The Apprentice 4, Episode 2: Get Out of My Dreams, Get Into My Car

Over at Capital Edge, Marshawn explains that she’s opted to work on the print campaign because they have a tight deadline. Alla, Kristi, and Jennifer M. will handle the commercial. She’s confident that Alla will do a good job. The three women head over to the editing area to work on the commercial, and Kristi is astonished that Marshawn isn’t even coming. They put their ad together as George looks on. He says it’s a bit of a hodgepodge, but the point comes across.

Alla starts thinking about the copy. She doesn’t want to use the words “I deserve it,” because, she says, a powerful man never wonders if he deserves something. It’s nice when things you learned as a stripper help you in a business setting. Jennifer suggests the phrase, “Do you need permission?” and Alla absolutely loves it. Conversation turns to their missing project manager. Alla likes that Marshawn delegates, but thinks she also needs to oversee, which she’s not doing. The three women feel a little weird approving the ad without Marshawn, but that’s what they do. Kristi is frustrated, asking, “Dammit, where is she?”

Some of the guys at Excel work on the print ad. Their tagline is “The Rebirth of Italian Intimidation.” Mark asks the designer to put “Italian” in the same typeface as Lamborghini, but he doesn’t like the way the capital I looks. The designer retypes it with a lower case I, and Mark thinks it looks much better. Carolyn arrives to watch them work, and she thinks the men are too confident. They’re in love with their ads, so they don’t see the flaws that she sees. One of the ads is a picture of a green Lamborghini with the headline “Green with Envy.” Markus wonders if it should have a question mark at the end. Mark says absolutely not – there is no question that someone else seeing that car would be green with envy. My boyfriend Josh and Chris agree with him. The ad stays as it is. I can see an argument for it both with and without the question mark, and I can’t help but wonder what would have happened if someone other than Markus had raised the question. Regardless, Mark feels great. Tempting the irony lovers once more, he says, “I am guaranteeing a victory for the men.”

On a more serious note, Randal gets dressed for his grandmother’s funeral. Josh gives him a hug goodbye. Randal says in an interview that his team was very supportive and assured him they’d be okay on the task without him. He takes the Trump helicopter home to Philadelphia and attends the services with his family. In an interview, he says it was a beautiful service. He hopes that he can now focus on the tasks and be a tribute to his grandmother.

It’s time for Capital Edge to make their presentation. The women file into the room, all dressed in black with their hair pulled back. They fan out in front of the screen, and each woman holds a mockup of the ad. They each use one word to describe Lamborghinis, pivot to show their ads, then play the commercial. We don’t get a good look at the print ads, but they look black and sleek. The commercial shows quick shots of phrases like “Can you handle it,” and Jennifer M’s “Do you need permission?” along with quick shots of the car. As they file out of the room, Trump talks on his cell phone about how he’s on his way to the advertising agency to see how the teams did. My nine-month old son has a phone very similar to Trump’s. It’s green fabric, rings when you push it, and just like Trump’s, isn’t actually connected to anyone, so he too can pretend to talk to someone.

The men of Excel are still confident they’re going to win. Man, they are so screwed. To the delight of everyone, Randal returns just in time to join the group for the presentation. Chris start the presentation with a brief speech about how excited they are. He shows the commercial (which is awesome), then shows Aaron and Linda the ads, explaining the imagery behind each one.

After they leave, Linda turns to Aaron and says, “Men say it, women feel it.” Trump arrives, and Linda says they have a clear winner. That’s interesting, because I’m really not sure who it’s going to be (except that I am, thanks to the Betsy Lesson of the Week). Trump takes a moment to welcome Randal back, then we get the results. Linda says that Excel used too many words. Aaron wonders if “Green with Envy” needs a question mark. Markus leaps in to say that he said the exact same thing. Shut up, Markus! Trump asks, “So, you’re fighting your team before you know if you’ve won or lost?” Linda and Aaron also don’t like the lowercase I in Italian. Trump asks if they’ve got something against Italians, and Mark explains why he thought it looked better. It doesn’t matter, though – Linda says that the women were just more exciting. Capital Edge wins.

The women all cheer. Trump asks if project manager Marshawn should be exempt. Several women, including Alla, who was critical of her before, say yes. Only Kristi hesitates, and Trump asks why. Kristi says that Marshawn never quite “got her feet wet.” She’s outvoted, though, so Marshawn is exempt next week. She looks fairly disinterested in this news. Trump announces the reward – they’ll play hockey with the New York Islanders.

The women gear up for the game. Kristi admits that she doesn’t know anything about hockey. Rebecca falls and hurts her ankle. One of the players takes her to ice it. Toral comes to check on her and learns that the trainer recommended she see a doctor. Rebecca is touched when Toral offers to go with her. They both watch in horror and fascination as Rebecca’s ankle swells. Ouch. But what is it with ankles tonight? Between this and Amy’s hurt ankle on Survivor, I’m going to be walking carefully tomorrow.

In the suite, my boyfriend Josh asks Chris who he’s taking back to the boardroom. Surprise, surprise – it’s Markus. The two agree that he is out of his league.

Markus tells Toral that he’s not exempt, and this would be much easier if he were. He says he begged them to listen to him about the ads. He feels like he’s not part of the fraternity, which is fine with him, since he’s not there to throw high fives and talk about who used to play football. He says in an interview that Aaron “didn’t like what he tasted,” and “I’m not the cook.” He says he’s looking forward to “the dance.”

Trump arrives in the Boardroom in a tuxedo, saying that he prefers ballrooms to boardrooms, and that’s where he’s headed next. This seems as good a place as any to mention that Trump and his wife Melania are expecting a baby. Congratulations to the parents to be, and may the baby love gold things.

Chris says that they lost the task because of distractions. George breaks in and says that’s not the case; they were too confident. Well said, George. Markus, of course, agrees. I keep waiting for him to channel Season 1’s Tammy and say, “I think we were duped.” Chris says that the campaign was a collective effort. Mark admits that the lower case I was his decision and that it was a bad one. He also says that not punctuating Green with Envy was his idea.

Carolyn criticizes their presentation, saying that they explained things too much. Chris says that he wanted to show them the subtleties in the ads. Carolyn isn’t buying it and says it was boring.