"Crimes of Fashion" -
October 14
Season 1 - The men lose 4 in a row, but Bill Rancic is
chosen as the Apprentice.
Season 2 - The women have now lost 4 in a row - maybe
that's good news for them later on down the line, but
right now, they are in shambles. The men think that the
women are ganging up on Pamela - and they are right, but
what they don't know is that the women have been
successful, much to the men's dismay - or relief, as the
biggest female adversary is eliminated. Chris: "Ding
Dong, the Ice Queen is dead." Wes: "You did yourselves a
favor. You did us a favor."
Did they do John any favors? We'll soon see, as he is
the new Project Manager. Raj tells him to give him
something good, and John says that he'll give him the
most important job. Meanwhile, Elizabeth wants to talk,
but Maria wants to go to bed and realizes that the
project manager has to deal with Elizabeth in a cuddling
yet firm manner.
For this episode, the group must meet Trump at Trump
Model Management. Raj, with his mind still in the gutter
from last week, wants the task to be how quickly they
can grease down all of the models, but that's not the
task (sorry, Raj). The task is to produce a new clothing
line that will be tomorrow's hottest fashions. They have
to pick a designer, then show off the fashion line on
Trump's models at the Avon Fall Fashion Show at the St.
Regis Hotel. Buyers will be there from places including
Bloomingdales and Sachs. The team that gets the most
money will be the winner. Chris will be exempt if the
men's team loses.
OK - this is women's fashions. If the women lose this
one, then they should just be disbanded. In addition,
Maria, who is the Project Manager, has a minor in home
economics and have parents who have experience in doing
this.
The men get to choose the fashion designers. We see them
choosing between someone who gets into denim designs and
Ilsa, who likes to put an edge in fashionable things.
John is sold on Ilsa, and that's who they go with. The
women decide on Darren, who knows about the undistry and
talks about being the low-end price at the high end
fashion store - which sounds very smart. Maria makes the
executive decision for Darren, and that's that.
Here comes Elizabeth, who wants to analyze what's going
on as it's the buyers who are the target audience.
Rather than waste time, Maria tells her to write all of
the questions that she has, and then she'll go through
them with the buyers. She sends her and Jennifer to ask
the buyers questions. The rest of the women stay and
brainstorm with Darren, as they discuss things that they
would actually buy. They get food and in 40-45 minutes
over cheeseburgers, they get everything done, and Ivana
says that they would have never have done it that
quickly if Elizabeth were there. That is a smart idea,
as you have someone doing work without alienating them -
or everyone else.
The men create groups - one group to talk to the buyer,
and the other group to talk about the fashion. Ilsa asks
for ideas from the men, who know nothing about women's
fashions. What's even worse is that the person who is
making suggestions is the fashion-challenged Raj, and
that spells trouble. Kelly, who is stuck with Raj and
John, gets frustrated and sketches out his idea while
Ilsa is taking a restroom break. Chris is shocked by the
fashions, and the men like his lack of clothing idea -
but would women but it? I don't know, and that's not
looking too good for the guys...
Trump's lesson - 'Know Your Market'. You better
know what your audience wants when you do it. If you
don't pinpoint the market, you won't be successful. The
men may be doomed...
The women go to the buyers, and they talks about
quality, focus and what's missing from the closets. They
emphasize cost, and it looks like Elizabeth is being
helpful. Mosaic, on the other hand, is going to try to
talk the buyers, who also say that the men are in
trouble because they can't think about any successful
straight male fashion designers.
Realizing this, they go with Ilsa to get fabric, and she
is laughing at their choices. So is Carolyn, who has no
idea what they are doing, but she is impressed with
Kelly's organization. Kelly says that Raj and John are
off on tangents and they are not focussed. If you
remember, Raj and Kelly got into it last week on the
price point for the Panini grill. Hmmm...
Darren comes with the women, who are cruising around
getting fabric - until Elizabeth shows up with Jen and
Elizabeth starts second guessing everything. Ivana comes
in and takes control, saying "I don't mean to be a b!tch,
but this is what we're going with." Could Elizabeth Vs.
Ivana be the second part of the Raj Vs. Kelly
double-header?
With the fabrics, the women ask Darren if seeing the
models are necessary. Darren says that he has the
measurements from the Trump Agency, so it should be
enough. The women are satisfied and leave. Meanwhile,
the guys look at the models - and being the horny
perverts that they are, decide to call in the models
for... examining. This hubbub satisfies the men,
including Andy (who was gaping) and Raj, who asks some
of them out also, but Ilsa has to stop working because
of it and that cute off precious time form what they are
doing. Raj, perhaps to get a date, you should work on
your own fashion tastes - like getting rid of the
bowtie, which the models just laughed at.
The next morning, Jen and Maria come in and look at the
fashions, which are completed. They all turn into 9 year
old girls and play dress-up, and they call it all
'Fabulous'. Darren also had enough time to create the
written sheets and Maria is very confident on the line.
She wonders what the guys are going to pull out of their
hat...
and, right now, all they have pulled out is one garment.
