Previously: The women lost at pitching a Broadway play, thanks to the men's team's David? Stephanie and Mahsa both freaked out about the project manager Liza, but Mahsa pushed too hard to throw everyone under the bus, and even the men came back in to help get her fired. Oh, and Stephanie lied to Trump. Now that Mahsa's gone, Clint says he and Mahsa never had a cross word, so he doesn't get why she'd do that to him. Everyone else says she was desperate. Brandy's proud to be the one who took Mahsa down. Anand goes all Trump on the ladies in the suite, and asks who did the graphic design. Stephanie lies (again) that no one did that, so he asks who went to the printer. He tells Stephanie to take some responsibility, since she's the one who messed up everything on this task, and then she lied to Trump, and she's really classless. She tells him to shut the fuck up; she has class, and she didn't lie. I love that she's being classless and lying while she says that. The irony is not exactly subtle on The Apprentice. Stephanie screams at Anand some more, and she interviews about him: She hates him, and wouldn't want to work with someone like that. Hey, everyone, remember that the teams are changing this week? That should be fun. We get the full "Money, money, money" credits this week.
Steuart meets with Larry Young, CEO of Snapple, at Snapple Theatre. Which is Snapple great for Snapple Steuart because he wants to be in distribution. Snapple. Larry spouts Snapple platitudes, and then it's Snapple over. Phew. Glad to be done product placing. Trump joins the lined-up teams on the street in front of Macy's, and tells them it's time to switch it up. He puts Brandy and Liza with Steuart and Clint, leaving Anand and David with Stephanie and Poppy. Stephanie, wearing a man's suit later, says she's not going to break; she's going to break Anand. With Trump and two of his Trumplets is Terry Lundgren, president and chairman of Macy's. Trump talks about his Trump suits and ties, Donald J. Trump Signature Collection, for which the teams will be doing a four-page advertisement. Terry will judge on creativity, brand integration, and the overall presentation. Trump's advisers this week are Eric and Don. David and Brandy step up as project managers. Trump reminds them this is very personal for him, because it has to do with him. So they better impress him.
Team Fortitude (that's the Poppy, Stephanie, Anand, David team) sits and discusses. David puts Poppy and Anand in charge of the models. Then they all quickly come up with a concept: They'll have a black and white bar scene, with only Trump's shirts, ties, and cuff links in color. David says that will take the focus off the good-looking people in the ad and put it on the clothes. Team Octane is also figuring stuff out. Clint thinks that this should speak to power, sex, and wealth because those are the three things Trump is all about. Liza thinks maybe they should do a guy's day in the suit, but Brandy was thinking the morning-after scene, with the woman wearing the men's shirt. Clint loves it, but Liza looks a little shocked. Clint even wants the words "power," "sex" and "wealth," but Liza doesn't think sex is really part of the Donald J. Trump image.
Clint and Liza head out to run some errands for the task, while Steuart and Brandy head to Trump Soho to find the models. Since they haven't shown up, though, Brandy tells Steuart that they are going to have to be in the shoot. Because he is totally in love with himself, he's happy to do it. Clint thinks that, while this probably makes Steuart happy, it could come back to bite them. At Fortitude, they have a lineup of models ready to come in, but David falls in love with the first one, telling him how much he loves him, how he can imagine pulling his hair to the side, and that he's the face of this campaign. Anand thinks someone's got himself a mancrush.
Eric shows up to check on Octane. He's glad to see Brandy took the initiative to put themselves in the ad when the models didn't show up, but he thinks it's a risk to spend this much time in hair and makeup when an ad has to be made. He also thinks their concept is a little risky, so they have to be careful not to go too far. Back at Fortitude, David's boyfriend is photographed, and she and Stephanie are both in love with him. David squees: "God, he's good, though, isn't he?" Poppy thinks the model's neck is too small since the shirt doesn't fit him. David doesn't care, though, because he might go gay for this model. He actually says that if he didn't have all these kids, that's what he'd do. His poor ex-wife.
Octane. Brandy and Steuart are shooting their ad. Brandy swears she's really conservative -- she didn't even shave her legs! And is wearing granny panties! -- so it's hard for her to try to make sultry faces at Steuart. Fortitude. Anand and Poppy went to Trump bar to shoot photos that can integrate the Trump brand into their shoot. When they come back without food, David is clearly annoyed. He swears this is the only thing he asked them to do. Don shows up, and can't believe it's past 5 p.m. and the models haven't had lunch yet. David yells at Poppy and Anand about the food while Don's there, and then the food shows up. Anand asks David what they should do now, and he says, "I want you to entertain the models." Don watches as David treats Poppy and Anand like children, telling them where to stand, who to talk to, when to jump, and how high.
