First off, I have nothing against Loyola. It’s a great school. All 3,000 of them, which is I why I picked it. It’s not meant to be any one school in particular. It’s sort of a proxy for a good school that’s not Harvard. So please, those of you from the various Loyolas out there, don’t be offended. To me, it’s much funnier to have some partner asshole thumb his nose at a good school than some random, no-name school.
The real-life inspiration for this episode was a truly horrible interview I had years ago at some swanky Washington, D.C. firm—the kind that likes to brag that they only hire from Harvard even though they don’t. So here I am, a nervous second year with decent grades at American University Law School sitting across from some douche bag in a bow tie, when he glances at my resume and says, “American, huh? What’s the matter, didn’t want to go to Harvard?”
And just like that, I was toast for the rest of the interview. I wanted to put a pencil through his goddamn throat. Instead, I just sat there like an insecure fool rambling about American’s highly ranked international law program. He just nodded, wallowing in my pathetic second-tier shame. Then, with a sadistic, Brahman grin, said, “Are you saying you got into Harvard and chose American instead?” Yeah, that’s what I’m saying, dick! I’m the one guy in the history of the fucking world who chose AU over Harvard. Yale too. Got into all of them. Stanford, Chicago, Columbia. I just really wanted to live in DC and go to American. Because of their terrific international law program and proximity to the Portuguese Embassy.
Anyway, you get the idea. Not a great interview. This cat was clearly the most annoying man I’d ever met. So, I figured it made sense for our lead character, Nick Conley (John T. Woods), to interview with him too. I thought the actor (Ed Kerr) who played the asshole partner was terrific. Far more intense and intimidating than the effeminate loser I interviewed with years ago.
The whole idea of the episode is to have Nick suffer the worst interview of his life, then somehow, magically, get an offer and say yes – even though, deep down, he knows the place is a little crazy. Or evil. But he says yes. Because that’s what you’re supposed to do. Chase the prestige. Work at the best firm possible.
The mentally unstable, cross-dressing drunk—the thick dude Nick’s dancing with at the bar—is clearly meant to be the Ghost of Christmas Future. The last shot of Nick says it all. I just made a deal with the devil. And I’m terrified. The exact same feeling I had years ago, when I called the hiring coordinator at Skadden Arps and said, “I accept.”
Check Out LTD’s Press Coverage: