Dissenting opinion time: I really like "Explorers." Coming off "The Die is Cast," any episode bound by plot or intrigue is going to feel inferior, so the show decides to spend an hour playing the emotional beats. Season 4 rip-roars through plot at a ridiculous clip, to the point that having a chance to sit back and enjoy spending time with the characters is a relief. It's nice to see that Sisko has interests (outside of baseball and 20th century Earth racial politics) - his fascination with ancient Bajoran space travel gives him shades of Geeky Dad. After seeing him in full-on badass mode it's a real treat to see him embracing his inner dork.
I'm less of a fan of Bashir's plot in this episode (it's a little too after-school special) but I don't think it brings down the episode as a whole, which is a nice denouement to the epic insanity that precedes it.
As a humble sacrifice, I submit for consideration what I consider DS9's biggest turkey: "Profit and Lace." We've got Quark sexually harassing his employees (and it being played for laughs), Grand Nagus Zek, Quark's sex change operation that results in immediate worry about his looks, "There go his hormones," an around-the-table running scene ... it's a mess.
I mean, I'm as big a fan of Monty Python and Kids in the Hall style drag as anyone but this is not good. It's broad "humor" (no pun intended) based on the most outlandish of stereotypes - he talks in a whisper! he walks sexy! he's overly sensitive! He ends up having to fend off sexual assault but then "coming around" and making out with the other Ferengi anyway. And at the end of it all, he vows to never blackmail females again! Well, except not.
It's creepy, it's vile, it's disgusting, and it's DS9 at its worst. I'd watch "Move Along Home" a million times before I'd touch "Profit and Lace" again.
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