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| They All Lived Happily Ever After - Except Jeffrey; 9/21 Premiere Recap | |
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| Topic Started: Sep 23 2005, 08:55 AM (1,308 Views) | |
| dfleminator | Sep 23 2005, 08:55 AM Post #1 |
Dr. Horrible
  ![]](http://209.85.48.14/static/1/pip_r.png)
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Before I start this recap, I would like to make a disclaimer that I made when recapping a previous show, which was not nearly as good as this one promises to be. I am not the Martha Stewart type, I have worked in a camp kitchen before, and have done some cooking in my time, but generally, when I want food, it’s off to Wendy’s for me. My idea of a nice craft is when a kid glues a handprint on to a cut-out turkey before Thanksgiving, and when it comes to interior decorating, that’s for other people. The only trait that I may share with some of these people is my obsessive compulsive nature. I like things a certain way, and if they’re not that way, they will be that way soon. So I know you’re thinking, “Why would he be recapping this show?” Well the answer is simple. I love to see obsessive compulsive overly creative people get at each others throats, and it makes for some excellent recap material, so without further ado, let’s start out with Martha’s bragging…. Much like Donald Trump, Martha seems to have a lot to brag about, and she wastes quite a bit of my time doing just that. We find out that for thirteen weeks, the sixteen contestants will live down the hall from Martha’s office, and they will have various tasks to complete. The team that loses each task will meet with Martha in the conference room, where one will “have… to… errr… leave… I guess…” as Martha Stewart says. As we see the contestants come in, we hear from a small amount of them. Shawn says that meeting Martha was an overwhelmingly emotional experience, and there were tears in her eyes. Howie says that Martha is very much like him, and Bethenny has been waiting for this her whole life. She should have gotten her boyfriend to introduce them, but I seem to be getting ahead of myself… As Martha enters the conference room, all the contestants follow her in, and Martha introduces us to her Carolyn and George. Carolyn is actually Martha’s daughter Alexis, while George is Charles who has worked with Martha for all of… less than 12 months. Martha assures us that she will be making the final decision, and not them. It is now that we find out that Charles actually knows Bethenny, at which point I wait to see how they will replace Charles on such short notice, but this doesn’t happen. I guess it is ok to have a potentially biased person on the Apprentice. After the meeting, Carrie tells us that meeting Martha was the culmination of everything she is and has worked up to. The teams have been asked to split themselves up into two teams, where each member of the team has one thing in common. This is where the first major mistake of the season is made… you see, it is NEVER a good idea to have eight creative people together on one team. You need sane people in with them, to keep them organized, otherwise, everything will become chaos. However, despite my warning, they decide to go Corporate vs. Creative. Jeff says he likes his creative team, but Jim seems to be rubbing Dawn the wrong way. Dawn says Jim is too loud, but Jim hates people who try to control his actions, because he controls their actions. Martha calls the apprentices, and Marcela answers. Martha wants them to meet her at Random House. When they arrive, Martha asks for team names. Jeff has been asked to be PM for the creative team, henceforth known as “Matchstick” , while Donna is the PM for the corporate team, now known as “Primarius”. The task is to adapt and establish well-known fairy tales for a children’s book and read to first-graders, which leads us to our first “Martha Moment”. Similar to Trump’s weekly segment of bragging/teaching a business lesson, Martha tells everyone that it is important to connect with the customer. I tell you that it is important to remember this part, as it will come in handy in the future. Primarius elects to do Jack and the Beanstalk, and they all talk/scream over each other, so I can’t understand a single thing. Eventually, Donna translates for us that they will be recruiting children to be a part of a focus group to test out their book. Matchstick decides to do Hansel and Gretel in an urban setting and Jeff appoints Dawn as the writer, since she is a writer/publisher in he outside world. Dawn requires quiet and space and 7 other creative people just aren’t willing to give her that. So she doesn’t end up with much being written. Jim doesn’t understand this need for quiet, and while I understand it, I don’t understand why she couldn’t have found a quiet place to write somewhere else. With very little coming from Dawn, Jeff decides that he will take over and write it, and that Dawn can sit over his shoulder and tell him won’t work, and then he will proceed to just ignore her comments. (He doesn’t say that last part, but I know he was thinking it.) Something that comes out in the focus group that Primarius conducts is that the children really like the story, but they really like a male telling the story, so they decide that Howie will tell the story. Carrie likes how her team is working, but she is worried because the other team has the creative writer. Meanwhile, with Matchstick, Jeff is doing a terrible job. He has decided that everything should rhyme, and he rhymes “Skittles” with “victuals”… bonus points if you know what victuals means without looking it up. The story talks about how Hansel and Gretel hated their names, and that it was their mother’s fault. Freud would have a field day with this book. His team tells him that it’s too dark, and so he does what all good leaders do, he tells them to shut up right now, and listen. For the presentation, Jeff asks Dawn to read the story to the children, and