It’s almost as if the writers of Castle knew we’d grown tired waiting for that Devil Wears Prada sequel, and sent us last night’s episode as a gift. When two fashion students go dumpster diving for fabric (because that’s an actual thing for fashion students, apparently), they wind up playing tug of war with a scarf tied around the neck of a dead woman. Ella was the assistant of Anna Wintour … er … Miranda Priestly … wait, no—Matilda King of Modern Fashion! And she had learned the hard way what Anne Hathaway’s character learned in the 2006 film—the fashion world is a scary, scary place.
The premise of “Dressed To Kill” worked well for the greater plot of Castle. Rick and Kate had to spend some time at Modern Fashion, which meant Kate had to finally come clean about her former (albeit brief) life as a model. Matilda King (played by the brilliant Frances Fisher) remembered Kate well as the only person who’d ever told her “no.” (Kate turned down a fashion spread that would have launched her modeling career.) And the couple (mainly Rick) also shopped for wedding venues while trying to solve the crime.
That first meeting between Rick, Kate and Matilda was the start of a pretty dramatic wild-goose chase. As far as suspects, first there was the second assistant who had recently been fired with Ella, then there was the lawyer from the competing publication who had threatened Ella, and a security guard who’d planted a wire tap in Ella’s house, along with Matilda King herself. Similar to the storyline in Devil Wears Prada, King was an editor guarding her secrets from a world of other fashion editors and creatives on the rise, trying to steal her spot. As it turned out, Ella was the fallout of a much grander scheme orchestrated by King’s right-hand man, Julian (and the hilarious single-name, thieving fashion designer Yumi), who was hoping to oust King from her coveted position.
But the highlight of the episode had to be when Matilda asks Kate to try on a couture wedding gown that was dripping in Austrian crystals (AKA super-fancy sparkles), and Kate suddenly had a moment. Just as she was wearing the perfect dress, Rick called ready to book the perfect venue on the perfect date for their perfect wedding. But Kate, suddenly feeling overwhelmed with a longing for her mother, hesitates and seems to have second thoughts. But at the end of the episode, she opens up to Rick (gets the dream dress donated to her, à la Carrie from the Sex and the City movie), and suggests they move up the wedding date. And just like that, the Castle wedding episode is suddenly on the horizon … hopefully.
Favorite Quote of the Episode: Blue hairs? So she was killed by a little old lady. Or Katy Perry. (Castle)