In the suite post-Boardroom, everyone seems pretty sure that Nadia Comaneci's going to be fired. We already know they're right, of course. Piers Morgan calls out Jennie Finch for throwing her childhood hero under the bus. Meanwhile, out in the hallway, Boardroom survivors Carol Alt and Nely Galan are busy trying to pull themselves together before re-entering the suite, but Nely is still crying, so the five remaining women sequester themselves and assure each other that they're just one victory away from bringing down the men's team like a house of cards. It would be nice to believe there's a chance of that happening, but the fact that it's Omarosa saying it makes it a little hard to buy.
Fortunately, Trump has a plan. After the ads and credits, Trump and Ivanka and Jim Cramer from Mad Money on CNBC meet the remaining dozen Apprenti by the river. Trump gives Gene Simmons, last week's winning PM, a twenty-thousand-dollar check for his charity, the Elisabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation. So what's Trump's plan? He suggests Gene go over to Empresario and be their PM for the task. After thinking about it, Gene says, "Yes!" and darts over. He interviews that he's become "the king of all women." Trump says, "I must tell you that's has become a very, very interesting team." "And I must tell you you're the devil," Gene shoots back. That's not something you take lightly, coming from Gene Simmons.
Trump introduces the other two people with him as executives from Kodak, and they're there to explain the task. The teams are supposed to "create a Kodak mobile printing experience." Basically it's an Airstream trailer full of Kodak equipment and a photo printer, which they're supposed to pimp out brand-wise and then turn out onto a New York sidewalk.
In the Empresario limo, Gene asserts himself as a "benevolent dictator." Again, he's sitting out the corporate presentation, since it's all "in the box" and they're going to want outside the box. "I am Mr. Outside The Box," he boasts, smirking at us so we know he's not really serious. At least, not more than 60% serious. Back in the limo, Gene riffs on the idea of "It's a Kodak world." And he calls the competition "checkmate in one move." He's right, but not in the way he thinks.
Hydra, meanwhile, has picked Tito Ortiz as the PM for this one. The whole team goes to meet the Kodak people. And the Kodak execs actually get my attention when they say that this particular new thing is "affordable ink." They show us a short stack of the paper you can print with the competitors' ink, and then a much taller stack representing what you can print with Kodak's. Even the celebrities are impressed, because ounce for ounce, can you think of a liquid more expensive than ink from a printer cartridge? A gallon of the stuff would probably run you six figures. Seriously, we put our printer in storage last year and as a result we were able to afford an addition on our home.
On the Empresario side, Gene once again has no time to actually listen to what the client has to say, so he's just sent Nely and Carol to meet with Kodak. The Kodak folks are trying to explain the deal to them, and Nely keeps interrupting with questions like, "You guys make printers?" When she and Carol return to the team with their report, Nely's explanation is heavy on buzzwords like "experience" and "affordable" and "bringing printing home." "They're wrong," Gene interrupts. He insist that he knows better than Kodak does what Kodak needs. It's a Gene Simmons world; Kodak just lives in it.
Ivanka sits in on Hydra's planning meeting, which Stephen Baldwin has taken over. I'll let Piers take this one: "Stephen, unfortunately, by the time he's had 36 pints of Red Bull, is running around the room, basically some form of demented rhino with a spear in its back." Ha! Piers talks about the ink thing being Kodak's "knockout punch" in the printing wars, or whatever, so how convenient that they have Lennox Lewis and Tito Ortiz on their team. Stephen finally refines that into a tag line: "Kodak presents the ink revolution that's going to knock you out." Okay, so maybe "refine" isn't the right word.
Gene is literally micromanaging the application of the words "Kodak World" on the side of Empresario's trailer, while Nely talks about how Gene is more of a chairman-type who made her his CEO. Gene of course defines all this in his increasingly tiresome military terms. Omarosa interviews that Gene will make them do all the work, and take all the credit, but she doesn't care as long as they win. And as long as Gene flirts with her as much as he does with everyone else.
