The Apprentice 2: High Fashion Downfall
Episode 6 Recap
By Professor Dan
October 15, 2004
After Trump narrates the story of last week's demise of Pamela, the usual montage airs. When we come back from commercial, the teams are talking in the suite awaiting the verdict. People are hoping that Pamela is history. When Stacy and Maria arrive, there's a mini-celebration. Wes tells the women, "You did yourselves a favor, you did us a favor." Raj says "Ding-dong, the Ice Queen is dead…" Privately, Kevin says the women seem to be coming together without Pamela, but he's not worried: "I'm not afraid of seeing the 'A' game from the women."
John has been randomly chosen as Project Manager by the men of Mosaic. Meanwhile, Elizabeth is wondering if the women need to talk about anything (Why?) Elizabeth irritates Maria, who confesses, "Elizabeth's need to talk in concepts will continue to be a problem if the project leader isn't able to control Elizabeth."
She should be controlled by the PM giving her stuff to do so she'll be invested in the project, but also kept out of the way.
Next morning, Kevin takes the call: meet Trump at Trump Model Management at 9:00 AM. When they show up, Trump tells them that their task will be to get in on the "90-billion-dollar" fashion industry by producing a line of designer clothing. They'll pick a designer and, using models from Trump's agency, they'll show their line at the Avon Fall Fashion Show at the St Regis Hotel. Buyers from many major department stores will be there. The team with the most sales wins.
(Okay, editorial comment here. This task COULD NOT BE more slanted towards the women's team. Several of the women, most notably Maria, Jennifer, and Sandy, are obviously "high-maintenance", and very knowledgeable about style and fashion. What do the guys know about this? They are at such a HUGE disadvantage in this task that it is obvious to me that Burnett and/or Trump are deliberately giving the women, who've lost four straight competitions, a task that even THEY can't mess up.)
Surprise, surprise: Maria, the high-fashion exec with the permanently-made-up face (I haven't seen her ONCE in this show without "her face on"-does she sleep that way?) is the new PM for Apex. She's got a minor in Home Ec, she says, and her mom taught Home Ec for years.
Mosaic starts interviewing designers. They pick Ilsa, who describes her style as not just fashion with an "edge", but "a BIG edge". Apex, on the other hand, picks Darrin, who describes his niche as being "at the low end of the high-end stores". Elizabeth isn't sure they should pick him, but Maria makes the call. Maria then sends Elizabeth and Jennifer off to visit the buyers at places like Bloomie's and Saks, not just to gather information but to get Elizabeth out of the way.
With Elizabeth safely gone, Darrin and the team go to lunch and, over burgers and fries and hot dogs, in about 45 minutes they knock out the plans for their line. Ivana privately praises Maria for getting Elizabeth "out of our hair". (Hold the presses! Ivana finally said SOMETHING good about someone else! Oh wait, as she did that, she was indirectly putting another person down at the same time. Never mind-- nothing's changed-- Ivana's still a bitch.)
Kevin, Wes, and Andy go talk to the buyers too, while the rest stay with Ilsa and work on the line. Raj is being a major pain in the butt, at least as far as Kelly is concerned. To help things along, while Ilsa is in the restroom, Kelly sketches out a design idea, which turns out to be good! Chris can't believe that Army Guy Kelly is good at this: privately he jokes that he's "surprised Kelly is not wearing pink camouflage underwear."
Today's moral, kiddies, is "Know Your Market". Trump says "If you can't pinpoint your market you can't be successful." (What an insight! Wow, I should be writing this stuff down. Oh yeah, I just did. Never mind.)
Elizabeth and Jennifer are out schmoozing with the buyers. One thing they are told: price matters. Don't price yourself out of the market. Mosaic's trio meets with some buyers too, and their strategy is to try to get some sympathy going. It doesn't really work. One of the buyers asks how they're going to decide on their line, and Kevin says they know what THEY like to see on ladies. The buyer cracks a joke about "and how many straight fashion designers are there? Not many…" (The buyers have made my point. These guys are so hopelessly in over their heads, they actually think that women want to buy stuff that STRAIGHT GUYS think looks good? Gimme a break!)
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