Mason walks downstairs in the morning and hears water dripping from somewhere on the first floor. After some investigation, he finds a huge leaking water stain in the center of the living room. He rushes upstairs to the master bathroom and tells Erin to turn the shower off. The bathroom is situated directly above the living room and is the cause of the leak. When Mason tells her what's going on, Erin says she didn't realize the stain was dripping. Wait. She knew about the stain and didn't tell him? Yeah. . .she's already called three plumbers and gotten bids, but wanted to wait for Mason to make a decision. He clearly wants to go with the cheapest offer, but Erin has a different idea. Why don't they just remodel the entire bathroom, like they talked about, and put in the amenities they've always wanted, like a huge shower with a bench, glass doors, etc. Mason thinks it's expensive, but after getting a does of Erin's charm, he breaks and tells her to start the process of looking around for contractors.
At the office, Conner gets a talking to from Bruce, a Human Resources representative, about his travel expenses. During his past few trips to L.A. for shoots, he's spent a good deal of company money on things that seem unnecessary. To make matters worse, he hasn't provided receipts to back the purchases up. This is unacceptable, especially during these tough economic times, so any continued expenditures on unsubstantiated purchases will lead to him being fired. Oh, and he has to foot the bill on what he's spent already-which comes to $4,217.
A bit later, Conner walks into Mason's office with two cups of coffee and scones. He needed a little pick-me-up and thought he grab one for Mason, too. After placing the coffee and the scone on the table, he waits a second, then tells Mason it came to $5.73. Mason tells him he'll get the next one-Conner says there might not be a next one. He tells Mason he was just down in HR and they showed him blow-ups of all of his expense reports. He owes the company a couple grand. Mason chuckles at this, which irks Conner, even though Mason tells him they all have money problems. This is serious business, though-he's not making Creative Director money like Mason. This is inaccurate, however; Mason lets him know that he never got a raise when he was promoted. All he got was new fancy business cards. He never told Erin and, now that she wants to redo the bathroom, he doesn't want to tell her no. Conner immediately forgets about his own problem and tells Mason he was promised a raise, so now they have to go yell at Tony to get it for him. He begins walking out, but Mason tells him to settle down-Tony's in Portugal for the Global Creative Review.
Nonetheless, Conner won't calm down. He goes to call Tony, but Mason stops him. Tony said the raise would come and told Mason not to worry about it. Conner asks him what he does while thinking about it. Well, he worries, of course. Conner suggests going to talk to Rayner, but Mason says he can't go over Tony's head. . .
. . .or can he?
Conner tells him Tony's head isn't there, so why not. . .
Elsewhere in the office, Sarah watches as Tom and Amy, the Dove Hair Care account supervisor, flirt at his desk. When Amy walks away, Sarah swoops in to poke a little fun at Tom, saying he's "in looooove" with Amy. He blushes and denies it, of course, telling Sarah she's acting like she's in middle school. She points out that he has no business reason to speak with her, so he must looooove her. Tom tells her otherwise-they were going over the Dove brief. Sarah snaps out of her playfulness and right into defensive mode. She sees Mason and Conner and makes a beeline towards them.
Why are Hector and Tom working on Dove? She doesn't need any help. Mason, exhausted from everything that's happened so far today, tells her that he was going to tell her, but she left the office yesterday before he could. Tom chimes in from the background-Dove is the only account with new stuff coming out the rest of the year and it's not fair if Sarah has all of the fun.
Sarah asks to speak to Mason in his office, who says it's not a good time. When Conner peels off to go look for loose change in his couch, Sarah convinces Mason to speak with her in her office.
After shutting the door, a genuinely concerned Sarah asks Mason if he thinks she's doing good work. She knows she said hair stuff wasn't her bag, but she's been working her ass off-without a partner-and she hopes she's doing okay. He assures her that she is and breaks it down for her. Putting Hector and Tom on the account wasn't a threat. He's giving them a chance to show their stuff. They'll probably come up with some funny ideas, but they'll be off-message, so no worries. Plus, Mason adds, he thinks he's found her a temporary partner-him. He already has a partner, though, she points out. For the next little bit, he'll work with two partners. Sarah beams-this is going to be fantastic, just like old times. . .
