While checking out a speed boat on display at the mall, Conner tells Mason he deserves a something like this because of his promotion to Creative Director. It would properly reflect his professional status and the time he's put in to get there. It's obvious Conner is now genuinely excited and proud that Mason got the promotion.
Mason, the more grounded of the two, says he can't afford a $100,000 boat. He tells Conner that while he's gotten a promotion in title, he has yet to see a monetary raise. Conner tells him not to worry-Tony will give it to him soon enough, along with some sweet new business cards. Then, come next spring, he can take his family, or Conner (hint hint), out on the lake in his new boat. Despite that rousing argument, Mason tells the sales rep that he doesn't need any information when she walks over to them.
As they walk back into the office, Conner still yarns on about Mason buying a boat. Now that he's received this promotion, he's a different person and he should start acting like it. Mason disagrees-he likes his life the way it is, thank you. Plus, maybe it's not power that people see when he's around, or even the person who saved the Arc Mobile account; maybe all they see is the guy who took the dead guy's job.
Meanwhile, in Tom and Hector's cube, Tom announces to his partner that they should prepare for the swelling of Mason's ego-there's a blurb about his promotion in Ad Week. While Hector tells him that doesn't mean that their new Creative Director is going to get a big head with all of his new power, Sarah listens in and perks up. After all, there's something she wants.
When Mason and Conner walk by, Sarah pops up, gives them her best smile, and asks Mason when she can move into her new office with a window. Mason, who has yet to make it to his own office, tells her to wait while he himself gets settled in and then he'll work on it. As he walks off, Conner, acting like Mason's secretary/body guard, tells Sarah to get on his calendar.
Walking back to his office, Mason says hi to Tom and Hector, who manage to return the greeting, but barely look up. Tom tells Mason congratulations on his blurb in Ad Week, but without much conviction. Something is amiss and Mason knows it. When he and Conner arrive in his office, he asks when those two are going to get over the fact that he didn't back up their pitch for Arc Mobile. Conner guesses a while, especially since Mason doesn't think he did anything wrong.
And then Mason is hit with the full weight of his new title. . .
He sits down at his computer to find 30 new emails-many more than has been normal. Conner takes this in stride, saying great power comes with great responsibility. . .and a bigger office. They need to get Mason into Stu'd old office now that he's Creative Director. Even though Mason says he likes his and wants to stay, Conner begins packing his things for him. That when Tony calls and tells Mason to get down to his office.
Conner follows Mason out, but not before pocketing a photo he was about to put in a box. In the hallways, he breaks off from Mason and walks over to Jessica, an assistant, who's delivering various director's reels they wanted. He takes the reels and doesn't waste the opportunity to shamelessly flirt with her in a way that nobody but he could pull off.
In Tony's office, Mason receives some disappointing news when Tony slaps his brand new stack of business cards in front of him-that's about all his promotion is going to give him. That, and more responsibility, work, and headaches. . .but definitely no jump in pay. The powers that be above Tony, like CEO Denise Raynor, came to the conclusion that he shouldn't get a raise. Tony disagrees, but he's trying to put a positive spin on it. The title is the important part, he tells Mason. His new downtrodden Creative Director, however, wants to know when the less-important part comes into play-the raise. Tony doesn't have an answer for that and sends Mason off with a, "Congratulations."
Back at his own office, Mason finds Conner packing his stuff up. In fact, most of his office is in boxes. This just adds on to the frustration he's already feeling. He doesn't want to move and he especially doesn't want to be the guy who got promoted five minutes ago and acts like he's been in that position for a long time. His confidant and good pal, of course, disagrees. He deserves a corner office that demands respect and, whoa, has a place for his brand-spanking new business cards.
