Surprises. The Closer is full of them ... from the casting of one of our favorite directors, Roxann Dawson as the Arizona Detective Ortega, did you notice the silver and turquoise earrings she wore? I had a friend, artist Bobbie Flemming in Santa Fe, New Mexico send them to me as an ode to the detective living and working in the Southwest, did you also notice the squash blossom necklace the I chose for her in the candid photo of Sedona and her mother that was found in the daughters apartment? Just another little layer of detail.

Another surprise was when the script hit my desk and I read of the HUGE stunt with gunfire, Brenda nearly getting shot and the fish tank exploding and tons of movie blood! The surprise was immediately calling England, asking the Pure Collection to send me every color of cashmere sweaters they had in stock, I needed at least 6 matching sweaters, one for the hero Brenda look, one for Brenda's stunt double and 4 to get bloody, even then we didn't have enough. Pure came through and when I unpacked the box and saw the colors I hot footed it to JC Penney and found an American Living jersey dress, my choice a bright royal blue that went perfectly with the aqua cashmere cropped sweater.

The next surprise was the feral cat that made a guest appearance as Provenza stepped through the bushes, when I saw dailies and this little cat running though frame it was perfect and an unexpected perk and surprise.

Surprise number 4: the intense gunfire and fish tank explosion, how cool was that to truly explode on the screen before our eyes as the squad entered the old house on the west edge of downtown L.A. I'd always wondered what that house looked like on the inside, when Brenda knocked on the front door, that was a solid wood door, original to the house, amazing how heavy it was! It's always exciting to have special effects do their deal on set and again for all those drug addicts we needed 6 multiples that needed to be wired with squibs and explosives, love the explosions! And the shocking surprise of Brenda being spat on with the blood of one of the addicts!

When Brenda had Fritz bring her a new dress, I wanted it to be something that Brenda had described to Fritz, but that he might have misunderstood, so that's why i chose the pink and black floral print that I got first season and added a brand new vintage Irene jacket that is absolutely amazing in real life. The jacket has a very high collar with cross over strips of fabric that criss cross over each other, that criss cross detail is echoed in the back collar the pocket flaps and the turn back sleeves, oh that Irene, what an architect she was. The final scene of Brenda sitting at her desk in that amazing black jacket looking like the "Godfather" lording over her minions! Have you noticed that I've kept Brenda's colors a little on the dark side this season, as the stories darken so does Brenda's color story.

And the last surprise is the detail that goes into the set decoration. As I watched the episode on the big screen at lunch today, I was mesmerized by the attention to detail that Kristen Peterson gives to achieve the real look of someone's living space; case in point the apartment of Sedona, from the dirty dishes in the kitchen sink to the loaf of bread left out on the counter, to the Jungian quote on the refrigerator to the bathroom sink with the toothbrush in a cup ... I mean Surprises for days!!!!

And finally--Surprise! Brenda has a leak amongst her squad!!! I have no idea who it is and it will be a total surprise as to who the leak might be and Surprise! that's the end of this Fashion File for another week.