After these, only the season ender to go (and then there's planning the evening of Sept. 24 around viewing the start of Season Two).

Commentators for Chapter 21, "The Hard Part," are James Kyson Lee (who plays Ando), Noah Gray-Cabey (who plays Michah), and stunt coordinator Ian Quinn. It's not always easy to tell Quinn from Lee in the commentary, but Gray-Cabey laughs his way through his remarks delightfully. (And we learn that it's only by ongoing attention that Micah's hair retained that controlled wet look.)

Until this commentary, I hadn't realized that Virginia Gray (Sylar's mom) was played by Ellen Greene -- who, despite decades of great performances may be best known as Audrey from the 1986 film version of Little Shop of Horrors, reprising the role she'd played on Broadway). I knew she'd looked familiar but wow!

And, as others have cited throughout the commentaries, many of the special effects are handled via the low-tech method, such as was used in displaying Hiro's powers of freezing time (in which case, everyone just stood very still). In the case of an Ellen Greene scene, she was supported by a special device -- but, again, just held still.

Commentators for Chapter 22, "Landslide," are Masi Oka (Hiro Nakamura), George Takei (Kaito Nakamura), and Matthew Armstrong (Ted Sprague). Takei, who grew up in the Los Angeles area, takes ongoing note of which Los Angeles sites are doubling for "New York City," especially taking exception to the Arco sculpture that dominates many of the outdoor scenes and that, of course, is not NYC. (I've just taken for granted that it was chosen because of its seeming reference to the double helix that features so strongly throughout the series.) Oka comments with justifiable pride on the swordfight sequences in which there was very little doubling, and this is one of the best comment tracks in the DVD release.

One more episode to go -- and then we prepare for Season Two, Episode One, titled "Four Months Later." I can hardly wait.