Amidst their bickering, Conner notices a stack of storyboards sitting on Mason's couch and asks about them. As it turns out, their samples from prospective employees-Mason is looking to hire a partner for Sarah. The ones on top are from a "douche" (Mason's term) named Chip. There's no way he'll ever get hired here. As if on cue, the haughty Sarah walks into his office with a purpose. She's worked at RGM for two weeks and thinks she's been patient-she wants her office with a window. Cubicle hell isn't for her and, if they don't make her happy here, she can always go back to her old agency (She can't, of course, as was learned in the previous episode, but Mason doesn't know this). Conner tries to be the peacemaker and says she can have Mason's old office because he's moving into Stu's old place. She perks up and thinks she' finally gotten her way, but Mason squashes it. He's not moving offices, end of story.
Mason's phone begins ringing-it's Peter Derby, the head of marketing at Arc Mobile. Conner shushes Sarah out of the office as Mason answers. And he doesn't like what he hears. . .
In a full staff meeting, Mason tells the creative team what Derby reported to him: their Arc Moible tagline, "What can you do with one hand?," got killed by focus groups. They thought it was about masturbation. It doesn't take long for the meeting to devolve into an argument amongst its various parts after Mason tells them the line is dead. Conner gets defensive about his line being disliked and bristles when Sarah tells Mason that she can write some new lines. Tom and Hector point out that their campaign had a priest in it-there's no way focus groups could associate masturbation with that. Mason, being the new boss that he is, reels them back in with some strong words. It doesn't matter what they argue. The line is dead and if they don't get Derby a new one by tomorrow, the entire campaign is dead.
The following morning, Mason shaves in the bathroom when his wife, Erin, walks in and playfully offers to help him out. With what? "You can't be the creative director with the hairy neck," she says. Erin then gets to what she really wanted to talk about. She's thinking of calling the contractor to get a price on redoing the bathroom. With Mason's promotion, she was hoping he'd back off of the "austerity program" he's forced them to keep to and loosen up the family's funds a little. He skirts the issue successfully by bringing up the situation he's in with Arc Mobile and mentions that focus groups thought the tagline was about pleasuring oneself. Erin says that's the first thing she thought of when she heard it. Mason stays faithful to Conner's idea and says it's about empowerment and running your life with one hand. Nope, sounds like masturbation, Erin argues, just as their young son walks into their bedroom. Awkward.
At the office, Tom and Hector watch the focus group tapes. They're hilarious and don't old, even after watching them multiple times. Mason walks in, sees what they're doing, and tells them to stop. They need to start writing some taglines and, if they don't, he'll have them writing coupon ads for a month. The duo is one step ahead, though, and hands him a page of taglines. Fair enough.
When he walks by Sarah's cube and asks if she has any lines for him, she freaks out. She thought they weren't due until the end of the day he said yesterday that they had until tomorrow which means today so why would he change his mind because hers aren't ready yet why didn't he tell her to have them ready sooner? Mason, a bit taken aback, says it's fine that she isn't ready to present yet. He was just checking to see if she had any. High-strung Sarah disappears and she thanks him.
Mason's phone rings and it's Derby. He's on his way to the airport and will be out of contact for the rest of the day so. . .what lines does he have for him? Uh-oh.
Mason reads the lines Tom and Hector handed him cold. He's not thrilled with the results. Things like, "Text this!" and "Dial On!" and "It's Textational" come out of his mouth. Derby isn't impressed, but says he appreciates that Mason isn't editing any of the ideas. Mason, at the end of Tom and Hector's list, scrambles to find more. With Derby on speakerphone, he pokes his head out of his office hoping Sarah will be at her desk, but she's not. Crap. He asks Derby if he'll give him time to find his other "file" and Derby tells him that he's got five minutes before he gets to the airport. Mason puts Derby on hold and calls Conner, who has yet to make it to the office. Luckily he answer his cell. . .unluckily, he's lying in bed with the aforementioned Jessica, the assistant.