Trace Adkins, Vincent Pastore, and Lennox take charge of renovating their trailer's interior, and then head back to the Hydra war room in evening twilight to see how the graphic design is going. For the photo shoot, Stephen gets Tito and Lennox to lie on the table with their shirts off and boxing gloves on and their heads leaning against the printer, because they've been "knocked out" by the ink revolution whatever. Actually, they look like they just fell asleep waiting for their pie charts to come out. They finish up, and then when Stephen and the fighters roll off the table, all at the same time, the whole thing nearly tips over. Nobody is hurt, but they've spilled a cup of coffee all over the one laptop that has all their work on it. Morons.
When we come back, Hydra is standing around staring at a dead gray laptop screen. After several minutes of recriminations and finger-pointing, Piers comes up with a Plan B: looks like they're going to Kinko's. Who didn't pony up for the product placement like Kodak did, so I'm only guessing that's the name of the store with the invisible sign that Stephen, Vincent, and their unnamed female assistant go to with their overnight rush job.
In the Empresario van the morning, Gene and Omarosa are going back and forth between the product name. Is it EasyShare or All-in-One? Omarosa worries that Gene doesn't know enough about the product to effectively sell it. Jeez, lady, he just wrote the name of it on his hand to remember. What more commitment do you want?
Once they get the trailer set up at the location, with boxed printers all around it on the sidewalk, Gene interviews about how he put all the hot women to work doing the selling, since God gave them beauty and all. "Think of it as doing God's work," Gene interviews. God's like, "You've been calling My creation a Kodak world all day. I'm out." While they're working the passersby, Jim Cramer shows up to check on them. Gene explains his "Kodak World" concept to Cramer and interviews that Cramer was so impressed he didn't even bother to give any advice. That's one interpretation.
Meanwhile, Hydra is struggling to get their Kinko's-printed banners pasted up inside and outside their trailer. Piers is still pissed, calling it amateur hour (and he would know), but everyone says they've done their best. When Cramer comes to check their project out, Trace stops him on the way and assures him that Kodak stock will be "through the roof." This during a shot of one of their banners hanging loosely off the side of the trailer. Cramer approves of Hydra's messaging and emphasis on the ink angle, but not their presentation. And yes, it's not too cool that the street side of the trailer has no signage on it whatsoever, but it's not especially kind of Cramer to say at considerable length that it looks like a Dumpster. Did Airstream pay for product placement too? Because if they did, Cramer owes them a refund.
The Kodak execs come to visit the Hydra site, and Gene again goes off about "Kodak World" while Omarosa goes off (skeptically) in an interview about "the magic that is Gene Simmons." They even get the Kodak execs to pose with the life-sized cutouts of the Empresario team that they printed as a demo.
Hydra, despite the rinky-dink vibe they're putting off, is actually moving some printers. And who should show up but Alec Baldwin. "My brother's a celebrity," Stephen Johnny Dramas. We then see Stephen giving big bro a sidewalk pitch, and Alec returns the compliment: "Well, there's no one more full of crap than Stephen." But he ends up buying some printers for a thousand each. "It showed everyone what a real Baldwin is," Piers interviews. Yeeouch! I felt that all the way over here.
The Kodak execs visit, and Piers gives them the hard sell on their concept. Even Piers thinks they've made the best of things.
After it's all over, the Kodak execs meet with Trump and talk about Hydra's sloppy presentation versus the slick look of Empresario. But which team won?
So it's off to the board room, where Trump's first question is to Gene: "How did you feel leading the women?" "Exhilarated," Gene slimes, and claims an instant connection. Omarosa brings up the "benevolent dictator" thing, as the guys of Hydra chuckle knowingly. Trump again calls Gene on skipping the meeting with the client. Gene blathers about his strengths, and says that any Kodak exec should say to him, "I give up; you're the cream of the crop." Trump chuckles a bit; he's still getting used to not always being the most arrogant person in the room. Trump then turns to Tito to ask him about the sloppiness of Hydra's presentation. Did you recall that Tito was the PM on this one? Me either, since we saw him doing almost no actual M-ing. Tito explains about the coffee vs. laptop incident and says they did their best dealing with the setback. Trump turns it over to Cramer, who says that Empresario had the better presentation, but Hydra wins because they had the stronger message and also raised more money. So that's a $20,000 prize for Tito's charity, St. Jude's Children's Hospital. Congratulations, Cancer Boy!
