The Apprentice surprised me --- as better produced and surprisingly well acted. I expected a Donald Trump hatchet job. Instead, The Apprentice goes for origin story, explaining how Donald Trump became Donald Trump. The answer is---he meets cut-throat lawyer Roy Cohn, the same Roy Cohn who put the Rosenberg's in the electric chair in the 1950s for spilling the secrets of the A Bomb. Cohn explains convincing the judge to fry Mrs. Rosenberg, granting her no mercy for motherhood or gender. As Roy Cohn, Jeremy Strong makes Cohn an actual Devil, taking Trump's soul as he teaches the levers and uses of power. I also found Maria Bakalova, best known for her role in the Borat follow up, as a credible and sympathetic Ivana Trump. Sebastian Stan manages to capture young Trump of the 1980s - the guy some of you remember from the New York Post. The Apprentice faces a lose-lose proposition. Those who love Trump won't watch because it reveals their man's flaws, including vanity and addiction to diet pills. Those who hate Trump won't want to watch a story about a guy they hate. Who's left? Maybe a few of us who like the plot of Citizen Kane and enjoy seeing it echoed. Hurry if you want to see, The Apprentice won't be around long.