then he wants her to read it for the whole team. She asks to get a banana from around the corner first, and here comes BANANAGATE! Heaven forbid she should want a simple banana before reading. She didn’t have to for a long walk for it, but apparently Marcela didn’t like that she wanted a banana. Next comes the next big argument. Dawn tells Jeff that she would like to sit on the floor with the kids, and at this point, we see exactly where Jeff loses the whole project. He tells her that it would be unprofessional to be on the floor with kids, and that she needs to be sitting up, so the executives can see. He cuts off any argument by giving Shawn the job of reading to the kids, and going off to take a shower, inviting Dawn to continue arguing with him there if she feels like it, but that he will be naked. It’s time to bring on the kids! Shawn is excited that she gets to read, because she has broadcasting experience, and has learned how to read from teleprompters, so imagine how much easier could a book with no moving letters be. Jeff tells the viewers how great it feels to watch the children listening to the story, and then we get a close-up of a few of the children sitting looking extremely bored. Howie seems to do an excellent job reading Jack and the Beanstalk, and all the kids are really engaged and excited about the story. We see Martha talking with the two judges from Random House before the teams come in, and they tell her that there is a clear winner. Once the teams enter, Anne, from Random House, tells Matchstick that they did a good job with their illustrator, but not so good with rhyme scheme, because that sort of thing is not done easily. Anne tells Primarius that they were clever and unique, which was good, and the winner is Primarius, so they get to go to dinner with Martha, while Matchstick goes to the conference room. At the restaurant, we see a lot of wasabe, and the contestants are in awe of how beautiful it looks. My stomach turns. Martha tells the team that Howie did a good job of reading, and Howie tells the cameras that he thinks he is falling in love with Martha. Meanwhile, team Matchstick is preparing for the conference room. Beth says that she would sooner hire Jeff than Dawn, but Jim wants Jeff out while they still have the chance, because he can see Dawn as much more easy to sacrifice down the road. Jeff tells us that if he can’t whoop Dawn’s ass, he will go home and cry. As team Matchstick enters the conference room, Martha comments that they are a lot more somber now. She says “You’re the CREATIVE team? The content sucks and the kids couldn’t understand it.” (Of course, that’s what she was thinking, she is too nice to say things like that, but I choose to read between the lines. She then goes on to tell the team that the story was awful, and asks who wrote it, to which Jeff must take credit. Marcela quickly comes to Jeff’s aid, however, when she tells Martha that Dawn didn’t pull her weight, and Beth makes sure everyone knows that Dawn was very negative. Dawn replies that she challenged the team to think, and a big argument ensues between Beth and Dawn. Martha gets sick of the bickering and tells Jeff to pick two people to bring back to the boardroom, and he picks Dawn and Jim. Once Jeff, Dawn and Jim have all left the boardroom, Martha tells her associates that this is hard, and Charles replies that it is simple, and that Jeff didn’t organize properly. Alexis tells us that she doesn’t like the way Dawn argues so much though. When they come back in, Martha says this was the most difficult part. Jeff tells Martha that he brought Jim because he was incredible disruptive, but Jim doesn’t take the bait, and seems extremely calm, cool, collected, and quite cocky to boot. It’s now time for Martha to make her decision: “The main business task is to connect. Jeff, you didn’t hear me. Jeffrey, you just don’t fit in… goodbye.” And with that we see our first over-the-top creative person gone. Tune in next week to see how the creative team fares, it should definitely be entertaining! Do you like wasabe? Do you know how to spell it? Tell me about it at dfleming2@yahoo.com. |
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| Squishybut | Sep 23 2005, 09:47 AM Post #2 |
ARTsy
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I do like Wasabe and no, i don't know how to spell it. Great recap from someone who isn't creative. I think you short changed yourself. I love the adlibs. Good job - D! |
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Always Lurking.... | |
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| crpsaiyan | Sep 23 2005, 12:56 PM Post #3 |
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ART Appreciator
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Yes, it's W-A-S-A-B-I. I love sushi; I swear, I could eat it for weeks, if I could. I won't, but I think I could. Mind you, this is just a guess. I might get tired of it eventually. Now, before we get off subject, what did you think about Martha's decision on who stayed, and who was sent home? You did a great recap, but what do you think about it? Do you think Martha Stewart was right or wrong in her decision, and why? |
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| dfleminator | Sep 23 2005, 04:37 PM Post #4 |
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Dr. Horrible
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Generally, I don't post my opinions outright in my recaps, that's just the way I do them. Of course, sometimes it seeps through, and I don't try to prevent that. Anyway, if you ask me, I think it was the right decision. Jeffrey obviously wasn't a team player, and he wanted everything to be done his way, even if everyone disagreed. Dawn may have been negative, but when you've got a terrible idea, it's quite easy to be negative, especially when your PM is so condescending. It will be interesting to see how Dawn does when she doesn't have Jeff to answer to. |
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