Mason drops the news on Conner and it doesn't go over well. Derby said they had until the end of today-that doesn't mean first thing in the morning. Doesn't matter at this point, though; Derby's on the other line and they need something. Jessica, who really doesn't understand the gravity of the situation or the concern in Conner's voice, decides to get frisky. As she treats Conner to a little morning delight, he thinks. . .and thinks. . .and comes up with an idea: "Do Thumb Thing." Do Something? That's dumb. No, Do Thumb Thing. Two words, first word "Thumb." Mason isn't sure at first, but as Conner explains it, he gets on board. He thanks Conner and gets Derby back on the line. He tells him the line and. . .Derby likes it. In fact, he loves it. It's funny. It makes him nervous in all of the right ways, just like the pitch did. It captures the fact that more people text than call these days and Mason tells him they can do variations of the line. Do thumb thing fun. Do thumb thing romantic. Do thumb thing amazing. Derby is impressed and happy with their work. Mason happily jumps around his office after he hangs up. . .until he lays his eyes on Chip the Douche's portfolio that had been lying on his couch yesterday. Something suddenly starts ringing familiar. Mason opens the case and rifles through the storyboards. Three or four in, he's horrified at what he sees: an image of two thumbs texting with the phrase "do thumbthing" written above them.
Conner stole the line.
Later, in his office, Mason is livid when Conner walks in and doesn't hesitate-He stole the line! The line he sold to Derby was written by Chip the Douche; it's stolen intellectual property. Conner, noting that Mason did, in fact, sell his idea (or what he thinks is his idea), says he didn't steal it. Then Mason shows him the storyboard. What?! Conner is stunned-that's his line. Somebody stole his line. After a few moments, however, even he's too rational to realize that can't be true. He looked at the storyboards yesterday, yes, but he didn't intentionally steal this person's line. That would've been a conscious act. No, what happened here was a subconscious phenomenon. Unfortunately, that's neither here nor there. The line Mason just gave to Derby comes from a portfolio that has been sent to thirty or so other agencies over the past month. Should Arc Mobile's campaign go public with that line, everyone in town will know that Conner, nay RGM, stole it. Once his reputation is threatened, Conner lashes out at Mason-he should've stopped him as Creative Director. He looked at the storyboards, too. He should've known. Mason's an art guy, though; he doesn't pay attention to the words. Plus, the person who really came up with the idea-the 26 year-old toolbag who came up with it-could sue. And he will-Mason met him.
Conner comes up with what he thinks is the solution: Mason just needs to call Derby back and rescind the line. It's simple. Mason, however, feels differently. He doesn't want his first act as Creative Director to be calling his biggest client back to admit that his team is so lame that they plagiarized a kid's idea. There's only one thing he can do.
Mason calls Chip the Douche with the intention of hiring him.
Meanwhile, in a meeting about shampoo, Sarah works busily. . .at writing line for the Arc Mobile campaign. When the discussion turns towards hair damage, the meeting facilitator uses Sarah's hair as an example. Perhaps just in time to avoid her giving out a tongue lashing, Mason interrupts the meeting and grabs her. She hands him her list and says she has more on her computer, but Mason lets her know that's not necessary. They've sold "Do Thumb Thing." When she hears it, she immediately says it's almost exactly like the idea she pitched originally, "Let your thumbs do the talking." It gets chippy between the two of them, as do most conversations with Sarah, but Mason finally gets a word in edgewise. He knows she's disappointed, but he's going to make it up to her-he thinks he's found her a partner.
In Mason's office, Conner speaks with Chip, who's every bit the douche as promised. He's a self-proclaimed "package of awesome" who, with the right partner, could sell, "venereal disease to nuns." When Conner tells him he'd be working with Sarah, he's taken aback. A chick writer? Just then, Sarah is led in by Mason. She isn't impressed because, based on the way he presents himself, Chip doesn't demand all that much respect from an industry pro. Nonetheless, Mason and Conner can only act like he's God's gift to the advertising world because they have to hire him, otherwise their whole plan, not to mention Arc Mobile campaign, falls apart. When Sarah asks him what campaigns he's worked on, Chip gets up rather quickly and says he needs to go. Mason walks him to the door, presumably to offer him the job, leaving Conner and Sarah in his offer. Sarah doesn't get why they like this guy so much and Conner says he has a great, great book of work. Mason returns with a frown. Chip said he'd "think" about the job offer. Sarah asks to see his book and, Mason seeing his plan about to crumble before him, stands up for himself. He dislikes the lack of respect around the office. Sarah counters, saying the same and storms out of his office, but not before she says she refuses to work with Chip.