Ilsa doesn't have enough time and she is still working
hard on her stuff. She tells them all to go away and
tells them all to do things - things like Raj doing the
line sheet. Raj doesn't understand what's going on and
continues to ask Ilsa what's going on, and she tells him
to stop bugging her. Kelly sees this, goes over to Raj
and tells him to stop asking her questions. Raj says
that he needs to know the answers, and Kelly says that
he needs to find out from someone else besides the
person doing the work. They once again go at it and
Kelly thinks that John should be playing the babysitter
to Raj, since he is the project manager. Raj accuses
Kelly of acting like the CIA, but Kevin sides with Kelly
and Kevin doesn't want them to be disqualified. We
FINALLY get to see the men's first hissy-fit. Round 2.
Fight!
The women leave to go help out the models - except for
the Elizabeth and Stacy, the two purported
'troublemakers', to do swatches. Elizabeth feels
slighted, but they are doing work and are being
productive. On the men's side, John gives Kevin, Wes and
Andy the task or pricing, and Kevin thought that John
should have been there to OK their decisions in terms of
the prices. John, Chris, Kelly and Raj get to be horny
with the female models instead as they ogle the women.
The men who are setting the prices are jacking all of
them well above Ilsa's suggested prices. Could this be a
mistake?
We see the fashions shows of both teams. The women go
first and the men think that they have it made, because
they think that no one will buy short skirts and
backless dresses. Wha? Meanwhile, the men's line comes
out, and Ivana says, "The first thing that I thought of
when I saw the first design was 'Who raided my father's
attic and who cut up my sofa?" Ouch. The men's fashions
were...well...bizarre, and if the applause is any
indication, the women will be destroying the men by a
landslide.
Both teams await the results, and here they are - the
men sold $7,735. The women sold... $22,060! By a huge
margin, the women get their first win in 5 weeks, and
the first win ever with a female project manager. Maria
escalates up, big-time. As the reward, the women will be
going to a party at Hugo Boss, complete with Cirque Du
Soleil performing. The men will get to see the party
from the balcony - and get to see one of their own
getting fired.
Raj says that they lost on price - something that the
Donald agreed on. John talks to Raj, who says that Kevin
and Wes, who both set up the pricing, should be going,
John didn't think that he made many mistakes, but a
stunned Kelly looks on and says that they will both team
up on him. Kelly suggests to bring in Andy, based on pas
performance and that he didn't do anything on this task
either. Well, the guys don't have much experience in
dealing with the Donald, but that's not how he thins and
this could spell trouble for John...
As for the women, they are enjoying themselves at the
party, with the biggest benefit being that they wouldn't
be going down to the Board Room. At the Board Room, John
says that they priced themselves out of the market. John
calls Wes and Kevin on the pricing, but Kevin says that
Ilsa was the wrong choice because the fabrics that she
wanted was too expensive and that John should be
accountable for that.
Raj tries to throw in a good word for John, but Donald
blasts his credibility out of the water, calling him a
'hound dog' and only wanting to spend time with the
models, adding that he drove both the models and Ilsa
crazy. Donald asks Raj who he would fire and Raj says
Andy, because he didn't do anything and he's young.
Donald forces Raj to make a decision, and he says Andy,
because he doesn't have the team's respect. Andy is
asked, and he would fire John because he led them in the
wrong direction. Kelly says that Andy should be fired
because he brings nothing to the table and he has to be
babysat. Andy responds with wondering why he has to cut
350 pages of line sheet, and John responds to that by
saying that that was the most menial task he could find
- and that upsets Kevin and Wes to the point that they
defend Andy.
Chris, who is exempt, is asked who he would fire, and
Chris says John. John is asked to bring 2 or 3 people,
and he says 2 - Kevin and Andy. Trump isn't surprised,
and he wonders why John didn't take in 3 people. In this
case, he certainly should have, since Wes was equally
responsible and by bringing in 3 people, he had an extra
target for Trump. He could have also selected Raj, if he
noticed that Trump went after him, but like Jen C. a few
episodes ago, John picks alliances over who is to blame,
and this time I think it's going to cost him.
It's deliberation time again, and George actually likes
Andy. Carolyn likes John, but she thought he made way
too many mistakes. Donald is wondering why Andy is
there, and so is Andy. John says that there is an
underlying concern that Andy doesn't do anything for the
team -a dn Andy and Kevin both dispute that. Kevin and
Donald both ask why Wes isn't there as well, since they
both did the pricing together. John has no answer and he
says that he makes a mistake. He said that he put his
heart and soul into this, and he says that in past
tasks, he thinks that his past efforts should help and
he apologizes for his mistakes. Donald says that Andy
should not have been in this room, and that last mistake
for John was fatal - because 1. Wes should have been
there and 2. as the project manager, he should have been
involved in the pricing as well as Wes and Kevin. Though
Donald likes him a lot, John gets fired for too many bad
decisions.
That ends a very topsy turvy week as the women make some
strides and the men finally make some errors. Here's the
ratings guide to see whet that topsyness means.
So Far, So Good - Jennifer M., Kelly, Sandy, Maria,
Chris
So Far, Not So Good - Andy, Ivana, Kevin, Wes
In Trouble - Raj, Elizabeth, Stacy
You're Fired - John
Next week, things get even more topsy-turvy as we get a
surprise. Is it a shuffle - or something else? Tune in
next week to see if the women's team can make it 2 in a
row - or if there will be a full women's team. |