She shows some ideas to Mason, who, judging by the look on his face, wasn't expecting her to actually send work his way this quickly. Or at all. He tells her he'll get started on some designs in the afternoon because he has a meeting with Rayner right now. In a sweet, somewhat awkward moment, Sarah picks a stray hair off of Mason's shirt and wipes some schmutz from his face before he leaves.
In Rayner's office, Mason proceeds to get hacked into little bits. She starts off by telling him that Tony never told her that he hadn't given Mason a raise, but the company is currently in a salary freeze for all employees. When Mason says his case might be exceptional and argues that he's not asking for a bump in pay for the same job-he got a promotion-Rayner asks him what he's done to deserve it? After all, he got the promotion because Stu died. Yes, she does make exceptions, but pay raises and benefits aren't just handed out; they're based on merit. Other than filming a spot behind his boss's back and losing the Arc Mobile account, what has Mason done?
He doesn't know what to say. Rayner tells him that he'll get the raise when he earns it, but he can be rest-assured that he's on her radar.
Mason isn't sure if this is a good thing or not, but doesn't argue.
He heads to Conner's office, where he finds his buddy attempting to forge old taxi receipts to ease his debt to RGM. He tells him that Tony never even asked Rayner to raise his salary. Conner assumes this means Rayner gave it to him. Wrong. Mason fills him in as to what he was told-that being the exception to the salary freeze means you're an exceptional employee-and Conner gets pretty pissed. They're being used and taken for granted. They should be coming up with great ideas, not begging for more money. He tells Mason there's only one thing left to do: leave.
He suggests they kiss RGM goodbye.
Later that day, Mason and Conner meet with Jan, a headhunter. She's impressed by their portfolios of work, but asks to make sure that they're just not jerking her around like a lot of the creatives in town. Most of them are contacting her to get them job offers so they can then go back to their old companies in hopes of extorting a higher salary from them. After a brief pause because this is exactly what they're doing, Conner says this isn't the case. Jan asks if Mason has a problem not going into another place with the title of Creative Director-if they're going out as a team, it'd be easier for them to get jobs if they were on the same level. Conner says this is fine and Mason mumbles agreement-this isn't exactly what he was thinking, but okay. Next item of business: how much of a pay bump do they want? Mason says 20% should be sufficient. Jan assures him she can get this for him, but it'd be a little less for Conner since he makes more money than Mason.
Wait, what? Conner makes more money than him?
The two of them walk out of Jan's building and Mason is livid. Why didn't Conner tell him that he makes more money than him? It would've saved him the embarrassment in there. Conner didn't think it was a smart idea. Mason doesn't understand the logic of RGM-he's the Creative Director, technically Conner's boss, and he makes less money than him and can't get a raise. Conner points out the President of the U.S. makes less money than 90% of the CEOs out there.
When did Conner start making more money than him?
Well. . .it was Stu who got it for him. He went to Denise without Conner asking and just did it. He just liked him better than Mason, that's all. Soon enough, though, they'll both have new jobs and be making the same amount, so no worries. Plus, Conner might make more than Mason, but Mason has more-he owns a house, has a retirement plan, etc. Conner owes over $4,000 to RGM and he doesn't have it. That's embarrassing. Mason, being the great friend he is, pulls out his checkbook. He's giving Conner a loan. Conner says he doesn't want to take it, but grabs the check anyway.
All of these money problems should be over soon, anyway, right?
At RGM, Sarah walks into Amy's office and, surprise, surprise, the two of them don't get along. Sarah begins by very calmly telling Amy that she didn't appreciate when she went behind her back and briefed Tom and Hector about a Dove TV spot she was already working on. She assumed because RGM is such a boys' club that the girls would stick together. Amy points out that Sarah has never once done anything chummy for her, let alone courteous. She's belittled her campaign since she begin working on it, making it seem as though working on hair care is far below her skills. She's actually been trying to get Sarah off the project for a while, but she continues to be stuck with her. Amy brought Tom and Hector in hopes that they'll come up with some great ideas of their own to the point where they'll be running the campaign next year.
Sarah doesn't quite know what to say, but speaks anyway. Mason is her new partner, which will mean big things for her work. That's right, the Creative Director, Amy's Boss, will probably be more likely to recommend Sarah's work to the client. Amy points out that she's been working on this account for three years-the Dove people hardly know Mason-so that's probably not going to be the case. Sarah walks out in an attempt to be defiant, but she kind of just lost the argument.
