Episode Report Card Miss Alli: B | 1 USERS: A+ YOU GRADE IT Ad nauseam
By Miss Alli | Season 1 | Episode 2 | Aired on 01.14.2004
When we return from commercials, the show is still set in Manhattan, judging by the establishing shots. A flock of birds takes flight, heading for the copious nesting material available on top of Trump's head. In S4, Jason is playing basketball -- they seem to have an indoor hoop -- and Sam is asking him to give him "something [he] can really use" before they go into the Boardroom. Sam interviews that he's scared "to think that Donald Trump could just get a gut feeling and say Sammy's gotta go." Troy, meanwhile, is running on the treadmill, and comments that they need a new rule that there's no talking on the basketball court. Heh. Troy interviews that he's actually worried about the toll this is all taking on Sam and the fact that he seems so hyped up all the time. "I'm a little bit worried about the guy," he chuckles. Sam goes and lies down on his bed, and Troy follows him into what I guess is their shared bedroom. "Sam the man," Troy says, "you need to relax." He gets Sam to sit on his bed so that he and Troy are facing each other. He has Sam close his eyes. He has Sam imagine himself in the city, and then erase it. And then -- hysterically -- Troy plunks a cowboy hat on Sam's head and tells him to imagine himself as a country boy. Hee. That is a strange image. He tells Sam to imagine fishing, kicking back, the mountains...ahhhh. And then he tells him, "Be the country kid. Be the hat." HA! Okay, they didn't know I was going to recap it when they shot this, and none of these people has ever heard of me, but still -- "be the hat"? Shout-out! Wooo! Troy pats Sam on the leg and leaves. I love things like that that are completely randomly funny. "Be the hat." Who says things like that? I mean, besides me, when I inevitably use it later. A wailing harmonica is skillfully added by the funny music guys as we close this scene.
In an interview, Jason pulls no punches, explaining that the team wouldn't really feel the loss very much if Sam got fired. He also says that other than Sam, he can't think of who he would bring to the Boardroom. In other words, he badly, painfully, totally is dying to get rid of Sam. Oh, and just for me, they throw in a shot of Troy in the shower as the guys are getting ready to go. That's what I get for leaving a briefcase full of twenties at the production offices. Also, Bill shaving. Hey, more shirtless Troy! And when Troy gets back to the room after his shower, Sam is still sitting on the bed with his eyes closed, dutifully being the hat. Kwame, meanwhile, interviews that he thinks Jason's decision not to meet with the client was very costly for the team. Bill says that it was a very bad idea -- "shameful, actually" -- not to meet with the client, and says that he expects that Donald will Trump-thump them for it. Okay, Troy is the conventionally best-looking, I think, but Bill, for some reason, is my boyfriend. I couldn't tell you why, exactly. Maybe it's all that work with cigars. Perhaps Tammy has a point about the...you know, symbolism.