Last night’s “Mad Men,” besides giving the characters — and viewers — the creeps over the Richard Speck mass murders, presented me with a real brain-teaser:
Who played Andrea, the old flame of Don Draper who showed up in an elevator and, later, in Don’s flu-induced fever dreams in the episode called “Mystery Date?”
The actress looked undeniably familiar but I missed her name in the credits.
Today I discovered the actress was Madchen Amick, one of the most memorable young actresses on TV two decades ago.
Amick played Shelly Johnson, the high school girl and waitress in “Twin Peaks,” the cult TV mystery series that aired in 1990 and 1991.
Considering the nightmarish stuff of “Twin Peaks,” it’s perfectly appropriate — somehow even fitting — that Amick played Andrea. In last night’s macabre episode, Andrea encountered Don on an elevator and immediately went into purring seductress mode … until Don introduced his wife, Megan, who was standing some distance away.
Later, Andrea showed up and offered herself to Don, whose weakened condition on account of the flu apparently didn’t extend to the bedroom.
When Andrea, getting out of bed, told Don that she expected a return visit, he became enraged and choked her to death, stuffing her body under his and Megan’s bed before passing out again.
When Don woke up, however, Megan was there … and the encounter with Andrea never happened.
Part of the fun of seeing Amick again was that I haven’t seen her on TV a lot in the past two decades. According to her biography, she’s worked pretty steadily, with roles in everything from the “Fantasy Island” reboot to “Dawson’s Creek” to “CSI: NY.”
Who can forget this famous 1990 Rolling Stone magazine cover, with Amick and “Twin Peaks” co-stars Sherilyn Fenn and Lara Flynn Boyle?
That’s a lot of hair. But Amick looks great.
If Andrea indeed isn’t stuffed under the Drapers’ bed, maybe Amick will pay a return visit to “Mad Men” this season. Although some have theorized that Don’s hallucinatory choking of Andrea symbolized his efforts to leave his past behind and be faithful to Megan, I’ll believe Don has become monogamous when I see it.
keithroysdon 