Mason returns home that night to find the first floor of his house completely covered in plastic. He looks up and sees a hole where the water stain used to be. What the hell is going on? Did the ceiling collapse? Erin walks in and tells him that it didn't-Mark thought they should get to work right away and do all of the bathroom work at once.
Wait, who's Mark?
He's the contractor Erin hired. Mason isn't exactly happy about this-he said start the process, not hire somebody. Getting bids is how the process starts. When did she get those? Last month, she tells him, which makes him even more agitated. She went behind his back? He tells her they don't have the money for this kind of work. Erin tells him that, yes, they actually do. He has enough money to buy $345 shoes, after all. Those are for work, though, he says. Well, she's the home maker, so remodeling the house falls under her area of business.
The next day at work, Tom and Hector pitch their Dove idea to Amy as Sarah spies on them from her office. They explain that the dove is a sign of peace and, after reading the consumer information they were given, it seems a lot of women struggle with their hair. Struggle is a like war, dove is like peace, hence their tagline: Make peace with your hair. Amy is beside herself with excitement when Mason walks by. She asks if he's heard Tom and Hector's idea. He hasn't, but the duo won't tell him because they're waiting to unveil it at the client meeting. Amy walks away full of sunshine and the two of them thank Mason for letting them work on the project-it could really be a turning point for their careers.
Sarah pulls Mason into her office and shuts her door. He sees that she's been working quite hard. The large bulletin board in there is full of campaign ideas and research. She tells him that she has, in fact, been working tirelessly. Ever since Tom and Hector were put on the project she's been going nonstop. It's made her realize how much it means to her. And, with him working as her art director, she knows it's going to be great. It's been so long since anything good has happened to her that this has her really excited. When can Mason meet with her to go over ideas? He looks at his watch. Thirty minutes. He's going to check in with Conner and return some emails, then he's all hers. She points out that thirty minutes means he'll be back in her office at 10:41 on the dot.
Mason walks into Conner's office and isn't happy about what he sees-Conner is hard at work on a Dove campaign. Conner doesn't see why he shouldn't be. It's the only account doing anything at the moment and there's no better way to earn some extra cash than by going on an out of town shoot. Plus, he's helping Mason out by coming up with this stuff-it's going to be the best of the lot. Mason tells him that if he wants to help him, he should stop working on Dove. Tom, Hector and Sarah really have their hearts set on it. If he lets Conner work on it, he'll piss of the entire group. Conner says they'll understand. Mason lets him know he's already promised to partner with Sarah on this one. No matter. He's Conner's partner first, so that isn't a problem. Mason assures him that he's his first priority, but he really wants to make Sarah feel better about her job. She's stir-crazy with no partner around. Conner doesn't let up, of course. He's so into his work that he's convinced that he's making Mason's life easier-all he has to do is choose the best work and the best work is clearly Conner's.
Sigh. Where's the aspirin?
Finally getting to his office, Mason sees that he has two voicemails. One is from Mark, the contractor. He says he underestimated the water damage and needs to give Mason the bad news about their bed. The second message is from Jan, the headhunter. Fallon, an agency in Minneapolis, is looking to hire a team and has two people in mind already, but when they heard he and Conner were available, they deferred. Without hesitating, Mason calls her back and tells her to schedule the interview as soon as humanly possible.
That night, Conner pitches his idea to a very distracted Mason. He describes a commercial spot. A man gets home late. His house is dark and, when he turns out the light, he finds his wife making out with another man on the couch. She looks at him silently; he looks at her and says, "Honey, you're hair looks great." Conner doesn't get the reaction he wanted, as Mason doesn't even give a chuckle. He tells him he's giving him gold and he's not even paying attention. Mason asks him what they'd do if Fallon offers them a job. It's a really good agency, after all. Would they really take it? Conner doesn't really have an answer. Minneapolis sounds cold. And really close to Canada. Mason says it'd allow them to escape the stigma of losing the Arc account and he wouldn't have to choose between three Dove campaigns. Conner pops up off of the couch with a new idea. Instead of the man telling his wife that her hair looks good, she could smile, hold up a bottle of Dove shampoo and the announcer could say, "New Dove Therapy Conditioner with repairing serum. This is all you need to control and repair damage. . .to your hair." Mason likes it and they move to work on it. Who knows-if they pull it off, they might not need to move to Minnesota.
