Trust Me Episode 1.03 But Wait, There's More

Conner sits silently on the recliner in his apartment dressed in a suit and listening to Wagner's Flight of the Valkyries at an ear-piercing volume. When someone starts banging on his door, he doesn't hear it at first. When that someone, who turns out to be Mason, starts yelling for him to open up, he finally turns down the music and answers.Conner sits silently on the recliner in his apartment dressed in a suit and listening to Wagner's Flight of the Valkyries at an ear-piercing volume. When someone starts banging on his door, he doesn't hear it at first. When that someone, who turns out to be Mason, starts yelling for him to open up, he finally turns down the music and answers.

Also dressed in a suit, Mason tells him to hurry up-they're running late. Conner, always the relaxed of the two, invites him in and asks if he wants a beer. Absolutely not-they have to get to the Chicago Creative Club awards banquet. Conner says they can't do this before they complete the "victory ritual," which is basically doing what he was doing before Mason arrived: listening to Flight of the Valkyries until their eardrums bleed. It's especially important this year because the two of them are finalists for not one, but two awards. Nonetheless, Mason points out that last year when they did the victory ritual, Stu Hoffman, God rest his soul, still won all of the awards. Conner, never to be outdone, turns up the music anyway and sits back down in his recliner to listen. . .until he notices that Mason is also wearing a tie. Both of them can't wear ties. He asks if everyone else is wearing is wearing a tie and Cochran's name comes up. Mason cringes because he'd forgotten that he was going to be at the banquet. If he wins an award, they'll never hear the end of it. A rare moment of silence passes between the two of them, then Conner says he needs to go change and Mason says he needs to go get a beer. . .

Later that night, Conner, Mason and Sarah sit empty-handed and disgusted as they watch Cochran accepts an award, which like all of the ones given away that night, is a brick. During his extremely smug acceptance speech, he gives the audience his one piece of advice for people starting out in the ad business: Watch your back. The ad world is shallow, cynical and egotistical one. . .unless you work for Rothman, Greene and Mohr, of course. After he finishes, Conner and Mason feign appreciation for his sincerity and honesty. He's the best guy who's ever tried to steal a campaign from them. . .and failed, thanks to Mason.

Up next at the banquet is the award for consumer electronics. Sarah hushes the two of them up because this is her category. Amidst their Cochran bashing chatter (they fail to listen to her), she manages to hear that her spot, "Lumberjack," won. Mason gives her a deflated "congratulations," because, yes, someone from RGM won, but it's for work she did at her old agency. Sarah waits excitedly for her name to be read as the copywriter on the spot, but is soon disappointed-her old boss, Josh Burkett's, name is read instead of hers. He took credit for her work! Mason has to basically pull her back down into her seat to keep her from storming onto the stage, but never one to back down, especially when she has the opportunity to be in the limelight, Sarah pops back up and walks towards the stage. It's at this point that Conner also gets up to go to the bar at the back of the room, saying he can't take anymore of what's taken place this evening.

Sarah arrives on stage just as Burkett finishes his speech and, as he exits, tells her to go back to her seat before she embarrasses herself any further. She refuses, of course, and takes a place right next to the podium as the emcee announces the next category. The crowd gets silent and a few moments pass before she realizes that even this is too awkward for her ego. She exits stage left.

Back at the bar, Conner runs into an old flame, Carrie, who, as it turns out, is extremely pregnant. Carrie points out that it's been three years since they've seen each other, so there's no way it's his. Conner is surprised it's been that long since they've seen each other. When he notices the ring on her finger, he asks if she married "that guy"-the one for whom she presumably called it quits with him. Yep, she got married to that one. Conner's a bit taken aback. Sure, he's the ultimate playboy, but even he might've thought that she was the one. Carrie can read the regret on his face and tells him that it would've never worked between the two of them. He was running around with dozens of girls and her being one of them would've never led to a successful relationship, even if she was really in the top ten, as he puts it. An awkward moment passes and she leaves him alone at the bar to return to her seat.

