Pretty Dead

**Writer**: Terri Edda Miller

**Director**: Jeff Bleckner

#### DUSTJACKETS BLURB

After a beauty queen is murdered, Castle and Beckett investigate her death within a world of sequins and makeup. Meanwhile, Montgomery tries to think of what to get his wife for their anniversary, and Alexis has to deal with Ashley graduating and leaving for college.

### Guest cast

* Michael McKean - VICTOR BARON
* Sasha Roiz - BOBBY STARK
* Teri Polo - KAYLA BARON
* Ken Baumann - ASHLEY LINDEN
* Arye Gross - M.E. PERLMUTTER
* Bellamy Young - CANDACE FORD
* Jonathan Slavin - JUSTIN HANKEL
* Krystal Joy Brown - SASCHA
* Paul Terrell Clayton - DAX LATTIMER
* Stephanie Lynn - AMBER MIDDLEBURY
* Rosero McCoy - FELIX
* William Francis McGuire - DAN MIDDLEBURY
* Nan McNamara - STAGE MOTHER
* Amanda Schull - JOY
* Judith Scott - EVELYN MONTGOMERY

### Music

* "Born This Way" - LADY GAGA (teaser)
* "I Will Think of You" - LAURA BROWNE SORENSON (Amber's memorial)

### Literary and other references

* Victor Baron is a Donald Trump clone.
* Elle Woods is the main character in *Legally Blonde*, a ditzy fashion major who follows her boyfriend to Harvard Law.
* TMZ is a web and television based gossip magazine.
* *Grey Gardens* is a 1975 documentary about reclusive mother and daughter socialites.
* Brett Favre was an American football quarterback who retired and made several comebacks before actually retiring.

### Memorable moments

* Bobby Stark in the interrogation room.
* Montgomery's gift dilemma.
* Kayla Barron's reaction to the photographs.

### Quotable quotes

* BECKETT: It was like living with Elle Woods on steroids.
* BECKETT: I don't know if you can say that nutjobs and beauty queens are mutually exclusive.
* BECKETT: You don't remember where you were or what you were doing last night.
STARK: (*pause)* That's bad, right?
* CASTLE: Thirty years and you don't know what to buy her?
MONTGOMERY: If you'd stayed married long enough, you'd know it's hard to stay original after the first ten.
* BECKETT: So what's your secret?
MONTGOMERY: There's no secret, just keep showing up.
* CASTLE: The best thing to give a woman is something that she said she wanted when she thought you weren't listening.
MONTGOMERY: What if I wasn't listening?
* CASTLE: Looks like you were hoisted on your own Picard.

### Just the facts

* Alexis' boyfriend has gotten into a bunch of colleges, including Stanford and Northwestern, and they are trying to decide how to handle the long distance relationship issue. When Ash decides to stay in New York, Alexis breaks up with him because she doesn't want to be the cause of his decision. Eventually he decides to go to Stanford, and she decides to graduate from high school early so she can go there starting in January next year.
* Kate had a roommate freshman year, Debbie Winaker, who was a pageant competitor; their room always smelled liked hairspray, perfume and cigarettes. She was a miserable person to live with, but deep down she was a good person and believed in the ideals of internal as well as external beauty.
* Martha also used to compete in pageants, but no one knows that because she didn't win.
* Montgomery has been married 30 years.
* At the end of the episode Montgomery announces that he intends to retire next year as a present to his wife. According to Beckett it shouldn't be taken seriously because he "retires" all the time.

### Oops

* Stanford doesn't actually offer an option to start in January.
* If Montgomery's been married 30 years and has a 5 year old, his wife must have been really young when they got married, or really old when she had the kid.