayor of a town with

Skeptical: "It is not surprising that Janeway doesn't know about these problem crewmen: it's not her job."

It should be surprising. Janeway is, essentially, the mayor of a town with fewer than 200 inhabitants. [original post truncated by "less than" symbol] As MartinB said earlier, everyone should know everyone by now. They should recognize each other by body odor! Elementary school principals can learn every student's name in 9 months, so Janeway has no excuse.

Oh, she may very well have known them, but not had detailed files of their performance on the ship. She would just know Harren as the antisocial one, Telfer as the nervous one, and Celes as the self-conscious one. The fact that they have been causing minor problems for the various department heads is not her concern though. She needs to be worried about replicating a new Delta Flyer every week, not the details of the personnel. That's what I was referring to, not about her knowing the crew at all. Sorry for the confusion.

I really didn't like this episode. The guest characters were annoying, and it was SO blindingly obvious how they would change over the course of the episode. The arrogant twat suddenly decides give his life to save the others? Yawn.... The neurotic hypochondriac is going to be treated of his fear in a heartbeat? Sorry dude, but i have an anxiety disorder, and i can tell that that kind of fear doesn't go away without long sessions of therapy and / or medication. The only one i found plausible and symphathetic was the bajoran woman.

I enjoy this one.

I thought the guest actors hit it pretty well. Just hammy enough to get the job done.

I agree with Skeptical. I'm one that doesn't think this episode was "too late". I think because it's later in the series it's more realistic.

I also didn't mind the ending so much. So we don't get a preachy Janeway blab at the end that so many complain about? This was fine, the goal of the episode was reached. She reached out and touched some folks that are pretty much out of reach for her. She also didn't magically change them, just gave them some self confidence.

Good for her.

3 stars is about right.

One of my favorite ideas Voyager used. Harren is an excellent one-offer. Jay Underwood and Kate Mulgrew could've turned into Voyager's House and Wilson. I agree about the ending but really enjoyed it anyway. I read Jay is actually a full-time pastor now.

Janeway is an idiot. Three misfits who have no desire for away mission and she sticks them on the same mission. Then she expects them to act like seasoned crewmen. She killed the alf. (*)

Thanks Jammer for mentioning Tom Morello's bit part. I never would have known.

2 stars. This was just fluff.

I get the cosmologist, but how the hell did the other 2 make it through starfleet academy? Ok, Celes claims it was the result of cramming, and some Bajoran bias (affirmative action?) but if that's the case they really overdid her incompetence. They should have merely made her nervous, not hopeless.

And the hypochondriac? Doesn't starfleet give their applicants a psyche test? Or did I miss something? If he came with the Maquis crew it would have made sense, but I don't remember anyone mentioning that.

This would have been better had they used the crewmen from equinox. And Seven was extremely annoying this episode. I would have given this two stars butcwatchable.

I tried to enjoy this but it just came across as a poor man's version of Lower Decks in TNG. None of the junior officers had the charisma and presence of either Sito, Lavelle, Ogawa or Taurik. All of them were annoying and you didn't care about them enough to want to continue watching. I usually enjoy Voyager, but had trouble getting through this one as the characters, to say nothing of the plot, simply failed to capture my attention. The only good scene in this episode was where Celes told Janeway about how she'd struggled through the Academy. Like many others have noted before me, it was refreshing - and relate-able - to see an imperfect Starfleet officer for once, someone who's more fallible and has to put in the effort.

Still though, not Voyager's best. The actors themselves didn't seem to have much chemistry with each other either, unlike the ones in TNG. Also, was it just me or did the hypochondriac look a bit like a watered-down version of Julian Bashir?

I was contrived, but enjoyable.

