Saturday Night Live's Vanessa Bayer and Wicked musical star Christopher Fitzgerald join the cast of Elsbeth Season 2, Episode 6 as the titular lawyer/consultant investigates another freak accident that ends up being a murder.
Elsbeth's new episode, "Gold, Frankincense, and Murder," follows the story of two celebrity Christmas curators who are also a married couple. After the husband ends up dead, Elsbeth races against time to prove that his wife may be involved in his death.
Elsbeth Season 2, Episode 6 premiered on CBS on December 5.
Elsbeth Season 2 Episode 6 Guest Stars
Vanessa Bayer - DeeDee Dashers
Leading Elsbeth Season 2, Episode 6's guest star lineup is Vanessa Bayer as DeeDee Dashers, a celebrity Christmas curator who celebrates Christmas all year round.
DeeDee, though, is not feeling the Christmas spirit anymore so she wants to file a divorce from her husband and fellow curator.
Bayer is best known for her roles in Bad Teacher, Trainwreck, Office Christmas Party, and Saturday Night Live.
Christopher Fitzgerald - Dirk Dashers
Christopher Fitzgerald joins the cast of Elsbeth Season 2, Episode 6 as Dirk Dashers, DeeDee's husband who has a strong passion for Christmas.
After finding out that his wife wants a divorce, he maps out a plan to kill her since "everybody loves a Christmas widower." However, his scheme ends up sideways which leads to a freak accident that causes his death.
Fitzgerald is best known for playing Boq (aka Tin Man) in the Wicked musical. The actor also appeared in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, American Horror Stories, and Let Them All Talk.
Vanessa Kai - Gisela Mott
Vanessa Kai returns to the series after appearing as part of the cast of Elsbeth Season 1, Episode 10. She reprises her role as Gisela Mott.
Gisela appears to be the sponsor who oversees the Dress Up Launch Party where Dirk fell from a ladder that caused his death.
Kai's most recognizable role is playing Pei-Ling Zhang in Kung Fu.
The actress also has credits in New Amsterdam, The Blacklist, and Orange is the New Black.
Jakob Winter - Grayden
Jakob Winter stars as Grayden, one of the dashing assistants of the Dashers who helps Elsbeth and Officer Blanke retrieve an important piece of evidence that can incriminate the suspect behind Dirk's death.
Winter's notable credits include Mayberry Man: The Series, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and What Would You Do?.
Lynn Favin - Holly
Lynn Favin plays Holly, Agent Kidder Hawes' assistant who is secretly having an affair with Dirk Dashers.
Favin can be seen in Austintatious, Veep, and The Get Down.
Micheal Ivan Carrier - Laird
Micheal Ivan Carrier appears as Laird, Gisela Mott's assistant who is heartbroken over being fired from his job after the whole Dashers fiasco at the Dress Up Launch Party.
Elsbeth is Carrier's first major acting credit.
Stephen Mark Lukas - Fire Marshal Lee Sparks
Stephen Mark Lukas plays Fire Marshal Lee Sparks in Elsbeth Season 2, Episode 6.
Sparks is the one assigned to investigate why the vintage bulb caused Dirk Dashers' death during the party. He is also seemingly attracted to Elsbeth.
Lukas' other guest star roles include FBI: Most Wanted and Gossip Girl.
Dan Bucatinsky - Kidder Hawes
Kidder Hawes (played by Dan Bucatinsky) is a celebrity agent who is ecstatic over the vast opportunities that his client, DeeDee, will receive after her husband's death.
Bucatinsky previously appeared in Air, Scandal, and Hacks.
Ben Levi Ross - Teddy
Ben Levi Ross appears briefly as Teddy, Elsbeth's son who visits her at the end of the episode.
Ross is known for his roles in tick, tick... BOOM! and Acting for a Cause.
Here are the main and recurring characters who appeared in Elsbeth Season 2, Episode 6:
- Carrie Preston - Elsbeth Tascioni
- Carra Patterson - Officer Kaya Blanke
- Wendell Pierce - Captain Wagner
- Molly Price - Detective Donnelly
- Gloria Reuben - Claudia Wagner
Elsbeth Season 2 Episode 6 Plot Recap & Ending Explained
A Christmas Couple Disaster
Elsbeth Season 2, Episode 6 opens with a Christmas-themed episode of Dress Up (a magazine show dedicated to showing home decorations) hosted by Dirk and DeeDee Dashers.
The Dashers are a married couple who work as celebrity Christmas curators and the latest Dress Up episode showcases their house full of holiday decorations that rival Santa Claus' house in the North Pole.
Apparently, it's Christmas all year round in the Dashers' home, and they are stoked that 2024 is a leap year since it gives them an extra day to celebrate.
However, the yuletide vibes suddenly fall down the drain since DeeDee is unhappy about their marriage and the whole Christmas pretend. She asks for a divorce, but Dirk tries to calm her down by saying it will ruin their image to the public.
While DeeDee initially agrees to Dirk's suggestion to let the holidays pass before filing for divorce, he maps out a plan to "accidentally" kill her during the Dress Up x Dashers Launch Party, thinking that the tragic death of DeeDee (aka Mrs. Claus) would boost sales for the brand.
Dirk's Plan Backfires (Quite Literally)
Dirk's plan involves rigging the ceremonial Christmas light switch to electrocute DeeDee during the launch party. As for DeeDee, she is busy finishing the decorations at the party, unaware of what her husband is about to do.