Octane's looking through their photos, which Liza thinks went too far, but no one else seems to. Fortitude's choosing theirs too. They're making the fourth page in the shape of a T, to get more Trump branding in there. As they're looking at the bar scene, Anand offers input and advice, so David tells him to go away. He interviews later that he was "enjoying the pictures for the first time." He is such a baby. He swears to the lady helping them with photos that he hates that fucking sack of shit. She looks very uncomfortable. Anand thinks it's time for David to go. He says Trump's not in the habit of rehabbing lost causes, which is what David is.
Octane prepares their presentation in a conference room. Clint explains how important this presentation is, since it's Trump's baby. Now it's presentation time. Brandy speaks, since she had been singled out by Trump as a good speaker in the first. But she says she was nervous this time, and could hear her voice shaking. She does stumble a few times as she shows them their sexy ad, which includes the bedroom scene and another scene or two of sexiness. Brandy knows she's the one to blame if they lose, and she's really not ready to leave.
Fortitude presents . David does the speaking, and he says a lot of "you know" and just makes it up as he goes along, giving far too much detail about the black and white and color, as if they can't see what they're looking at. In closing, he sincerely thanks them for letting them work with a great product and a great company like Macy's. Terry and another judge from Macy's discuss the presentations: He thinks Octane's ads demonstrated the points they tried to make about the brand. She thinks the first page with Brandy on the bed goes too far for a family store like Macy's, and she felt Brandy flubbed a few lines, referring to the clothing line as the "Trump Signature Collection" instead of the "Donald J. Trump Signature Collection." As for Fortitude: They loved David's presentation. And they loved their concept, with the black and white, but were unhappy that the clothing didn't fit the models. They liked the T design, but didn't like having such small clothing shots there with no detail. Now they have to make a tough decision.
Boardroom time. Trumplets are waiting when the teams file in. Then Trump joins them. He asks Brandy how she was as project manager. She thinks their ad is great, and he asks if she thinks she looks beautiful in the ad. She says it was uncomfortable, but they thought that putting the Trump shirt on a woman would capture the sexuality of the Trump brand. Trump asks Liza what she thinks of Brandy, and she says Brandy did an amazing job and she had no doubt she'd be a great leader. Trump asks Clint if he missed David. Clint: "I think we've got a great team now, sir." Trump asks if the team's better with or without David, and Clint says the ladies have helped their team immensely. Trump asks if Steuart was a good model, and Clint says he embodied the Trump attributes of wealth, power, and sexual prowess. Trump says that last one is the most important because, without that, it all doesn't matter. Dude, your kids are in the room!
Trump moves on to David and asks what he likes about what they did. David likes everything they did. Trump then notices they're all wearing Trump suits (which is why Stephanie was wearing a man's suit). Trump asks what Stephanie thinks of David, and she says she was unsure coming in, but he's a definite personality and eccentric, but she enjoyed meshing with the men. Trump asks who was the weakest player, and David says that's tough, because he did 95 percent of this task himself, but if he had to, he'd say Poppy had the least involvement. Trump asks if that's because of David or Poppy. David says there was some miscommunication when he delegated a job to Anand and Poppy. Then he calls her Puppy and says she just followed Anand around on whatever tasks they were given. Poppy says David talked to her and spoke to her in a very demeaning way. She tells Trump about him telling her to entertain the models, though she also makes sure that Trump knows the last page of the ad was her creation. Trump asks David what he means by "entertain the models." He asks who gives a crap about them, since they're getting paid and don't need to be entertained. David says that he picked the models himself, blah, blah, blah. Trump cuts him off to talk to Anand and ask him what's true. Anand says that David picked one model, and it was very homoerotic. David thinks that's very surprising to hear, so Trump asks what it means. Anand talks about David's mancrush, and Trump asks him if he's gay. To his credit, he does add, "Who cares?" And says he knows guys who were married for twenty years who left with a guy. "I mean, they liked a guy, so, you know." Trump asks if David's sure he doesn't want to come out. Which is our suspenseful moment to go to commercial. AS IF ANYONE CARES IF DAVID'S GAY. We know all we need to about him: He's a douchebag. Gay or straight, that doesn't change.
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After commercial, David says he's 100 percent sure he's not coming out. Anand says, not that there's anything wrong with it, but he's not saying David's gay. Trump agrees. David laughs and says he's not gay, dammit, but the model was fantastic. "I mean, you look at his picture ... he's the man." Don: "That sounds pretty gay." Hee. Everyone laughs. Wow. The boardroom is almost lighthearted without Mahsa. I like this. But now it's time to look at the ads, so the teams exchange them. Liza doesn't think the people in David's ad look like up-and-coming professionals. David does not like the sexual ad at all, and Stephanie says they discussed doing that but said no.
Trump asks Poppy which ad she likes better. She says she likes the product placement in the other ad, but their last page sets their ad apart because they show everything. Trump asks Clint how he feels about the other ad. Clint likes theirs better. Trump asks if he minds that the shirt is about nine sizes too big for the model David's so in love with. Trump says they make shirts in all different sizes, so why would they pick one that's too big. Poppy says that if she and Anand were permitted more jurisdiction they wouldn't have chosen models with such small necks (and, do remember that David said Poppy and Anand would be in charge of models). Don asks if Poppy ever protested the model to David, and she and Anand say that she did. David starts to glower into his Hulk face.