How are they going to get this to work? If Chip doesn't take the job, they're screwed. Conner, of course, has an idea.
Later that night, Conner, Mason, Tom, Hector and Chip are enjoying drinks at a local bar. They seemed to be having quite the time when Sarah walks in. Flashback to earlier in the day when Mason visited Sarah in her cube: He gives her an ultimatum: If she convinces Chip to work at RGM, she gets that office she's been whining about. If not, he'll see her right back here in the same place tomorrow.
Back at the bar, Sarah downs drinks like it's her job. And so does Mason. And so does Conner. Because, really, it is. After doing several rounds of both drinks and shots with Chip, the d-bag has an announcement to make: Christmas has come early for RGM-he's going to work for them!
Mason, having finally been able to go home after Chip's announcement, climbs into bed during the wee hours of the morning. His head has barely hit the pillow when his phone rings. It's Tom and he's got good news and bad news. The good news is he and Hector aren't mad at him for not choosing their pitch anymore. The bad news is Chip changed his mind-he's not coming to work for RGM anymore. What?! When Mason asks why, a very intoxicated Tom tells him they'll tell him all about it when he bails them out of jail. It never ends does it?. . .
The next morning, Tom and Hector regard their mugshots, which they've hung in their cube proudly, with elation. They're certified badasses now, even though they really didn't do anything. It was Chip who took a swing at a mounted police officer, but they were the ones who got arrested. . .
Sarah bounces in happily past them and right into Mason's office. The owner of said office, however, has his head down on his desk. Sarah puts a cup of coffee on there for him and he looks up at her foggily. Before he can even say anything, she begins mentally rearranging his office and says she'll just put Chip in her old cube. Mason points out that she seems to have absolutely no problem with working with the douche now-could that be because she made out with him last night? Sarah brushes off the criticism, saying it's advertising; lots of people have done lots of things to get what they want. Then Mason drops the news: After they left the bar last night, Chip told Tom and Hector that working with Sarah "Psycho" Hunter was not really all that appealing after she basically mounted him at the bar. Chip turned the job down.
Sarah, of course, flips it. Maybe if he'd consult her next time he's about to hire her partner it'll work out better. No. Mason's not having any of it. Maybe if she didn't only act in her own self-interest every once in a while they both wouldn't be in such a bad spot. Now, he has to go find some more aspirin and leaves Sarah visibly upset in his office.
In the bathroom, Mason has a conversation with his subconscious, which comes in the form of the individuals in the focus group that destroyed the "What can you do with one hand?" campaign. One of them says he can't handle being a leader; a couple say Conner is dragging him down; yet another says he can run things, he just has to stand up for himself. Amongst all of this, one conclusion becomes clear-Mason has to come clean with Derby.
On the phone with the Arc Mobile man himself, who once again reiterates the fact that he absolutely loves "Do Thumb Thing" and has been thinking about it since he heard it, Mason convinces him to do focus groups with the line. Just so they aren't blindsided again with a "What can you do with one hand?" thing. RGM will pay for it, Mason says, and Derby agrees.
Mason tells Conner about his phone call and Conner doesn't like it. Focus groups are going to love the line, which won't solve their problem. Mason, however, knowing full well that Derby listens to consumers and will kill the line if they dislike it, assures Conner that they're going to hate it.
At the mall, where the recruiter who pulls people in for focus groups does his thing, Conner and Mason debrief Erin. She's to walk by the guy until she gets chosen, fudge a few details about their lives to put her in the target group, not mention that anybody in her family works in advertising, and, to top it off, not only convince the facilitators that she hates the line, but convince the other people in the room that they hate it to. When Mason tells her the line, she giggles; she likes it. This might be tougher than they think. . .
Mason and Conner watch as Erin struggles to get chosen for the group. Conner begins to have his doubts. They're probably doing four groups-a failure in one of them won't matter if the rest support it. Mason, however, knows they're doing two: one male, one female. Then, magic happens. Erin is noticed by the recruiter and is asked to become a part of the focus group. Conner, always willing to go the extra mile, grabs Mason's glasses, puts them on, and says he's going in-now that he's seen it only takes a little effort, he's going to get in on the male group just to make sure this line dies a spectacular death.