I liked the episode well enough, and it's nice to see Jay Underwood pop up, but this is the kind of premise that should have happened way earlier in the series. If you've been adrift for five-plus years and only now getting around to these crewmen, then they're way more jaded than the crewmen we got in this episode. If it absolutely had to be Seven that pointed out these three were through the cracks, you still could have done that in Season 4. It might even have been a better fit there, where she's still looking at the ship like a Borg and trying to maximize efficiency. To do it this late in the game - both for Voyager and for Seven - makes me far more sympathetic to Harren's otherwise-jaw-dropping insolence toward the Captain.

I didn't mind this episode at all, but it definitely didn't feel like a spiritual successor to Lower Decks once I watched it again. Lower Decks was laser-focused on the extras. This one used the extras well but the focus was mostly on Janeway.

I really like the Harren character and I wish we'd been introduced to him earlier or seen more of him later. There's a ton the story could've done with him - here you've got a guy who's basically Richard Dawkins but doesn't want anything to do with the ship, but takes a step at the end of the episode. Would've been nice to see him pop up as an extra now and then and continue to come out of his shell.

The concept reminded of the episode Learning Curve. Did we ever see those misfit characters again?

Also agree Equinox crew could have added a nice edge here...use PTSD instead of hypochondria.

So these 3 misfits have never been on an away mission? That's because they are misfits, and no one wants them on one.

And about 130 of the other crewmen have never been on an away mission either as far as I can tell, and they aren't misfits. Maybe take some of the non-misfits instead. But then you couldn't have had boring one dimensional characters, that 'learn' something.

1 1/2 stars

Well, I understand there is a financial aspects in not having to many main actors. Still this exploring inside was definitely as interesting, i believe there would have been space for for more of such episodes.

The character Harren is recognisable (Asperger syndrome?) also Tal Celes feels real. Billy Telfer on the contrary does not really fit in. It was also disturbing with that he had a relationship Tal Celes. With a girlfriend he is not really an outsider.

Even though this was not in itself a fantastic episode I found it entertaining and good.

Wait... what happened there at the end?
(Exactly the same question I posed when I watched this episode in its original run)

Second time around (maybe third) I still have no clue. Jammer was my last hope and he couldn't really tell either (I presume from reading his review).

Chakotay also asked "what happened?"
Alas, no answers from Janeway either. She just went into the good shepherd yadi-yada that I found..... cheesy!

Good episode until the last 4 minutes. Then, as I said, I don't know what happened.

Dianna Gitto wrote this episode and it is apparently (according to IMDb) her only credit for Voyager, or Star Trek, or anything else.. period.

@banjo: I noticed that bit about carrying pads atound the ship too.

I liked the idea of Janeway being the "good shepherd" and trying to get a better handle on the misfits in her crew -- seems like a good idea to go on what should be an innocuous away mission. But of course it doesn't turn out to be that. The episode did have an unusual feel to it with Janeway working closely with 3 junior misfits rather than her senior staff.

Where they episode fails is the ending and the mysterious life forms that just turn out to be a plot device. The personalities of the 3 misfits is a bit extreme as well -- especially the hypochondriac. Actually they all don't belong on a starship. It wraps up too quickly after the explosion. And how was the Mortimer rescued in the explosion when his escape pod is off in some other direction? And after all is said and done, we don't know what happens to the 3 misfits -- do they change in any way?

The aliens didn't work for me -- reminds me a bit of the creatures in TNG's "Conspiracy". We don't get any resolution to what they are all about -- the science behind them being related to dark matter etc. is probably going to displease some folks too.

I liked how Janeway didn't absolutely lose it with Mortimer or the other 2. Good episode for Janeway for sure. Wonder how Picard would have treated Mortimer who kills the alien against Janeway's wishes. But who knows what it would have done to the vessel...The Bajoran woman was pretty pathetic -- so much self-doubt. Star Fleet dropped the ball here in admitting her.

Barely 2.5 stars for "Good Shepherd" -- good but predictable premise that wasn't very well executed. The 3 characters were well portrayed, as extreme as they were and I think this is one of the better episodes for showing how good a captain Janeway can be. A fair bit of wonky "sci-fi" here as well.

3 stars. This was a nice essay in character observation, that did not allow itself to rely too heavily on explosions and action. The premise is not about those, though they have their place in a different kind of story. A mainly psychological episode, that looks at why people act as they do rather than at their external actions, isn’t going to be to everyone’s taste, and can be very tedious if handled badly; but this was well-plotted, with credible characters.

2 stars

I found this one pretty boring. I’ll admit I don’t care for lower deck characters. I want the cast front and center. The plot made no sense and was boring.

Tal Celes - she finds the equations and processes in astrometrics to be scary monsters, and they couldn't find _any_ other position for her? She jokes about "waitress", but I have a suggestion: medic. Doctor's assistant. Nurse, whatever This is a position very clearly needed, and Tom Paris is mediocre at it, doesn't want to do it, and has one of the most important day jobs on the ship, one that often is critical at the very moment when sickbay gets busiest.

I don't mean to say there's no skill in being a medic, or a nurse, but it requires less of the type of work Tal Celes particularly abhorred, and it is a position routinely backed up by a more capable professional (the most capable, according to the Doctor)... It's almost perfect for her.

Wow, Mortimor is super annoying! But interesting. It was fun to see some new crewmen, especially such interesting ones.

Janeway is great with them and their various needs.

The alien trying to communicate story was lame, though. And the overall story became a little dull. I don't understand how Mortimor got back, but maybe I missed something there.

I guess Harren had some stones talking to Janeway like that, but I was yelling at my TV: "Dammit Janeway, kick this guy's ass!"
I love Janeway.

As with most episodes of Voyager, this one had potential that it failed live up to it. There need to be more characters who dislike and disapprove of Janeway. She's a smug and dangerous leader, and there ought to be at least a few people who are short with her, if not staging outright mutinies. I thought Mortimer would be that person, but no luck because, you know, Janeway has to come out smelling like roses.

Every potentially adversarial character is either dispensed with immediately, or else their character is inexplicably made tame from one episode to the next. I think this partly explains some people's love of Janeway. It's not because she's a good or interesting character, but because that the writers created the illusion that she's a sound leader by removing any sensible voice of opposition.

That said, I did appreciate that she gave Mortimer the room he needed to dislike her and even to be insubordinate. I just didn't care for her savior complex.

Mortimer Harren (Jay Underwood) reminded me of Sheldon (Big Bang). This episode was written 7 years before Big Bang though.

Agree with Jammer's rating: 3 stars.

@Jo Jo Meastro (Aug, 2013)

Your comment summarize my thoughts exactly.

A nice 3-solid-stars-story.

It's no Lower Decks, but I'm a sucker for episodes that lift the lid on the regular crewmembers who aren't necessarily the best of the best. I especially liked the little moment where Janeway doesn't know her way around deck 15. Surprised to see her take so much shit from Harren though (she's read Seven the riot act for far less) and I totally agree on the lackluster ending, which bizarrely takes the focus off our three black sheep, but otherwise an enjoyable outing.

Like other commenters noted, Sheldon Cooper and Harren are practically twins. Was that just coincidence? Zoe McLellan did a good job with Celes. I would have liked to see her grab Harren by the shirt collar and snap at him "Watch your damn mouth with the captain!" It seems like Celes might have been a good fit in security.

@Jack (et al.):
))Janeway claimed that she'd memorized the entire layout and schematics for all of Voyager before taking command, but here she needed to be told to turn left instead of right...((

Yeah, it's NOT like the ship hasn't been severely damaged and virtually re-built several times ("Scopion" - cough-cough -"The Killing Game" -cough-cough). It's NOT like Borg technology had been incorporated and then subsequently dismantled.

