The Apprentice "A Tale of Two Leaders" & "Bringing Down the House"
But it's one big room. Who wouldn't want one big room? (Oh, and my missing commentary from last week.)
Last week, I watched The Apprentice from my sister's house, and never really got around to posting my comments (which weren't particularly lengthy anyway), so I'll combine them with this week's.
A Tale of Two Leaders
This episode exactly mirrors the first season episode with Donny Deutsch in terms of the task.
All the talk about this episode has to do with leadership, but more than leadership, I think this episode was about decision making under pressure. Pressure has the ability to cloud your ability to think. The "fight or flight" response takes over and you feel like you have to make a choice now and act on it. It's only through an act of will that clear and intelligent decisions can be made in these situations.
Andy simply has a different ability to handle pressure than Elizabeth. Both were under the same pressure - two people who were out of favor made PM of a fairly large and complex task - yet the execution and results are worlds apart.
The first pressure was that both teams had only a few hours to come up with an idea and begin shooting. Elizabeth - in traditional Apex style - held a brainstorming meeting, and let the ideas fly. Unlike previous Apex brainstorming meetings, the men on the team steamrolled her and pushed for an idea that was the antithesis of what Donny Deutch told them was what he wanted.
In complete contrast, Andy held a meeting, but was absorbed in his own thoughts the whole time. Elizabeth accused him of wasting time by stating the obvious, but mentally he was examining the problem, turning it around and approaching it from different angles, getting comfortable with it. He didn't want to jump ahead to any conclusions until he'd digested the problem.
Both teams had only a few hours to come up with and develop an idea for shooting. Elizabeth, under pressure to make a decision, went with any decision that was put forth and advocated. Andy took extra time to come up with the idea and storyboard it. He actually showed up late to shooting, but managed to get all the shots he needed.
The American Management Association feels that this episode is about How to Lead with Passion.
Bringing Down the House
Last season they renovated apartments and sold them, this time they renovated houses and had them appraised.
The Kitchen and Bathroom are the rooms that add the most value to the house. All the other rooms are just floors, walls, ceiling, doors and windows. Raj just gave a facelift to his kitchen (and not a good one, I might add), while Sandy really renovated it, replacig appliances, counter space, etc. In the extended footage they said she completely gutted the kitchen and built a new one.
Both teams added a bathroom on the second floor (or attempted to). I have to wonder if that was just the obvious thing to do both times, if it was recommended to both of them, or if one team learned what the other was doing.
There was a lot of talk this week about a Business Gut, Pamela's favorite topic. Bradford mentioned it in the boardroom, and Raj himself said he had a bad feeling about the contractor, but went with Kevin's choice. Trump said that it's important to trust your instincts.
In a situation like this, where you don't directly control the action, and you have to depend on a contractor, choosing the right contractor is critically important, and letting them know that if the work doesn't get done, they won't get paid, or the pay they'll get will be affected by the work they do, creating something a bit more protective than the contract they may want you to sign (or agreement they may want you to handshake - get things down on paper).
I don't know if it was luck that saved Sandy, but having a second contractor was really a great boost for them. It makes me wonder how much money either team spent. Sandy bought more appliances and cabinets than Raj, and hired a second contractor. The margins they got weren't that big. I think Sandy's property increased by around $40k, which was twice their budget. It would make sense to me that you would want to spend every last penny to improve the place, especially by buying new appliances and better fixtures, etc.
In the cab confessional Raj said something about how the "game, or job inteview's object is to read Mr. Trump and take into the boardroom the people he wants you to." I think that was a pretty concise summary of this game.
Especially in light of the election, you think of this show in terms of people working together during the task, but launching venimous attack campaigns at each other in the boardroom.
Raj should have brought Chris in to the boardroom, it's clear Trump would have fired him for his outburst (how dare he!).
I thought it was funny that the only way Trump could fire Raj was to dress better than him.
Andy vs. Jenn M.
It's midway through the season and only half the original cast is left. It's time to start picking favorites. I backed Jennifer M. early on (then again I liked John in the first episode), but now it seems Andy consistently sticks his neck out and comes up with good ideas.
Andy's Track Record:
Episode 1. Crustacean Nation.
Episode 2. Donate a portion of the proceeds to charity.
Episode 3. Make it a contest.
Episode 7. Contest again, lost the cell phone.
Episode 8. "When was the last time you..."
Episode 9. Hired a new contractor.
Jenn M's Track Record:
Episode 5: It Just Works
Episode 7: Dog Washing Victory
Episode 8: Tried to overthrow Elizabeth
Jenn M was cast in a really poor light this episode. At the beginning (in the extended footage), she didn't want to be in the running for Project Manager. She said that everyone knew everyone and they should be choosing a PM rather than using a random lottery, but Kevin felt that she was trying to fly under the radar so she wouldn't get fired. Before the boardroom, she went around to everyone securing her position. She felt everyone would turn against her, and she managed to get Raj to choose Kevin and Ivana for the boardroom. In Raj's confessional, he said if he chose Chris and Jenn instead he'd probably still be in the game.
Both Jenn M. and Kelly are content to stay in the background (or at least it looks like that from what we see), but I still think they might be the last two standing. If I remember correctly, Bill was also content to lay low during the middle and only turned on the gas towards the end.
Ivana is living on borrowed time, and Chris is this season's Heidi in terms of decorum and class, and we know Trump loves class. Jennifer M, Kevin, Kelly and Andy are all strong players. Maria has her strengths, but I just don't see her going all the way to the end. Sandy has done a great job on all the design oriented tasks, but doesn't strike me as a leader. Wes... Wes stays in the background a lot, he's a big question mark right now.
page first created on Friday, November 05, 2004
© Mark Wieczorek