The Apprentice, Episode 2: Steak vs. Sizzle

Amy’s first task as Project Manager is to call Marquis to set up a meeting. She wants to talk to the president of the company to find out what sort of message they want to send, what kind of image they’re looking for. She scores an appointment at 12:30 that day and decides that only two or three people will go so that the rest of them can stay and brainstorm. Omarosa says that she wants to go, but Amy says no. She wants to take Ereka with her because Ereka is a native New Yorker, and because she thinks it would be wise to keep Ereka and Omarosa separate for the time being. Amy and Ereka take off for their meeting. In an interview, Omarosa says that she thinks Amy made a terrible decision. She left her team without a timeline or plan of action.

I have several thoughts on this subject. One, it’s interesting to know that Ereka is a native New Yorker, since she’s the one that got them lost in the city last week. Two, I think Amy did give the others direction: come up with ideas. Omarosa is just mad because Amy didn’t ask her to come along. And finally, Amy is being a strong and decisive leader. She is willing to step up and make decisions, the very thing Omarosa criticized Ereka for not doing last week. In short, Amy is doing a great job so far, and Omarosa seems to have sour grapes.

The women decide that while Amy and Ereka meet with the client, they’ll take the film crew to the airport to get started. Looks like they weren’t stuck twiddling their thumbs after all.

The men are hard at work as well. Jason asks Nick and Bill to handle the creative aspect of their plan. Troy suggests that they talk to the client. Kwame agrees, saying that you should always find out what your customer wants. Jason disagrees. He thinks talking to the client would be a waste of time. He doesn’t think the client will tell them anything that they don’t already know. Jason is so wildly wrong that it boggles the mind. He and the others on the team think they know what kind of image Marquis Jet wants to portray, but they could be wrong. Maybe they want to move away from their luxury image to position themselves as a surprisingly affordable nicety. Maybe they already have plenty of male customers and want to attract more women. Maybe they want to reposition themselves to compete with Hooters Air. It’s not likely, but you just don’t know until you talk to the client.

The team stands by Jason’s decision, since he’s the leader. Jason sends Nick, Bowie, Bill, and Kwame to do a photo shoot. The rest will stay at the agency and will work there.

Meanwhile, Amy and Ereka race to their meeting at Marquis Jet. The men they talk to tell them that they want to be wowed, and that nothing is off limits. The women are very happy with how their meeting went. Amy calls Tammy to fill her in on what they discussed.

Tammy has a plan that she’s very excited about. She says, “My idea is very risky. It [the jet] is a phallic symbol. And if you get the card… you’re gonna go way up.” Yes, that’s risky all right! She supervises a photo shoot featuring one of the women in a very short skirt sitting on the wing of a plane. Omarosa hates the concept. She thinks it’s tacky and does not convey luxury. She thinks they need to be more serious. Tammy says that she wants to mix a serious message with a funky one. She thinks it’s worth the risk.

Sam and Nick call Bill at the hangar to give him some direction. Sam starts out on a long-winded speech about Warren Buffet, the owner of the company, how he’s the second richest man in America, how he lives in… I’m sorry, I drifted off. Bill sighs impatiently and says, “Sam, I know this.” Nick shoos him away from the phone so he can talk to Bill. Sam is immediately upset, saying, “Everybody’s got a different style.” Nick just wants Sam to stay on task. The two of them argue while Bill, on the other end, holds up his phone incredulously and listens to the quarrelling. Sam is hopping mad, and in an interview says that Jason is a terrible motivator. He has the chance to be a cheerleader for them, but he just brings them all down. Meanwhile, Bill observes, “You ask Sam what time it is, he tells you how to build a clock.” Well said, Bill!

At the hangar, the men get to work. Kwame says that their campaign shows that Marquis Jet is safe, convenient, luxurious, and classy. The men are very pleased with their campaign.

Back at the agency, Omarosa is not so sure about her team’s strategy. She says, “Tammy’s testicle ad may compromise our ability to win this task.” That is fabulous – “Tammy’s testicle ad” is officially the funniest line in this episode. The photograph shows a plane shot from below and it does indeed have a very suggestive shape to it. Amy says that she thinks it’s sexy, and she loves it. She says their imagery will be consistent throughout the campaign.

Things are rougher in Versacorp land. Jason has found Sam to be his biggest problem employee, so he has assigned him only small tasks. The tasks may be small, but Sam looks stressed out and miserable. He goes across the room and curls up into a little ball. Nick notices and nudges Bowie – Sam is asleep on the floor. Jason says that if he were Sam’s boss in real life, he’d fire him for sleeping on the job. As fellow RNO writer Jason Borelli said, Sam should consider himself lucky that Jason didn’t stick his hand into a bowl of warm water.