Trump moves on to Brandy. He says she has seemed pretty prudish until now, so how did she feel about that ad, which was pretty risqué. She says that their models didn't show up, so if she hadn't made the decision for them to be in the ad, they wouldn't have made their deadlines. Trump asks if she's having an affair with Steuart. Brandy laughs, and says no. Trump asks if she'd like to, and she astutely says, "No, I would not, sir. I like older men, sir." Trump says that was a smart answer, and Don laughs, "You're hired." Trump jokes: "Brandy, you go ahead back to the suite." But the laughter's about to end, because it's time to find out who won. Trump asks David if he thinks they won, and David says he still does. Trump says he didn't win, and Terry liked Brandy's ad, and is going to use it in a Macy's campaign. Trump tells Brandy she'll get to meet with Terry as her reward. He sends them back to the suite to watch the fighting on television. The new Octane walks out arm in arm. Trump tells Fortitude that someone will be fired. In case they've forgotten what show they're on.
When they're alone, Trump tells David he was disappointed in his ad, and thought the worst thing was the shirt not fitting. David says that when you create something "and run it cradle to grave" (as if he's worked on this for longer than a day), you take ownership and stand by it. He says he has to absorb all of the criticism, which is all his. Trump asks why Poppy didn't choose a different model since she wanted to do that. She says David was extremely firm, and it was more like a dictatorship than a leadership. Trump says that's okay since he's project manager, but sometimes he has to listen to other people. Way to contradict yourself there, Trump Signature. David says there was never a suggestion of a different model, and Stephanie fully supported him, in fact. Back in the suite, Steuart mutters about David to the amusement of a flirtatious Liza.
Stephanie agrees she liked that model, who she thought would fit in the shirts since he was so tall. Trump tells Poppy that Terry didn't like the last page, which she was so proud of, so why shouldn't he fire her? She says what she was proud about is that they discussed the product and what it's about. She says the photos she and Anand took had more product in them, but David chose these photos. David says he chose no photos for that page, and Stephanie agrees that was Poppy and Anand. Trump asks if Stephanie could see him firing Poppy, but she says not in this case, "unfortunately." She says David had a great vision, but he made the decisions here. Trump asks what she means by unfortunately, and she says she meant it was unfortunate for David. Trump asks Anand who he should fire, and Anand says David. He explains how they brought the photos back from the bar shoot and David wouldn't let him sit down with him and give input on the photos. Anand's unhappy with the bar photo they chose, which doesn't have vodka and has only two models and two ties. Don criticizes Poppy's last page. Then Trump asks David who gets to go back to the suite. David chooses Anand. Trump's surprised, but David says that Stephanie was his wingman and supporter through the whole thing, telling him how great it was, so her saying Trump should fire David not Poppy, who he says did nothing, is ridiculous. Anand leaves.
Trump asks if the case can be made that he should fire Stephanie. Stephanie doesn't think so, and Poppy honestly believes David is the person to be fired. Trump tells David that he's taking a big risk as project manager, because they so often get fired when they lose. David says that if his first three pages were good and the last one was the killer, which was Poppy's and he had no creative input on-- Trump cuts him off and reminds him that he could do away with the last page if he didn't like it, as project manager. Trump spares us much more drama, and fires David. David gets teary and tells Trump and the Trumplets that he appreciates the time here and had the time of his life. Stephanie tells him it was a pleasure working with him. Trump tells him he's done himself proud. Uh, do they remember David?! Then Trump adds, "Now get the hell out of here." Okay, that's more like it. Don looks weirdly sad as David leaves. Hugs all around in the lobby, then David acts jovial with the elevator operator. Trump tells the Trumplets they had no choice.
Taxicab confession: David even admits that Trump had no other option than to fire him, since he took ownership of it. He says it's all woulda, coulda, shoulda and he did it his way and is fired. Then we get his "step," where he talks about nothing, actually. No, really, I don't know. He talks about Trump being awesome and how he's started a company and controls his own destiny. But there's no clarity or explanation about what he's doing. Which means: still unemployed.
week: They're all called back to the boardroom to hear some disturbing news from Trump. Before their task even starts, someone's cheating by sending texts to people to ask them to show up and give money, pretending they don't know said person. Everyone looks shocked and a little guilty. Announcer guy asks us who the cheater is. Trump turns far to his left to say, "You're fired," which is where Clint is sitting, so it looks like it's him. Liza's to him, so it could also be her, but my money's on Clint.
DeAnn, a writer and editor in Portland, Oregon, is excited at the prospect of two firings week. You can contact her at twopmodmars@gmail.com.
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