Meanwhile, Sarah snoops around Tom and Hector's cube. She looks through campaign ideas and sketches, and then, boom, she finds a very interesting piece of evidence: two strips of images taken in a photo booth. Tom and Amy are pictured in them getting up close and personal with each other. . .
Sarah storms into Mason's office where he and Conner are working. She tells them that Tom and Hector have to be pulled from the Dove campaign. Tom is in a relationship with Amy, the account supervisor, and it will render her unable to make a fair judgment on any pitch. She hands the two of them the photo strips, then notices Mason is making sketches for ideas that aren't hers. What's he doing? Working on Conner's stuff? Why does he have ideas? Mason tries telling her that he didn't tell Conner to come up with ideas, it just happened, but her frustration is already off to the races. Mason hasn't even started her storyboards. He says he was getting to those next, but she stomps out of his office.
Later, Sarah sits alone at the bar. She doesn't look happy when Conner walks in and it's only takes a moment for him to notice she's there, as well. He walks over to her and asks if she's mad at him. She says she's not mad at anyone-she's just sick of them. She doesn't mind the competition on the Dove stuff, as she's always welcomed a challenge. She just doesn't like that she's receiving no help. Nobody's got her back like everyone else does. She never knows what's going on and nobody ever really roots for her. Conner can go forth and be the savior of the Dove Hair Care account because she's done fighting unfair fights.
Conner tells her why nobody is helping her out: her reputation is huge and she seems confident. She tells him to stop hitting on her. He denies it, but she goes on. She's thought about it, him and her, but it'd just be too awkward. Their offices are right next to each other's and, given her history with Mason, it'd just be too much to handle.
Um, what history?
A few too many drinks at the company Christmas party eight years ago and, all of a sudden, you're in an alley making out with the guy who will become your boss down the road.
Sarah finds Mason still working at the office. He's going through some of her scripts and, to his pleasant surprise, they're not funny, snarky or cynical. They're emotional and moving. If he could choose one, it'd be the spot involving the park bench. This jolts Sarah slightly-could that be something she wrote which was inspired by her experience with Hector? She says the Dove stuff is all about being honest-any product that says it's easy being a woman is lying.
Mason is thinking of using photography instead of sketches. What does she think of staying a bit later and working on it? She seems like she doesn't really want to, but he pushes her. The ideas here are great, but the tone is a bit off. They're almost a little too honest about-they're must be a way to tell the truth without being brutally honest. Mason tells her to use her imagination and. . .
. . .after a moment, an idea-and a smile-blooms from Sarah's face. She begins giving Mason an idea for a commercial spot, having finally received the help she needed.
The next morning, Conner finds Mason sleeping on the couch in his office. He takes a moment to look around at all of the photos and storyboards Mason put together for Sarah's campaign before kicking him awake. He doesn't look happy. In fact, he looks jealous. It looks like Mason has been working pretty hard on Sarah's stuff-where's his? Mason shows him the storyboards for his campaign and Conner just looks at them. Mason asks if he doesn't like them, but Conner says they're fine without much emotion. Okay. . .
Mason tells Conner to not forget about their interview with Fallon at 11am before he walks out of his office. Oh, he didn't forget, Conner retorts.
What does that mean?
A bit later, Mason walks into the conference full of Dove creatives. The client meeting is at 4:00 and he wants to make sure they present ideas with which they can live. Right before the presentations start, Rayner walks in and asks if she can sit in on the meeting. Be a fly on the wall, if you will. Well, of course she can. From here on it, the presenters aren't really showing Mason their ideas-they're really trying to please Rayner.
Conner presents his "Damage Control" idea first and it's the most humorous of the ideas.
Tom and Hector go second with their "Make Peace with Your Hair" pitch. Amy almost squeals with delight when they begin. Their big "selling point" is their idea to release hundreds of doves, the symbols of peace, at noontime in conspicuous places in major markets across the country. As they explain this, Hector releases a dove in the conference room, which proceeds to flap around wildly and. . .crap on Rayner's sleeve. Oops.
Sarah is up next with her very emotional campaign. A woman sits on a park bench alone. Clearly, she's had a bad day. After a few moments, a man walks up from behind her and offers her a tissue. The announcer says, "We can't repair your love life, but we can repair your hair. And that's a start." Sarah smiles.
Rayner says all three are very different ideas. What would Mason recommend?
