Episode Report Card Miss Alli: B- | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT The [Pepsi] Edge of Reason
By Miss Alli | Season 2 | Episode 12 | Aired on 11.24.2004
Trump forces the issue by asking whether Sandy did anything, surprised to hear Andy basically claiming that Jen did everything. Andy gives Sandy credit for the label only, in spite of the fact that -- as we saw -- she developed the specifics of the game, which was just about the only thing I liked about their entire campaign.
When did I start wanting to defend Sandy? Cripes.
Trump tells Andy everybody's coming back to the final table, so everybody should shut up and wait outside. As they all pace, Trump asks George what he thought, and George says he "liked the way Sandy defended herself." George says Andy has to be considered, since he "wasn't strong enough to have a winning concept." Carolyn says she's very curious about the fact that every PM they get in here winds up defending Jen, whether or not it's in their own interests to do so. "Maybe she's smart," Trump says. "Maybe she's smart," Carolyn agrees, "but let's try to figure that one out."
Out in the lobby, Sandy rips into Andy and Jen for telling the fib that she didn't do anything. Andy stammers that all he did was answer who was more creative, which is not true. Asked what Sandy did, he credited her only for the label, which was bullshit, and he's not going to get out from under that comment. Even worse, he specifically claimed she took credit for other people's work by claiming to have worked on the game, which? Also not true. Trump ultimately gets Robin to send them all back in, and really, it's none too soon, because the lobby fight is not my favorite thing.
Take note of the fact that on the way back into the Boardroom, Jen is arranging her hair. Not just brushing it out of her eyes or anything, but rearranging the hair that's lying on her shoulder, so that just the right amount is in front of her and just the right amount is behind her. Yeah. You know the girl you thought she might be when she put the lip gloss on? She totally is. When they're back in the Boardroom, Trump asks her why she's always "sliding by." "How am I sliding by?" she asks rudely, in a tone that would be reprimanded -- and has been -- in male contestants in the past, but is allowed for Jen, for the same reason many things are allowed for Jen, which is, I suspect, her looks. Sad, but really, way of the world, especially with a guy like Trump. "Each week you slide by," Trump responds. "You mean I'm staying out of your final boardroom?" she asks. HA! Yeah. That's awesome, because that is so not what "sliding by" means. It means "you are still here, even though by all accounts, you DO NOT DO DICK." The idea that it means not going to the final table is something Jen raises unconsciously, in my opinion, because that's her strategy. Her strategy is centered around politicking with the PMs to avoid the final table, so when Trump asks her how she slides by, she thinks, "Oh, like how I avoid the final table?" Anyway, Trump, interested in this bit that she has volunteered, just says, "Maybe." Unsurprisingly, she claims that the sliding by happens because she's so awesome that PMs just never want to take her. Andy, enjoying his stroll through the Enchanted Forest of Jen, nods and says, "I agree with that," like he needs to hand Jen any more of his allotment of testicles than she's already holding.
Trump asks Sandy who did the worst job, and Sandy says it was Jen, for "going under the radar." "You know I've worked hard with you, Sandy," Jen says in her disapproving tone. Sandy's like, "Yeah, bitch, that's why I'm not crazy about you getting here and saying I don't do anything." Only it takes her longer than that to say it. Jen cranks up her routine a few more notches, ultimately saying, "I didn't see any contribution out of you." As Jen and Andy scowl, Sandy points out that she was in charge of the label, which Pepsi liked, and the game, which Pepsi liked. What Pepsi didn't like was the bottle, and who was in charge of the bottle? Oh, that's right. That was Jen. Jen asks the totally irrelevant and weird question of why Sandy has never said anything before about Jen flying under the radar. Uh, because...why would she? Sandy responds by asking Jen why she thinks her team made the decision to get rid of her (Sandy, that is). Jen comes back by saying that Andy tattled to her that Ivana wanted her (Jen, that is) gone, which...why would that shed light on what Sandy asked? Putting Jen on the other team wouldn't be a good way of getting her fired. It would be far better to keep her on the team and gang up on her, so Ivana trying to get Jen fired doesn't seem to be the reason she was kicked off her own team. What Sandy takes away from this, entirely correctly, is that Jen and Andy coordinated their attack on her ahead of time, which Andy falsely states is "not true." Sandy asks why Andy, if he just intended to tell the truth in the Boardroom and had nothing to hide, didn't tell her what his plan was. "Because I wanted to tell Jen that she was stronger!" Andy says, looking perhaps as stupid as he has at any time in the entire show. "So she can come in here and back you up, Andy?" Sandy says, and she's...right again.