Hydra returns to the suite, gloating about their 3-0 record and Empresario's total airball message-wise. They tune into the boardroom to watch Trump beat up on Empresario.
Gene maintains that they couldn't have done any better, and says that Kodak is wrong. Trump turns to Omarosa, who blames Gene for not meeting with the execs and not getting a clear vision. Ivanka tells them that the execs felt nobody on Empresario was listening to them. Gene again insists that the client is wrong. And Ivanka figures Gene out on the spot: "I think part of the reason you're so successful is that you have a stick-to-itiveness. You came up with an idea, it really worked, you promoted yourself in an incredible way. But in this case you're standing behind a concept that didn't work." Gene certainly is. Watch him do it some more right now, as a matter of fact.
In the suite, Hydra thinks that Gene is about to be fired. Back in the Boardroom, Trump calls Nely out for all the talking she did in the meeting with Kodak, and how much it annoyed the execs. Nely turns to Carol for backup, but Carol isn't providing any. She doesn't specifically try to throw the blame on Nely, even though she knows Nely is the one who blew the meeting. Gene again insists that they won, all evidence to the contrary, and Omarosa steps in to point out that Gene doesn't even know the name of the product. Gene points to the ink on his hand and still gets it wrong. Trump asks Carol who she would fire. After pausing, Carol says it would be between herself and Nely. Gene says that Carol's wrong on both counts, but Trump is impressed with Carol's bravery. When Trump asks Jennie the same question, she names Gene. So does Omarosa. So does Marilu Henner. But Nely blames Jennie, which blows everyone else away. Nely spouts some nonsense about Jennie not having leadership chops, not that Jennie has been asked or expected to show any at any time (which Jennie correctly points out). Trump says that with her skills and experience, Nely really should have won the last two events. Finally, he asks Gene which two people he's bringing back. Gene only wants to bring back one: Omarosa. I'm sure he's got some Art of War bullshit reason for that which he isn't sharing with us. Trump hates that idea, because Gene is not only screwing himself, he's going to force Trump to fire two of the most interesting characters on the show. In the suite, Hydra notices that Trump keeps bashing Nely, and Stephen goes so far as to speculate that Gene might actually end up being safe if he brings Nely back. Trump finally insists that Gene give him a second name, and we go to black on Gene's reluctant expression.
Coming back, they replay Trump's advice to bring back Nely. But Gene names Jennie. Cramer: [Facepalm.] Empresario leaves, as Hydra giggles that Gene has just committed suicide. Back in the Boardroom, Trump and his viceroys agree. "Frankly, it's insolence to you, Mr. Trump," Cramer toadies. And there went all the goodwill I ever had towards him for appearing on Arrested Development.
Out in the lobby, Omarosa is telling Gene and Jennie how much this pisses her off. "You're hardly the victim," Gene scoffs at her. Trump calls them back in, and Gene has Omarosa loop her arm through his as they walk in. Trump's impressed by this for some reason. Once the three are all seated again, Trump asks Omarosa what she thinks of Gene's choices. Naturally Omarosa thinks bringing Omarosa in was totally inappropriate, but Gene's choice of Jennie isn't so bad. Trump literally asks Gene, "What am I gonna do?" He bemoans Gene's independence and asks, "Why did you bring back two people that I can't fire?" Well, I suspect it's because Gene would rather go down in flames than admit defeat. And indeed, that's what happens. Gene is fired. "I respect your decision," Gene says. He's all courtly and chivalrous as he accompanies the ladies out of the Boardroom, and wishes them all the best as he boards the elevator. "Down, Jeeves," he tells the operator.
Back in the Boardroom, Trump says that Gene's a tough guy. Cramer and Ivanka are both still blown away. "We had no choice," Trump sighs, already bemoaning the lost viewers who were only tuning in every week to watch The Demon make a vainglorious ass of himself.
As Omarosa and Jennie return to the suite, Omarosa realizes, "God, he wants to fire Nely." That's the kind of laser-sharp analysis that's made Omarosa what she is today.
In the limo, Gene still maintains that he's more qualified, and he still thinks he won. As for which team will be the final winner? "In their present form, the women don't have a popcorn fart chance of even shining the guys' shoes." See? What a gentleman.