Seriously: Even in a standard ship patrolling the Alpha Quadrant, it might occasionally happen that, in the course of routine maintenance, an extra wall might need to be erected or a Jefferies Tube re-routed. And who knows what modifications might have been necessary when installing "Quantum Slipstream Drive?"

Jay said:

"I kept trying to imagine these characters (particularly Herrin) in the predicaments that we saw earlier, like "Year Of Hell" and "The Killing Game". "

And Basics...and Demon...

"Good Shepherd" held my interest with its effective portrayals of the three sub-par crew members. I single out Mortimer Harren-- so angry, so critical, so convinced of his intellectual superiority-- for special praise, deserving of a place in upper hell with the other sullen souls. I loved how Janeway barely tolerated him, but slyly managed to parry, his nasty and disrespectful lunges at her.

Tal Celes, I liked a lot. She just needed some encouragement, and seemed suited to work in Sickbay based on her innate empathy.

Billy Telfer, the hypochondriac...glad that he survived, and glad that he overcame his debilitating neurosis.

It was a good show, and I liked the minimalistic ending focused solely on Janeway, exhausted, but successful, but I do regret that these characters, who I grew to like, get no further exposition. 3.5 Stars

Correction...
Tal Celes is seen later on in a different episode.

TELFER: It said, "Do not belong."
HARREN: We don’t belong here.
TAL: Or it didn’t belong in the Delta Flyer.

That reminded me of the Horta's message "NO KILL I" in "The Devil in the Dark," when Kirk wondered if that was "a plea for us not to kill it" and Spock suggested it might mean that it wouldn’t kill them.

From Memory Alpha: "Seven types some data into a PADD and hands it to Tal, telling her to take it to Lieutenant Torres."

Don’t they have e-mail in the twenty-fourth century? Or voice recognition software?

TNG-era Star Trek never really managed to conceptualize wi-fi. That's the one big miss with PADDs and tricorders, they always need some direct connection with each other or a main computer console, even if a sort of near-field, Qi charging, just set it on the desk and it will connect sort of thing. The first mainstream rollout of a wi-fi enabled device was Apple's iBook, introduced in 1999, already halfway through Voyager's run. So a room-permeating wireless network just never seemed to cross the mind of the writers up to that point, with PADDs relegated more to the realm of 1990s PDAs or first-generation Kindles.

@navamske
"Don’t they have e-mail in the twenty-fourth century? Or voice recognition software?"

There are places where voice recognition is far less convenient than typing. A busy workspace with lots of people running around is one on these places.

The way PADDs are handled, though, is indeed silly. Lots of computer-related things from classic Trek have aged horribly once the internet came around.

They should have left Janeway out of it and stayed on Voyager and made it Breakfast Club in space.

As someone with a lot of shipboard experience, I have to disagree with a few of the majority opinions expressed in the comment section.

- While it might have been better earlier on, I don't think it's unreasonable that there were still "misfits" by S6. On a ship, even one not trapped in the Delta Quadrant, it's simply difficult to replace people, and there's no guarantee that the next person you get will be any better. At any given time there are always a couple of people who can't be trusted with much and that's sort of built into the system. The people around them pick up the slack and life goes on. In over a decade I only remember one person actually being fired and sent home. Humans are creatures of habit, people fall into routines very quickly and the routines persist unless something major comes along to disrupt them. I think it's totally possible to have many crewmembers on Voyager who are just "along for the ride" especially with all the cool kids hogging the Holodeck and the Astrometric Lab.

- Janeway not knowing her way around Deck 15 is also pretty reasonable. People have their jobs and I'm sure Janeway always had something more pressing to do than stroll around a blank corridor. I often worked in the holds and knew all of their idiosyncrasies and knew all of the cargo by the end of a voyage. By contrast, the captains I worked for really had no clue about the state of the holds because there was always another email or spreadsheet to deal with. The captain disappearing into the holds is going to be a real problem because they're always being called on the phone or radio every few minutes. In the same vein, I knew the basic layout of the engine room but never went poking about just for fun because it was just something you didn't do. I imagine it would be pretty much the same on a starship. I appreciated that they used different sound design for Deck 15 as well to make it feel like an alien environment to the captain.

