The Apprentice: Los Angeles, Episode 9 – Soap Gets in Your Eyes

Trump arrives. James says he thinks they hit the message. Kristine says that Heidi was a great cliffhanger. Both true. The executives like Arrow’s easy to follow message and brand integration. But, the ending wasn’t very dramatic. Kinetic had a great cliffhanger, but they couldn’t follow the story or the dialogue. Sounds like a slam dunk for Arrow. Trump is surprised. Trump tells us that Ivanka will be back (finally!) and will sit in the Boardroom with James. For the reward, Arrow will fly to Sacramento to meet Governor Schwartzenegger. Trump says that the governor knows a lot about leadership. Frank is absolutely giddy with excitement.

Kinetic sorrowfully moves out of the mansion. Heidi says that moving back and forth is a pain, and she hates to lose. Kinetic complains about the gross state of the camp, including dirty pans. Heidi shrugs that it’ll give them something to do.

Meanwhile, Arrow gets on a private jet to Sacramento. James says that, as a fellow immigrant, he can relate to Schwartzenegger and admires his success. They meet in the governor’s office, where they’re served tea. James asks Schwartzenegger how, as an immigrant, he got past his hardships. The governator says that people gave him a hard time about his name and accent, but he never listened to “it can’t be done.” He talks about the many opportunities in America, so long as you’re hungry and willing to go through pain to get there. He relates it to a scene in Conan that was difficult to film. He says pain is temporary, but that scene will be on film forever. This inspires Nicole to keep working hard to meet her goal.

Muna says she doesn’t know what else she could have done. Heidi tells her it’s between her and Kristine. She thinks it was a mistake for Kristine to go to the store, but Muna made mistakes as well. She says she’s neutral, but will be honest and fair, and try to keep her mouth shut. There’s a great shot of Muna reading the Bible and Kristine reading a Trump book. Muna vows to fight as hard as she can. She says that reading the book would give her the guidance she needs. Fine, but Kristine then goes on to say that Muna’s choice to read the Bible was a mistake because “God is not the one in there making decisions. Mr. Trump is the one in there making decisions.” Wow. Way to completely not understand someone else’s faith.

Trump asks if the executives saw “any stars.” They don’t really know, but think that the person behind the camera should have made better decisions. That’s a big mark against Kristine. The candidates arrive, and it’s nice to see Ivanka again.

Trump says it’s going to be a tough Boardroom for him, because he likes all of them. Kristine says they had a good idea, but that the result was hard to understand. Kristine tells Ivanka that she’d wanted to act, but she let Muna do it. Ivanka says Muna was not articulate. Muna says it didn’t come through well. Kristine says that she asked Muna to handle the details, but that she was not comfortable. Ivanka asks Muna why. Muna says she “simply stated a preference” because she likes making presentations. Kristine counters that Muna made it clear that what she really wanted to do was act. Kristine says she had to deal with a difficult employee, and that she wanted to keep her happy. Ivanka clarifies – Kristine thought Muna was so potentially disruptive that Kristine was willing to take a backseat. She put herself in a position she couldn’t control. Kristine says that they had a limited amount of time, so she thought it was in the best interests of the team. Trump can’t imagine how that could be the case.

Ivanka points out that the executives didn’t meet Kristine and that the lack of product integration must have been her fault. Kristine says that the scene that best showed the product had to be cut. Heidi concurs, saying it was hard to understand the dialogue in that part. Ivanka thinks that someone should have told Muna that it was an issue. James asked if they rewound along the way to see how it was going. Muna says Kristine could have done that. She can’t believe she was disruptive and calls herself “a lamb.” At first, I thought she was calling herself a lamp, so that at least makes more sense. Trump says she’s not a lamb, but a strong woman. Muna agrees that she is very focused and driven.

Muna would fire Kristine, of course. Angela hesitates to answer. She finally says that they are equally responsible. Muna is amazed. Ivanka asks who is generally stronger. Angela hesitates again, but says she’d prefer Kristine. Muna can’t believe it. Heidi says that both are “great workers.” Trump calls Heidi his “former superstar.” He asks her, based on past tasks, who did the best. Did Angela do okay? Heidi says that Angela was behind the scenes and did very well. Muna asks who Heidi would want on her team. Heidi doesn’t want to answer. Trump points out that it’s either very smart or stupid of Muna to ask the question. He explains this fairly simple concept to us about a zillion times. Shut up, already, Trump, so that Heidi can answer the question. Muna says she respects Heidi’s opinion, then puts her on the spot again. Heidi says that she respects all of them, but “based on life experience,” she’d choose Kristine.

Trump says that Muna is a risk-taker for asking that question. He repeats again that the risk could have – and did – backfire on her. Muna says that Heidi had repeatedly told her that she’d choose her. Heidi defends herself, saying that Kristine is not a weaker player. Now all of a sudden, Heidi is on the spot. Will Trump capriciously fire Heidi? I guess not, because he fires Muna.

Trump says that although he liked Muna, her question backfired on her. Muna says goodbye. Heidi says she hated the pressure of having to choose between them. She says it was the hardest thing she’s ever had to do in her life. If that’s true, Heidi has had one easy life.

Muna says she appreciated the opportunity she got. She was surprised that everyone ganged up on her. “What goes around comes around, she says.”

This is a week in which a double firing would have been completely justified. Muna did a terrible job of presenting herself. She truly is a distraction at times, with her sometimes overly detailed focus. It is okay to have an accent, but it is not okay to rush and mutter your way through a commercial. But Kristine should have known that Muna wouldn’t have been a good choice as an actress. She should have insisted on using all of her resources to their fullest. She also should have let Angela handle the all-important lipstick task on her own so she could be there to direct the shoot.

In general, I didn’t like this task. Trump isn’t hiring soap opera writers, directors, or actors. He isn’t hiring advertising executives. But those are the skills that were tested in this task. The end result was not especially useful.

Next week, the teams will be reorganized. Can Nicole and Tim handle being apart?

Betsy Wasser is the Associate Editor of Reality News Online. She can be reached with comments at betsywasser@gmail.com

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