It's only with Episode 19, ".07%," that a commentary opens with the speakers identifying themselves clearly. Thanks, folks! Not only that, but it's also the first commentary in which it's pointed out that there have been a series of online comic-book stories that provide background for many of the characters and that show motivation. For example, in the story arc "War Buddies" (starting with Chapter 24 of the online comics) readers will learn that Linderman's philosophy was first articulated by Peter and Nathan's dad years earlier.

Thanks to voice similarities, I'm still not clear which of the commentators says, "I wonder if people on the boards realize we read them," but you can take it as a given -- especially for this series, which is so multi-media-involved.

If you're curious about the online comics (and I still haven't found a convenient format for reading them; print is easier for a while yet), you can start with the first installment and go on from there. (At the moment, the total has reached Chapter 50: "Blackout" Part Two.)

This commentary is fun for the insights into production of the show, including the ways scripts can be modified during filming and even when the commentators are seeing a pre-effects cut.

I was surprised to find that there were chunks of Episode 20, "Five Years Gone," that I didn't remember until rewatching. Perhaps I had the feeling that, as a possible future, it was something that wasn't going to happen? In any case, the commentary was fun, consisting as it did in the three actors making fun of each other in a relaxed chat. We learn that Sendhil Ramamurthy took three and a half weeks to grow his beard out to the "future" length -- and that the Oval Office set was the one used in the film Dave and was correct to scale. And that Jack Coleman says, "I think I look younger five years in the future." Fun.