"Send in the Crowns" -
September 23
I was sort of thinking about this right after Bradford got fired - how in the
world are the rest of the people upstairs going to handle this? Stacy broke
the news that Bradford waived his exemption and Pamela called it a stroke of non-genius. According to Andy,
"It was like saying that you're the world's
safest driver, so you don't have to wear your seat belt anymore." Sure
enough, Bradford got into the crash of doom, and everyone is stunned.
Jennifer says that the team is weaker without him, but that the moral of the story is that you are never safe. Very true
words.
Realizing that they are going to be in a huge
Stacie meltdown, Stacy calls everyone in to have a meeting and vent. Stacie
vents that she was selling her ass off. Marie turns around and told Stacie
that her freaking out with the 8 ball freaked everyone out - and that is a
huge stigma to overcome. Stacie realizes that she has to prove that she is a
viable player - but that is a very big mountain to climb.
The first step up the mountain starts the next
morning, as the group meets him in the lobby of Trump Tower. The Donald
wants him to think big, as he is with two members of Proctor & Gamble.
They will be launching Crest Vanilla Mint Toothpaste. They will be giving
them a $50,000 account. The objective is to who can create the biggest buzz
- and the winners will be determined by Proctor & Gamble. Someone will be
fired except Kelly, unless he wants to pull a Bradford, Marcellas,
etc.
The men draw names - and Kevin is the new
project manager. He gets the group together and the ideas, ranging from
turning the water to toothpaste color, getting the mayor to try the
toothpaste while they are dressed up as teeth and pumping the aroma in
subways (whaaa?), while Andy will try to create a million dollar sweepstakes
and buy $40,000 worth of insurance. It's not a bad idea... well, it beats
turning the water into toothpaste.
Trump's Lesson -
'A Penny Saved is a Penny Saved'. You get into trouble when you go over
budget. Seems simple enough - how much do you want to bet that someone
blows it?
Elizabeth, who worked previously for
Proctor & Gamble, decided to be the Project Manager. The idea is to get a
celebrity to be there for 30 minutes for an hour. They want someone who is
positive, and Mike Piazza comes up. They allotted $10,000 for him - but he
wants $20,000. The women agree on it and they want him to kiss someone. He
won't do it, but he will brush his teeth with it. The women are sold, and
they think it's a home run. Blah.
Andy and Kevin meet
with the insurance people at DeVries, and she said that she didn't know if
they had enough time. She said to check it through legal, and Pamela says
that any time that anyone has to call legal, the answer is usually no. "When
the group agreed to do it, we put our eggs, chickens, we put the whole damn
pen in one basket. If it falls through, we have no backup plan." Uh-oh...
Apex goes to pick up samples of
toothpaste - 20,000 tubes worth. They think that it's the small size - but
when they go into the room, they see that it's the regular size, and the
total is around 5 times as much as the van that can carry it. Jennifer G,
who is with Stacie, is convinced that she is dead weight.
The women have more problems - Jennifer M. wants to
use the color photos, which look great. Maria asks the printers how much its
going to cost - and they won't know until their budget people get in at 7am
the next day. This concerns Ivana, who is the head of the budget. We'll get
back to this later...
Andy thinks that if the idea
works, then he's going to look like a genius. The idea... doesn't work, and
legal wins again. They say that it's an impossibility to get the liability,
and they have to figure out something else. Oops. Apex has to scale it down
from a million to three drawings of $5,000 - since that or less does not
have to be claimed by the IRS. They also get a circus with fire breathers
together, and that looks sort of fun. Kevin thinks that it's a great
spectacle, which is exactly what P&G wants.
Meanwhile, Mike Piazza comes on down for Apex, and
he is drawing a crowd. He says that he has always used Crest and he never
had a cavity in his life. He tries it, and he says that it tastes delicious.
Piazza is selling it like a pro - and the women add that they need to have a
Crest flyer to get Piazza's signature. Piazza gives out the signatures and
it seems like they got a lot more people than Mosaic did.
