LAST EDITED ON 04-06-11 AT 08:37 AM (EST)

So if you were paying close attention last night, you would have seem Donald carefully place the following planks.

1. Sharing is an act done only by the stupid.

2. The way the poor receive assistance is by hoping that the rich get richer and eventually donate some of it.

3. Teamwork is crap.

4. You are not entitled to defend yourself.

5. Negotiation only makes you look weak.

6. If you set an all-time record, you have disappointed. You should have done better than that. Which would be another all-time record that you should have done better than. Which will disappoint. Therefore... are you starting to see the problem here?

7. It's not about efficiency or performance: it's about how much drama you can create.

8. When in doubt, lie.

Gee. Wonder which party he's gonna run with.
----------------------------------------------------------------
So who wants to convince me Marlee isn't an evil genius? (The good kind of evil.) In practical terms, Richard was always doomed. He was basically Cast To Be Fired: any of the contestants without major connections fit that category -- and if Jose had still been there, it would have been his night to go. Which doesn't discount the wild humor of Richard talking about his vindication being just around the corner (or jail. One of those) and Donald saying several gigantic lies in a row, not the least of which were 'Richard is a huge celebrity!' and 'So he has to know lots of wealthy people!' (Other Survivors have money. Now that's comedy.) Last night was MB's evening to laugh all the way back to his brimstone-scented home: not just cast to be fired, but cast to be kicked on his way out the door.

So Marlee could see things leaning that way. But then the men justifiably turned on Gary, because Richard, while arguably dealing with his own delusions, at least checks in with mainstream reality from time to time so he can see how his stocks are doing. (The ones that fasten around the wrists and neck.) Gary is an albatross, an anchor, the visiting professor from Acme Looniversity, and he will drag you down while he drives you insane, the later of which we'll get to in a moment. Richard's better for your team. He may tie you to the train tracks, but that train's gonna run on time. As long as Gary's there, the men's team is in perpetual trouble --

-- which meant Marlee's practical move was to defend him.

Gary arguably would have stayed anyway. See Rodman, Dennis, Hag, The, and far too many other examples not to be sickening. All Donald cares about is how much conflict and drama he can generate: a happy team is not a team that attracts wreckage scavengers and let's face it, that's probably half the audience. But Marlee might have realized exactly where her best advantage was for future Boardroom avoidance and went for it. Previews show possible dividends being paid out.

Interesting.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Meatloaf's explosion...

Not the first time I've seen him blow his top, so it didn't exactly come as a total shock. And to be fair, Gary is going to get on every nerve you have and then install a few more so he can make a bed and lie down for a while. But wildly beyond the justifiable, especially before the search for the bag had covered every last square inch and someone had double-checked the van? Definitely.

I'll give Gary credit for walking away. And then I'll rescind it for his idiotically wandering back in. John Rich keeps his for stepping in, and Meatloaf did apologize in the end, so hand him a penny or two. (Note that Gary's reaction to the apology was to say something so out there as to start the steam roiling again.) But last night showed us Meatloaf's issues and the first step on the way out the door. Along with possibly preserving Gary all the longer.

Drama, y'know.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Did anyone else notice that written on Richard's painting of things which make him happy was the word 'Obfuscation?'
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Star just doesn't have a grip on this whole 'deaf' idea, does she? And she doesn't come across as a credible supporter either. I think she backed Marlee in the Boardroom last night for three major reasons.

A. She was confident the women had won. Remember, she was handling the credit card sales and counting the cash: she knew they were in the financial stratosphere. There was no sense to attacking a winning PM -- yet.

B. She didn't want to be dragged back in if she was wrong. All she had to really show against Marlee was the transportation time. Let's be fair to John Rich: leaving early was the way to go. (And yes, Friday afternoon in Manhattan is that bad. Hauling everything via subway might have saved the women's lives.) So Marlee made a mistake there -- but the totals still worked out, the customers showed up eventually, and they weren't being judged on presentation. They were barely being judged on art.

But Marlee could have said 'Star never sold: she just totaled up sales.' Add that to her lack of enthusiasm for the project, and it at least gets a foot in the door.

C. With Dionne gone, Star's out of allies. Time to go recruiting!
----------------------------------------------------------------
No fault to Jose for leaving: he sorted out his priorities and picked the right one. And a little credit to Donald for spending some of the show's Spontaneous Charity Budget on B.A.T.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
"I'm going Friend!"

"I'm going Friend!"

"I only work with Foes."
-----------------------------------------------------------------
While we're handing out credit, let's give one to the editing team for last night's work on the art purchase segments. Admit it: you thought the men were ahead for most of it, right? And then it looked like the women were getting close -- but then the men sold every last piece, and John brought in $470,000 for the guitar... (It was a Gibson. That probably wasn't even the most expensive one sold last year.) But John was well over eighty percent of the total, and the women never really felt like they were going to win -- until they did.

But we're taking back with the other hand today, and the pacing of the show gave us this gigantic flub: Marlee having to make the decision on whether a male would go home. Given the time left on the clock, a male was going home. Either she was going to decide against the men or Donald was going to override her. We weren't getting fifteen minutes of mutual congratulations: stop with the faux drama and save your 'will she or won't she' commercial cut for a time when we might buy it.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
LaToya's sacrifice reminded me of a less-seen reality one: Saaphyri and the Ugg boots. If it had been someone other than Donald involved, I would have half-expected the buyer to be the show's host -- who would then give the shirt back to her at the end of the season.

(Dear Donald: it's a good idea. But don't let that stop you.)

And the degree of sacrifice -- ouch. LaToya was bulletproof last night: Donald may enjoy the frequent moment of pure heartless, but dumping her on the night of that donation would have come back to haunt him and ram poltergeist-driven gloves into sensitive parts of his anatomy. Give her the MVP on this one: that may be the hardest thing anyone's ever done within the show.
----------------------------------------------------------------
As for criticizing the art...

...um...

...so that's a bison? You don't say...