During the party (which includes special guest Gisela Mott from Elsbeth's Season 1 finale), the countdown begins to light up the Christmas tree, but Dirk's assistant Grayden starts the fake snow machine too soon.
This presents Dirk with the opportunity to tell DeeDee to flip the switch, but she is not electrocuted by it. Amid Dirk's confusion, DeeDee points out that a lone Christmas bulb is still out, which prompts Dirk to climb a ladder to fix it.
However, he ends up being electrocuted and falls to his death.
Elsbeth Arrives to Investigate
Elsbeth, Officer Kaya Blanke, and Detective Donnelly are tasked to investigate Dirk Dashers' death. Elsbeth is ecstatic to reunite with Gisela, especially after she played a key role in solving the murder case in the Season 1 finale.
Gisela's assistant, Laird, explains to them what happened that led to Dirk's death along with the help of Fire Marshall Lee Sparks (who is clearly flirting with Elsbeth).
Despite grieving, DeeDee quickly points out that the lights on the tree are vintage and not the vintage-inspired lights from their collection (an important clue that'll be revisited later).
Sparks also notes that the light switch can electrocute anyone who touches it, but DeeDee is clearly unharmed. She asserts, though, that someone is targeting her husband, and she has an uneasy feeling that the killer is still out there.
DeeDee Reveals the Harsh Christmas Truth
DeeDee comes clean to the trio of investigators by telling them that she is not really a fan of Christmas after all and that she is only doing it for her husband.
As DeeDee gives Elsbeth vintage-inspired lights, Officer Blanke and Detective Donnelly interrogate Grayden to learn more about potential enemies who could target him.
Grayden tells them that Dirk has no enemies and his boss was actually meticulous with his work which is why it is odd that a single light bulb caused his death.
He also notes that Dirk is happier than he's ever been before his death, which makes it confusing for him as to why Dirk scolds him during the launch party even though he started the snow machine when he was supposed to.
Elsbeth also notices a turtledove figurine which appears to be missing its pair. Before she can even ask DeeDee about it, the grieving wife starts to cry to make it more awkward.
Meanwhile, in the NYPD precinct, more developments about the core cast start to unravel. Blanke is about to move out from Elsbeth's apartment while Captain Wagner is trying to find the perfect gift for his wife, Claudia.
Amid the chaos brought about by a group of rampaging Santas from Santacon, Elsbeth realizes that she will be all alone on Christmas, which places her in a vulnerable state for the first time.
Elsbeth Discovers Dirk's Dark Secret
While the holiday spirit appears to be lost on Elsbeth, her sadness gets disrupted by the arrival of a newly fired Laird, and he seems to be ready to spill the tea on what truly happened behind the scenes.
It turns out that Gisela had asked Dirk if she could flip the switch during the Christmas tree lighting, but he said no. Laird is confused with the whole fiasco because Dirk instead directed DeeDee to flip it at the last minute even though he told Gisele that he wanted to do it himself.
Elsbeth, Blanke, and Donnelly realize that Dirk wants to kill DeeDee, but there is a far deeper reason behind it.
Upon visiting Agent Kidder Hawes (DeeDee's agent), Elsbeth notices that his assistant, Holly, is crying as if Dirk is close to her. What makes it interesting is that she owns the other half of the turtledove statue that they found in DeeDee and Dirk's house.
It is ultimately revealed that Holly is Dirk's mistress since they both bonded over their strong love for Christmas. Dirk promised Holly that he would find a way for them to be together, but it was derailed due to his death.
The Truth Shall Prevail
While Elsbeth ends up telling Dirk's deep dark secret to DeeDee, she seems to be unfazed about it and she doesn't even know who Holly is.
Upon returning to the precinct, Elsbeth then points out to Captain Wagner and the rest that DeeDee wanted to kill Dirk because she "wanted out" of the whole fake Christmas pretend from her husband.
Her motive doesn't really bank on the secret affair, but it is all about wanting to leave the marriage behind for good. However, they still needed concrete evidence to incriminate DeeDee.
While Elsbeth and Blanke decorate their Christmas tree back at home, an Eureka moment ensues after Elsbeth ponders on why some Christmas lights stop working when one bulb is out while others work just fine.
Interestingly, the lights that killed Dirk were supposed to be vintage, but only one light was out. To recap, DeeDee was the one who told them that those are vintage, and this realization is enough to arrest her.
Elsbeth, Blanke, and Donnelly meet with DeeDee at the venue of the launch party to unravel the case.
It turns out that DeeDee is color blind and it is unusual for her to wear black gloves during the party since she always wears red and green to cement her Christmas spirit.
As Fire Marshal Lee Sparks pointed out earlier, the black gloves have a rubber lining to prevent her from being electrocuted, meaning that she is well aware of Dirk's plan to kill her that day.
After she discovered Dirk's evil scheme, DeeDee mapped out a plan of her own to kill her husband. However, her color blindness proved to be a flaw in her plan since she tampered with the lights to make it three green ones in a row rather than the alternate red-green scheme.
This one flaw combined with confessing her crime is more than enough for the police to arrest her.
The episode ends with Blanke and Captain Wagner surprising Elsbeth with their own Christmas miracle: bringing her son, Teddy, to New York to celebrate the holidays together.
The next episode of Elsbeth Season 2 will premiere on CBS on Thursday, December 12, at 10 p.m. ET.
The first six episodes of Elsbeth Season 2 are available to stream on Paramount+.
