With the exception of Omarosa, the women seemed confident as well. It was creepy how they all agreed with everything Simmons said, even when he told them he was leading a "benevolent dictatorship." Carol Alt just sat next to him smiling. Omarosa was clearly annoyed by that, but she kept quiet. Is she losing her edge? Or did she merely fall victim to Simmons the Svengali?
Once again, Simmons refused to meet with any executives. He clearly looks down on the corporate world and the people who inhabit it. His second mistake was sending Galan to the meeting. I can see why those two get along so well: They both think they're the smartest people in the room. The execs seemed shocked when Galan told them she didn't even know Kodak makes printers. You'd think she would have done some basic research before the meeting. Then, instead of listening to the Kodak executives, Galan talked over them. The result? She missed the point of the task entirely. As the men figured out, promoting Kodak's new ink, not its printers, was the goal. Piers Morgan deserves credit for figuring that out during the meeting. Sure, Simmons slogan, "It's a Kodak World: Welcome," sounds good, but what the heck does it mean?
Despite being off-message, Empresario seemed to be in better shape than Hydra throughout most of the episode. Things went off the rails quickly for Hydra after the meeting with the Kodak executives, starting with Stephen Baldwin's nonsensical acronym-laced rant in the "war room." The cheesy photo shoot featuring Lewis and Ortiz snuggling with a printer on the conference room table was also worrisome. But, of course, the biggest disaster of all was when the table tipped over, knocking a cup of coffee onto the laptop where all the promotional artwork was saved. Oops. Morgan blamed the whole debacle on Baldwin, but a quick review shows that the table actually lurched when Ortiz and Lewis tried to climb off it at the same time. But the damage was done. Kudos to Trace Adkins for trying to calm down his teammates, telling them to stop running around and freaking out. He's a nice foil for the high-strung, pessimistic Morgan.
Needless to say, Hydra's presentation was amateurish at best. The "ink revolution" message was great, but the signs looked tacky and at least one was falling down! I agree with Jim Cramer's assessment that the AirStream trailer looked more like a dumpster. Empresario's presentation, on the other hand, was fabulous, from the sleek signage to the red carpet to the life-size cardboard cut-outs of Simmons and his crew. As Omarosa pointed out, Simmons is a charming and convincing salesperson. He's almost as convincing as Tom Cruise in his Scientology indoctrination video. I thought Empresario was destined to win.
I'm glad they didn't. Sure, Gene Simmons is a fascinating character. He wears sunglasses at night, after all. But, like Nadia Comaneci, he was practically begging to be fired. Either he was sick of being on the show and wanted to get the boot, or he's actually delusional enough to think that the Donald would choose him over Omarosa and Jennie Finch, neither of whom contributed directly to the loss. Galan had much more cause to be fired--or at least hauled back in for the final showdown. I guess all that time she spent letting Simmons tickle her paid off.
The final showdown was pretty lame, since we already knew what was going to happen. The best part was Jim Cramer's impassioned performance. I'm not a huge Cramer fan, and his stock picks leave a lot to be desired, but I love how he told the Donald that Gene's decision to bring back Omarosa and Finch was "frankly...insolence to you Mr. Trump." After the final showdown, Cramer looked like he was about to cry, saying, "I can't believe what I just saw."
Other highlights of this week's episode: When Carol Alt told Nelly Gupta to "sniff 'em in" when she was crying. I'm totally using that. Alec Baldwin's brilliant cameo, during which he said that "there's no one more full of crap than Stephen" and that he was so excited about Kodak's low-cost ink that he needed to sit down. Piers Morgan's mean, but true, comparison of Stephen and Alec Baldwin. Ortiz's shiny pinstripe suit. The green room commentary by the winning team. And Trump's mute assistant who sits outside the boardroom. Apparently, NBC doesn't feel like paying her to say, "Mr. Trump is ready to see you now."
To be sure, the show won't be as interesting without Mr. Simmons. I'll especially miss trying to figure out who has the more fascinating hair style: Gene or the Donald? At least we still have Carol's flowing locks to admire. But other characters have taken an interesting turn. At first, Morgan seemed completely useless, but he was largely responsible for last night's win. Meanwhile, Galan, who looks good on paper, doesn't seem to have a clue. If the ladies lose again next week, she's first in line to get canned. I'm curious to see if Galan and Alt have a showdown at some point. So far, the ladies have been nice to each other--maybe too nice. Even Omarosa is behaving herself. According to next week's teaser, Empresario's team spirit might help them edge out the guys, who are hurtling towards a major meltdown fueled by Baldwin v. Morgan and Morgan v. Pastore. With Simmons gone and Baldwin's behavior becoming increasingly bizarre, I'm not sure who the front runners are any more. I guess we'll find out soon enough!
2 comments:
What do you think of the theory that Gene Simmons wanted off the show?
Nadine Heintz for President!
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