basically, at first it's random things happening that seem to have nothing to do with eachother, but as the season progresses, things start to make sense and some knots start to tie together. i promise you, you have to watch a few sequential episodes before making up a real opinion about it. also, the seasons are tied together. each season explores an element of baltimore and how that element ties into the story and affects the people there. for example, season two explores the baltimore docks and touches the surface of their union. season five explores the mass media. season three, so far, seems to be exploring the mayor and various communal institutions. or some deep shit like that. it's not like csi where every few seasons, one of the actors quits the show and another starts popping up and becomes a regular with new villains in every episode. you basically couldn't watch an episode from the middle of a season and enjoy it without having seen everything that has happened in the build-up.