Later, in the female group, a woman raves on about the line, saying it not only describes the way she lives as a working mom with three kids, but it's also cute. Mason watches through a two-way mirror unhappily. He then walks across the room to look in on the male group, where Conner, aka "Steve," calls the line "offensive." Why? Well, because he had a speech impediment growing up. . .
Back in the female group, Erin, aka "Tabitha," says she must not be in the target because that line feels like an accusation to her. . .
"Steve" is doing a great job of selling his point, talking about how he cried because kids made fun of him so much for the way he talked. It seems that some of the other men in the group are starting to pick up what he's putting down. . .
"Tabitha" says the line is calling her lazy because she can't even manage to call someone amidst raising her children and making up for her husband not being around, who, by the way, gets them to save money on what he calls the "austerity program." It seems that Erin, fully aware that Mason is watching, is using this opportunity to promote her personal agenda, as well.
In the men's group, the facilitator asks "Steve" how he got rid of his lisp. Classes, of course, the same classes that his six year-old son is now taking. . .
"Tabitha," meanwhile, is bringing it home. The line makes her feel insulted because, in the commercial they were shown, these big businessmen appear as though they solve the world's problems with their thumbs, while nannies and moms are left to do the dirty work by calling, not texting. She doesn't like it one bit and, thankfully, the other women in the group voice their support of her view.
Bingo.
Back in the men's group, Steve says he doesn't want a phone company to turn kids into the butt of jokes like he was. Plus, he kind of texts with his fingers, too. What about this line: What can you do with one hand? He makes sure the facilitator writes that down.
Back at the office, Mason runs into Tony. As it turns out, the new Arc Mobile line is dead. Mason feigns surprise, but is happy to see Tony isn't too concerned. They'll come up with something else-they always do.
When Sarah sees Mason, she makes a beeline towards him quite excitedly. While speaking a million miles an hour, she actually apologizes for the whole Chip thing, saying she might've taken it a bit far, she was a bit drunk, and that she kept comparing him to her ex-husband yadda yadda yadda. In the end, she found Chip in his hotel room, told him the kiss was more about her than him, and boom, here he is sitting in Mason's chair. Chip tells Mason that he's reconsidered his offer and Sarah teems with excitement. She's done a good thing. Or maybe not.
Mason tells him he's not reconsidering his offer of the job. He's looking for people who put the group first, not themselves, and Chip doesn't fit that bill.
Chip is sent packing and, just as Sarah is about to express just how angry she is with Mason, he tells her that she deserves better than that d-bag and should have a say in who her partner should be. So, Mason hands her a stack of portfolios and tells her to have a look through them; if anything in there interests her, Mason will do his best to hire the person it came from. Sarah is grateful for perhaps the first time since coming to RGM and her smile says it all.
A bit later, Mason slides his nameplate off of his old office door and takes it down to Stu's old office, his new one, along with a box of stuff. First, however, he makes sure to take Sarah's nameplate off of her cube and slide it onto his old door. He has a look around his new office and, as he does that, Conner walks in. He's genuinely happy that his best friend and boss has moved into his rightful place. But why did he finally decide to do it?
Well, he left a great disgruntled copywriter partnerless for two weeks and he got a brilliant tagline killed-he had a great day and deserves it. Conner laughs and, in his own mumbly way, thanks Mason for saving his ass with the whole stolen line deal. Mason tells him that's what partners do.
Conner pulls out the photo he took from his office the day before. It pictures two younger versions of themselves wearing kilts. They have a laugh and agree to never wear those things again. Then, Mason's phone rings. It's Stan, the brand manager on the Dove campaign they're running. Creative Director Mason McGuire has to take it and Conner understands.
As he walks out of the office with his buddy on the phone, Conner places the photo upright on the table next to the door. He has a final wistful look back at Mason-the two of them are no longer the two young guys pictured in the photo.
