Yeah, The Wire's been a little hard to follow, but I don't hold that against it. I'm beginning to pick up the plot now, and at least once per episode there's a scene I find absolutely magnetic. The scene with the young black guy (I'm hopeless with names, too) explaining chess to his drug-dealing gang was one, and last night's with the crime scene investigation with dialog consisting entirely of expletives was another. I feel for the drug-dealer, 'cause I can see his story's going to end tragically.

But yeah, it's suffering from being thrown at a late night audience on consecutive nights. Not the most friendly way to show a series, especially such a good one.