256. 04/28/97  "LEZ BE FRIENDS"  (1122)

 Pamela Eells


Rating: 10 out of 10

Yes, another truely brilliant episode from the last series.

This episode features Amanda Bearse playing both her regular Marcy character, plus her 
identical cousin Mandy (who is a lesbian). They do a superb job of portraying the two
Amanda's onscreen simultaneously. Sometimes it is camera trickery, and at other times 
it is a stand-in with her back to the camera. The stand-in does a good job of acting 
perky and playfull, and the hair stylists and makeup folk have done a great job of 
copying the real Amanda. You really wouldn't be able to pick the stand-in from the real
Amanda if they were put side by side with their backs to you. (They don't show Amanda's 
chicken legs, which would have given the game away)

Mandy is a hit with Al and Jefferson, and Marcy begins to sulk. The opposite can be said 
for Lucky. He's been given some Puppy Uppers, and is literally doing somersaults in the 
backyard (they've got a stuffed lookalike of Lucky, which they are throwing around in 
loops). Even once the guys know Mandy is gay, they still fancy their chances with her. 
Jefferson thinks he's stumbled onto Al and Mandy in an intimate moment, and seems keen 
to muscle into a threesome with them, which is conveyed almost entirely with body 
language (a great scene).

As Mandy departs, she confesses to finding Peggy gorgeous. Peggy is suddenly smitten, 
and is quite happy to see more of Mandy.

The gender bending finishes with Lucky coming home with a leather clad Bulldog boyfriend 
(in a Village People type of doggy flashback).

The final twist to the irony in this episode is that Amanda Bearse and Christian 
McLaughlin (a writer in the last series) are both gay.