But not everything was all rosy. It turns out that
they allocated $1,800 for the color fliers. The actual cost? $6,900 and
change. Ouch, They are over budget by $5,000, which is a direct violation of
the rules of the competition. Ivana is trying to talk the price down, while
a distressed Maria, who set and negotiated the price, could only watch with
a sheepish grin.
Later on that day, the group comes
in to meet Diana Dietz and Bryan McCleary, the two judges from P&G. The
judges decide that.... Apex created the better buzz. HOWEVER, they also went
over budget by $5,000, and Mosaic didn't. Elizabeth didn't realize this
until right before the judges, and Donald gets on her immediately for not
knowing this. Therefore, Mosaic wins, and their reward is a dinner on the
Queen Mary II. In addition, Kevin is exempt as he adds that he hope he
doesn't do what Bradford did. Kevin assures him that he won't.
Heh.
Mosaic gets to meet the Grand Commodore, who
takes them around the ship, which is bigger than the Empire State Building
laid on it's side. They get lobster and filet mignon, and John toasts to the
continuous defeat of the ladies. "May they continue forever."
After the meal, the team goes up to the
deck of the Queen Mary II, and they are almost blown away by the wind. Chris
adores the view of the Statue of Liberty and all of New York, as he
reminisces about his ancestors coming over. They wind up singing America the
Beautiful, and even Pamela joins in.
The only thing
that Apex will be joining in is name-calling, as they are trying to figure
out how to get rid of Stacie J. They think that even though she is the worst
person, she is not the reason why they lost - Maria is, because she blew the
prices on the color copying. Elizabeth and Maria go after each other - Maria
is accused of covering her tracks, while Maria accuses Elizabeth of not
keeping track. Stacie thinks that they have formed a sorority and she is convinced that she will be going to the Boardroom.
As they enter the room, the Donald reminds them that
going 10% over is a lot. Liz was surprised that they went over, and she
blames the person in charge of that project - Maria. Maria counters with the
agency not getting the idea. George reminds everyone that we wouldn't have
this conversation if one item didn't cost over 6 times more than budgeted.
Stacie says Elizabeth should have gone, while Stacy and Ivana both point
their fingers at Stacie, for setting mini-fires that Elizabeth has to put
out.
Elizabeth decides to bring Stacie and Maria with
her to the Boardroom. Carolyn thinks that it's a toss-up between Maria and
Elizabeth, while George is leaning towards Maria. Donald invites them both
back in and asks Elizabeth why Stacie is there. She says that Maria was the
person responsible. Donald asks again why Stacie is there, and Maria says
that due to her 8 ball antics in the first task, that terrified the girls.
Stacie says that this is all blown out of proportion. Donald says that the
two people, who hate each them both agree that Stacie is nuts. He asks
Maria if they have all seen her do this, and she says
yes.
The Donald tells Maria to get all of the women
down - and to not say why. Donald wants Stacie to realize that he doesn't
want a crazy person running his company. All of the women come back and
Donald asks the women what is going on with Stacie, adding that both
Elizabeth and Maria were horrible. Ivana says that Stacie flips out while
Stacy is wondering if Stacie's behavior was clinical. Jen says it was
strange behavior and she was nervous while Sandy was horrified. Donald has
said that when they are all pointing fingers at her - there has to be some
sort of reason - and remembering Sam and Omarosa from last season, he can't have another loose cannon running around. Donald fires Stacie.
Everyone goes upstairs. Carolyn was surprised, but
the Donald says that he had no choice - and once again, I agree. Most of the
women don't like each other, but they all agreed that Stacie had to go - and
that has to account for something.
This chart
also accounts for something...
So Far, So Good -
Jennifer M., Stacy, Kelly, Sandy, Kevin, Raj, Chris So Far, Not So Good -
John, Wes, Andy, Jennifer G. In Trouble - Elizabeth, Maria,
Ivana, Pamela You're Fired - Stacie
Next week - Bill Rancic returns -
and he promises to make George look like a teddy bear. Maybe Bill will be
crazy by the end of the episode. You have to tune in next week to find
out... |