December 1, 2005

"I actually, like, look down on people who, you know, get depressed."

"I don't relate to that kind of mentality. All I can do is just sit there and laugh. I think Felicia is definitely destined to... be done." That's Alla on tonight's "Apprentice." What a character, that Alla! She was the one that I bonded with in the first episode. She had the strongest persona. In the end, tonight, though, I wanted Felicia to defeat her. Did Trump make the right decision? Sure. Of course. The final episode has the right two competitors.

17 comments:

Be said...

Don't watch the show, but God help the Alla character when she hits midlife crisis.

tiggeril said...

What a great episode. I knew Felisha and Alla were going down the moment we saw them on the "Do you want to be PM" "I will if you don't want to" "I want to, but if you want to, that's okay" merry-go-round. I liked Alla, but she was a bit too ruthless- a good leader needs to be a bit more flexible.

That said, Randal's going to take this. Rebecca's a bit overmatched right now. I think if we were to see a competition between Randal and the Rebecca five years from now, it'd be a battle for the ages.

There hasn't been a final two where I was rooting for both of them since Bill and Kwame. I'm really looking forward to the endgame.

reader_iam said...

I'm working on an e-mail about this--which I started within relatively short period after this started.

Goshallmighty, where to start?--if one has every ACTUALLY worked in the consulting world ...

Finn Alexander Kristiansen said...

Just saw the episode here on Phoenix time. Needless to say I was very happy. Both Randal and Rebecca seem to be genuine people, so either one makes for a satisfying end. I think Randal is a bit stronger in performance, background and experience, but I think Trump is perfectly willing to give Rebecca a shot if she hits this last task.

This season was much better than last season's scary bunch of misfits. Alla was tough, but the stripper part (and that truly amazes me that she could even pull that career off) just would have made hiring her tough. Regular employees are probably already annoyed at some of the new hires as it is.

Doug said...

Halfway through the show, I told my wife that the final two would be Randal and Rebecca. Little did I know it would happen so quickly. Very cool.

In the end, I think its going to be Randal. Rebecca has been impressive in alot of ways --- not the least of them being the way she stayed in the game after her injury --- but Randal has been the shining star of this show from the beginning. Unless he screws the final task up royally, he's the logical choice

Paul Worthington said...

Good episode. I've wanted Alla to win all along. Bummer.

What was really funny, though, was how this episode was all about Microsoft, with Trump saying, "I have Microsoft everywhere!" and so on. But when it came time for the professionals to edit the two videos, they were both using Apple's Final Cut Pro on the Macintosh. My wife and I had a good chuckle about that whenever they showed it on screen.

tiggeril said...

I think the problem is that she's too much like Trump. There's only room for one Trump in TrumpWorld Inc.

We've seen how awkward Trump is, and we know he's incapable of dissembling. If he hires someone just like himself, he doesn't have the people skills needed to smooth the feathers the MiniTrump would ruffle.

Finn Alexander Kristiansen said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Finn Alexander Kristiansen said...

Tim Sisk, I am gonna go out on a crazy ledge here, and pull some thoughts right out of my derriere, and let's see if it makes any sense.

1)Randal won the tech expo event.
2)Randal won the Learning Annex
event.
3)Randal won the "sell Shania Twain perfume" event.

also,

4)Randal was chosen away from the all male team, and then, during a second regrouping, was chosen away again. So people liked him-they really, really, liked him.

Then there were more than a few occasions where Randal made little comments and points that proved he was reading the tasks correctly. Like tonight's episode, where Rebecca began to freak out because Carolyn asked how long it took to make their advertisement. If Randal was not there assuring her it was fine, guess who might of spent hours re-doing the whole thing? (Uhm, not Randal).

So despite all that evidence, (pulled from me bum no doubt), you nail Randal on the Star Wars event, even though he was not responsible for losing because:

1)It was Marshawn who did not do the presentation (for no reason we know of), thus not stepping up.

2)And worse, it was Brian (the Manhattan person) who screwed them up at STEP 1 by idiotically assuming you can get across Manhattan in 15 minutes, causing them to miss the meeting with the Star Wars execs.

