The Apprentice 3 Episode 3 Recap: To Quit, or To Be Fired, That is The Question

Should I stay or should I go now?


To quit, or not to quit: that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mentally-exhausted body and mind to suffer
The verbal slings and arrows of fuzzy-poncho-encased teammates seeking outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against the sea of troublemakers,
And by opposing, outwit and outlast them? To quit: to rest;
No more; and by a rest to say we end
The not feeling well and hunger and loss of control
That flesh is heir to ... also ...

There may be nothing like a great comeback, but no way was Verna going to win this job interview. During Magna's group meeting, Erin made a lot of sense. It helps that she was not speaking from within a pink bath rug at the time. Erin is not overflowing with the milk of human kindness, but she asked the right questions from Magna's point of view. If Verna stayed home and rested while the rest of the team worked on the task, how could that not be taken into account if Magna lost? Plus, with Verna continuing to not feel well, how could Magna not feel like she might again quit at the 11th hour? Verna's "inner strength" was not that strong after all if a couple of good, logical questions were more than she could handle.


Should I wear a blue tie tomorrow? Raise your hand if you vote "yes."

In watching episode 3, Danny might have noticed that Angie did a much better job as Project Manager than he did. She was excited to volunteer to be PM and had so many ideas that Kristen was struggling to write them all down. She immediately had an idea for a central theme for the campaign -- something Magna never had -- and a lot of ideas that tied into this central theme. She seems to have paid attention to the task dossier. The task assignment was "to create and implement a highly visible promotional campaign for Nescafe/Taster's Choice Coffee" -- and the team that "creates the most effective 'buzz' in New York City, as judged solely by Nescafe wins."

Angie was almost too high-energy, according to Tana (perhaps the teams were treated to free Nescafe during this task). Her team seemed to respect her, and to like her ideas. She was interested in ideas from others, without relying on consensus to reach decisions. It might have helped to ask Chris to tone down the yelling when trying to attract people to the raffle. Since the basket was near-overflowing with raffle tickets, he probably did not frighten away too many of those tough New Yorkers.

If Angie's worst mistakes were being hyper and letting Chris yell at people, she remains a much better leader than Danny proved himself in task #3. As Bren predicted (I want that man on my Pictionary team), for Magna, this task went to hell in a handbasket.

Trump gave us a pretty big hint early on about the outcome of this task, and about where he thought Magna went wrong. Ah, Trump's Business Lessons, divine fount of wisdom:

"I've rarely seen a leader that's been able to lead by consensus. A leader is somebody that oftentimes will go against everybody. That's what a leader is. Generally speaking, a leader has to think independently."

So a dictator is a much better leader than a President? Checks and balances are for losers? Does that "everybody" a leader oftentimes will go against include their board of directors and shareholders? It sounds like a poor idea to just not care what others think, particularly if you have special obligations to them.

Trump might be "generally" advocating ignoring the opinion of others, but poor Danny cares too much. Bren noted that Danny seemed more "bummed out" than Verna did when she quit. Maybe all that caring, plus the guitar-playing ability and awesome song-and-slogan-writing skillz take up too much room in the ol' noggin to leave much space for things like leadership ability.

As Stephanie noted, Danny was slow to make decisions and relied excessively on consensus decision-making. He wants everyone to be happy, poor guy. He should trust his own instincts more. Unless his instincts are awful. Then he should get better instincts, or trust someone else's instincts. That event planner's 60-second deadline seemed ridiculous. There's nothing wrong with getting more information before reaching a decision.

Danny's inability to control (or fire) Michael was also a major problem. He should have been told to knock it off when he was "merely" being a jerk that first morning. It never should have reached the stage where Michael felt he could rest on his laurels (so to speak) ... sitting and winking at the camera while Danny, Bren, and Erin did actual work moving boxes.

For Michael to berate Danny and threaten him with violence is bizarre. (How did this guy get cast?) Every Apprentice candidate should know about Kwame being scolded for not firing Omarosa. It was part of why he didn't get hired. Maybe they don't remember the firing option, but Danny should have at least made a strong effort to control Michael. If someone had thought of the boardroom-exemption argument earlier, that might have helped motivate Michael to improve his attitude. As Michael said, referring to Brian being fired without a final boardroom, "Rules can be broken. There are no rules in Trump's boardroom." If he knew Magna was going to go after him if he didn't shape up, he might have behaved.

Unfortunately, Danny didn't think of that idea or of many creative ideas in general. Based on their anti-brainstorming in episodes 1 and 3, it's possible that Danny and/or Stephanie somehow suck creativity out of rooms.

The iPod giveaway was cool, but what did it have to do with coffee? Magna did not have the kind of energy that Net Worth did (not enough Nescafe?). It had a mime. And someone dressed as a beverage container of some sort. Net Worth brilliantly linked big money and politics in a carnival atmosphere, in a savage depiction of modern campaigning. I'm sure it got a lot of New Yorkers, and now a lot of Apprentice viewers, thinking about the need for campaign finance reform. Plus, the raffle and hot/cold element got the crowd thinking about our electoral college and its sometimes seemingly random blue/red whims.

Okay, so it was really silly, caffeine-and-greed-fueled fun. That's pretty American too, and people seemed to like it. They were having a good time. "Go have coffee with some miserable people and a mime" isn't as much of a draw, for some reason.

As much of an idiot as Michael is, he's not dumb enough to give up his, as Erin called it, "comfortable golden bed of exemption" (next season, if they keep the exemptions, please let there be an actual comfortable golden bed of exemption!). So it had to be Danny. At least Michael knows his teammates hate him, and that Trump, George, and Carolyn don't think much of him either. Some victory. It's probably like bitter, cold coffee in his mouth.