- The 90s writers, who usually didn't know much about military or pseudo-military environments, actually nailed the types of "misfits" you find aboard ships. Telfer, the hypochondriac in the episode was genuine; in real life they are usually lazy people who just want light duties to accompany their paycheck. Once again, inconvenient to send them home, and expensive to send them to doctors, you kind of come to an unspoken arrangement where you don't ask too much of them and they keep their complaints to a minimum and ride out their tour. Celes, the incompetent, is also common, once again, others just usually pick up the slack around them and they do their time and move on. The third type, Harren, is pretty much everyone aboard ship though. Everyone is really only there for a paycheck, pretty stressed and short-fused. Instead of being an outlier, he is really par for the course. Also, no one really makes great friends aboard ships because of the workload and also everyone being split on different watch rotations, so not having an amazing social life wouldn't be seen as strange. I think it is more likely on military ships where the workload is lighter but even there you have too many people competing for free space. A person with Harren's temperament is actually pretty well-suited to mundane shipboard life. The people wanting to play Captain Proton all the time would be the ones having the tough time.

- Celes didn't attend the Academy, it's said she took "Starfleet training courses," so she probably went through whatever Starfleet boot camp consists of. To "get in" she basically had to be of a certain age and in good health, not be the "best of the best" like Janeway and the others.

Overall I liked this episode because I saw it more as a commentary on Janeway's failure to appreciate anyone that wasn't in her chosen clique. Club Janeway includes the usual senior officers but also Seven and Neelix who have no rank. All of them handle everything aboard ship and also get free passes constantly. I realize the budget is the reason for that but episodes like this help to balance it out a bit.

I thought this was a strong episode, with a lot of nice little touches:

1. Janeway doesn't know the layout of the ship's lower decks.
2. Janeway ably holds her own against the pretentious Mortimer (for every barb he throws her way, she has a sharp retort).
3. The aliens, while perfunctory, were mercifully allowed to be alien. They weren't fully explained, their motivations weren't bothered with, and they managed to retain their mystery.

I generally like Janeway when she's portrayed as a protective mother, and this episode milks these traits well. Yes, it's odd that she suddenly cares about these "lost" crewmen so many years later, and the episode's climax is too neat, but her sense of love and concern shines through, and the episode captures well the closed-loop of Starfleet service; you serve it and it serves you.

I actually found myself thinking that maybe Chakotay had the right idea: Not everybody, not even everybody who makes it through Starfleet academy, is cut out for starship duty, and in the normal course of things in the Alpha Quadrant, the ones who aren't a good fit would wash out within a year. In the Delta Quadrant, they just don't have anywhere to wash out to.

Last I heard, Starfleet wasn't like taking final vows in a Religious Order; these people haven't committed to stay for the rest of their lives. Would it really be so awful for these folks to be honorably discharged (after all, they made at least nominal efforts to keep doing the duties to which they may have come to believe themselves unsuited), and given some help to build civilian careers onboard? TNG, after all, showed us that there are roles for civilians on a starship. Would it really be so terrible for Celes to become "a waitress in the mess hall"?

I am absolutely shocked that Jammer, or anyone else, found this episode tolerable. The guests were three comically overdone character traits masquerading as people, and their turnarounds were ridiculously rushed.

You could've done this with one misfit, more of the main cast, and a greater focus on the pseudo horror plot rather than on more awkward scenes with the bumbling trio. Introducing a new character, a problem, and an arc all in one episode is already hard, doing it three times reduced them all to two dimensional cardboard.

Also, I know some people won't see this, but I can't help but notice they made the one girl the incompetent one. I guess all the characters fit some pretty ridiculous stereotypes, now that I think about it, but that was the first one I noticed.