So, Mr.Sisk, to your rather Markusesque (or Markusonian) question, "Am I wrong?" I answer, and politely, "Uhm, Yuh huh, way wrong!!!"

(Just admit you liked the stripper for all the wrong reasons)

Irene Done said...

"Alla sit!" -- for me, the best TV moment in quite some time.

Pete said...

Ann, thanks for the Apprentice blogging. Yes, you’ve been a fan of Alla’s all along and I still scratch my head about that. True, perhaps I hold her stripper past against her too much – if what her biography says is true, and that’s a big if for nearly all of these candidates, then there’s much to admire about her for rising above that kind of beginning. But you still have to question the wisdom of choosing that profession as a way to get ahead. And from what I’ve seen this season, though she’s quite driven, last night’s episode just proves there’s something lacking in her basic make-up. Anyone who would admit to laughing at someone else’s depression has something seriously wrong with them and is headed for trouble if they don’t recognize that. I can’t believe someone as sensitive and perceptive as you would somehow identify with her.

And, hey, what about the family lesson, coming from the thrice married Trump? High-larious. But he did manage to pick the two best candidates, unlike last season where his choice made me swear never to watch again. Well, I guess he’s doing something right because here I am, hooked as ever.

Laura Reynolds said...

I do think Randal and Rebecca are the best two. Alla had some good characteristics but for whatever reason she was unable to temper her will at keys points, most obviously the Apple, err.. I mean Microsoft commercial failure. Randal is smart and saavy, I don't see how he doesn't win. Rebecca deserves much credit though, based on the multiple firings of this season, I'm thinking a multiple hiring is possible.

BTW I am real down on using fired contestants as helpers in the final task. Thr reasons these people got fired is because they weren't any good.

SAMPLES said...

In light of the rate of multiple firings this season, and the caliber of the final two contestants, I anticipate the first multiple hiring.

Ruth Anne Adams said...

Wouldn't it be fun/interesting/cool if they brought back firees from Martha's show for the final task and gave Martha's people the firees from Trump's show? Wouldn't that be a good cross-promotional moment?

Oh, right. Martha's show got canned.
Never mind.
[skulks away.]

Harkonnendog said...

Alla blew it. The most competent person on the show lost. Rebecca, the way I remember the season, has yet to DO anything other than maintain her composure in the boardroom. So you have an extremely competent woman who perfomed poorly in the boardroom out of the finals, and an incompetent woman who performed well in the baordroom IN the finals.

That's the suck.

Unknown said...

Hey, Ruth Anne, they might just do that. Surprises are promised, and Mr. T is wiping clean the teams.

I agree with Dave that Alla's perceived strength is her biggest failing and it really comes out when she's stressed. It blinded her to the weakness of her presentation.

LoafingOaf said...

Way back in the second or third episode I picked Randall as the favorite to go all the way. He has the whole package. A very smart, competant, motivated, all-around good guy. He's also creative under pressure. Remember when he wrote a pretty good jingle in minutes?

What I've liked best has been his attitude during tasks. Manny candidates spend tasks trying to make sure they won't be the one fired if they lose. Randall has focused like a laser on helping his team win so they hopefully don't have to deal with the board room at all.

Rebecca is probably the best candidate of the rest, and the one who could give Randall a good challenge. But it's Randall's to lose. He could blow it, of course, since who knows what kind of chaos they'll have to deal with in the final task.

Alla was pretty strong and competant. However, I read the transcript of her testimony at her client's murder trial and it exposed her as not the most ethical person. Not really because she was a stripper, but because of the details as to the extent she coldly used another human being (details are at the Smoking Gun web site). Yeah, he asked for it, and yeah he was willing, and yeah he'd probably have done that with some other stripper if it wasn't Alla. But it still seems unethical.

Trump isn't exactly Mr. Ethics himself, but he'd have been absolutely mad to pick someone like Alla when he has such good people as Randall and Rebecca to choose from.