Not expecting to be put on the spot, he recovers from his momentary surprise well and says they're all really strong campaigns. With Tom and Hector looking at him anxiously, he says he'd go with. . .Sarah's campaign. The surprise on her face, followed by the small smile, says it all-she fully didn't expect to win this one.
Conner just stares at Mason with daggers.
Rayner sighs and gets up. Does she approve?
She slowly walks over to Sarah's storyboards, turns around and says. . .
"How about this. . ."
The air rushes out of the room. Great, the CEO is pitching her own idea because she doesn't like Mason's choice, or any of the other options, and that's what they'll have to present.
But wait, maybe not.
Rayner gives her idea. A daughter in her early 20s walks downstairs before leaving for her first day of work to find her mother in the kitchen. Her mother turns around and says, "You're not going to wear that, are you?"
Then, Rayner stops. Almost not missing a beat, Sarah stands and finishes for her.
"The announcer says, ... can't repair your relationship with your mother, but we can repair your hair."
"And that's a start," Rayner finishes. She taps Sarah's storyboards, smiles at Mason, then makes her grand exit.
After the meeting, Sarah bursts into Mason's office teeming with excitement. She hugs him, saying she'd forgotten what a good day feels like. Mason tells her he picked the best-she earned it. Now all she has to do is sell it to the client this afternoon. He's going to be there, though, right? Nope-this is her great idea. Her idea: her meeting. This puts her even higher. She thanks Mason gratefully and walks out past Conner, who's been loitering at the door.
After Sarah leaves, Conner shuts the door, frustration written all over his face. Mason points out that he doesn't seem happy. Conner points out that something has slipped his mind-the interview with Fallon. Oh, crap.
Mason dials the number quickly, the phone tells him that their conference call is already in session, and introduces himself. When he looks to Conner to do the same, Conner hangs up the phone and has one question for Mason.
Why didn't he tell him that he had an affair with Sarah?
Oh, that. . .
Conner berates Mason. He tells him everything, absolutely everything, and he didn't hear a peep about this. Plus, the whole affair is why Mason chose her campaign over Conner's, isn't it?
Wrong. Mason chose the best campaign. It had nothing to do with anything else. Mason begs him to just get back on the phone so they can finish their interview with Fallon. No. Conner doesn't want to move to cold Minneapolis with someone he apparently doesn't even know who likes to lie. In fact, he doesn't even want this money-he pulls out the check Mason wrote him to cover his travel expense debt and rips it in half. Mason argues that not telling him wasn't lying. Conner says it is and holds up a photo of Mason and his family.
Fine, out with the details.
It was eight years ago at the RGM Christmas party before Mason and Conner even worked together. Everyone was drinking and having a good time. Mason says Sarah kissed him first and it could've gone farther, but he stopped it. It was one kiss in an alley-it wasn't an affair. He's not proud of it, but he pretty much forgot about it until Stu hired her.
Conner doesn't want to admit that he might not have as much of a right to argue about it, so he says again that he tells Mason everything. Mason points out he didn't tell him about his raise. Well, he tells him everything that's important.
Mason finishes the conversation by saying he does, too.
In the client meeting, after a little uncomfortable squabbling with Amy, who clearly doesn't have her back or like her campaign, Sarah begins pitching her idea as Mason peeks in unbeknownst smiling. Yes, she'd been trying for months to leave the Dove campaign because she didn't get it. Hair care companies always seemed to be lying to her. They can fix her hair AND her life, they say, but it's not true. They can't make her a supermodel and she doesn't appreciate them trying to convince her otherwise. It's a lie. That's why Dove is different. They won't lie-they'll build trust with their consumers because that's most important. She then pulls out her storyboards and begins. . .
Meanwhile, at home, Mason sits Erin down to talk. There's something he hasn't been completely upfront with her about and, the longer he waits, the bigger deal it will become. . .
He tells her that he never got a raise. That's why he was so upset about the remodeling of the bathroom. She asks why he didn't tell her-did he think she'd be mad?
No, he was embarrassed.
She wants to know if he thinks she's just one of those shrewish wives who spends her husband's money and nags.
Of course he doesn't. He just didn't know what to say.
Erin isn't mad at all-in fact, she makes a joke about the expensive tile she was about to buy. She does say, however, that there should be no more secrets between the two of them. Mason agrees.
As she walks away, he stares off into space, knowing full well that he's got a huge one she might not want to hear. . .