At the table, Mason attempts to console Sarah, but she stops him short-she was justified in going onstage, so save it. Conner returns and tells Mason that he just ran into "the one that got away." Mason names off four women before Conner corrects him-Carrie Taylor. This doesn't excited Mason at all; in fact, it makes his night worse. Carrie turned Conner into a mopey emo guy and it was a painful thing. As if on cue, Cochran strolls on over and bangs his brick down onto the table. Mason and Conner mumble out their congratulations, Cochran accepts, then congratulates Sarah. She manages a weak thank you. Sensing the awkwardness, the greasy Brit excuses himself and, as he picks up his brick, says, "I've got a house to build." Barf.

The final award of the evening is Best in Show and the winner is. . .Stu Hoffman.

Whaaaat?

Unfortunately, not one person managed to let the emcee know that Stu died. As a result, the hapless guy is at the microphone calling Stu's name and searching for him in the crowd. Someone has to go up there to tell him the situation and, of course, Conner volunteers Mason. He doesn't want to of course because he has absolutely nothing nice to say about the guy, but knows he really doesn't have a choice-he' the new Creative Director at RGM. He gets up and slowly makes his way to the stage.

At the podium, Mason is nothing short of awful. He tells the crowd that he's not actually Stu Hoffman (some jerk in the gallery yells, "You can say that again!") and then tries to spit out something to say about the guy, but dies onstage. After an unbearable minute passes by, he manages to say that Stu was the quintessential ad man, takes his brick, and leaves the stage. Tonight was not a good one for the Tony Mink group.

The following day, Mason and Conner stare at Stu's award sitting on a table in Mason's office. He's disgusted by it, but feels even worse about his performance onstage. Conner tries to make him feel better by saying the crowd probably saw it as a respectful awkward silence in Stu's honor. Nonetheless, Mason isn't comfortable displaying the brick in his office-people will think he's taking credit for Stu's work. Conner flips this and says this award doesn't represent that. It really is a testament to all of the great campaigns the two of them put together that Stu slashed and burned because all he ever sold was his own work. If Mason tells people that, they won't be able to say he's stealing Stu's thunder.

In a rare visit, CEO Denise Raynor makes a visit to Tony's office. She wants to discuss his group's creative output now that Stu is dead. Caught off guard, Tony says he'd like to bring Mason, his new Creative Director, into the meeting and begins walking out of his office. Raynor asks who this Mason is exactly. Clearly, he doesn't generate the same amount of gravitas as Stu did.

In Mason's office, Conner asks if he should text Carrie to reconnect. Absolutely not-she's married and pregnant. Too late, he already has. Tony walks in and tells him he needs to meet with Raynor. Conner is relieved that he's not the one Tony wanted.

In Tony's office, Mason is introduced to Raynor, even though he told Tony they've already met. She acts as if she does, in fact, remember him and says Tony has told her that he has many exciting ideas that will keep the Mink group's winning streak intact. Mason is caught off guard on this, but wholeheartedly agrees with her-he does have a bunch of great ideas brewing. Tony attempts to build him up by saying he and his partner, Conner, were finalists last night at the Chicago Creative Club awards, but she's not really impressed. She knows Tony disagrees, but she believes awards matter. If their group isn't bringing home trophies and plaques, clients will start pulling away and going to other agencies that do. She was a big fan of Stu because he knew this. Unfortunately for Mason, this means that he will be living in Stu's shadow until he can bring home some hardware. He tries to save face by saying they hired Sarah to do exactly this-her talent as a copywriter has earned her multiple awards in the past. When Raynor asks who hired her, however, both he and Tony become sheepish. Stu hired her. Raynor says this is another reason to thank "poor" Stu. Before she leaves Tony's office, she does two things: says the Clio Award deadline is coming up soon and lets them know that she's very interested in seeing their submission; she also completely butchers Sarah's hyphenated last name. It's clear that the only way Raynor will have the time of day for any of them is if they bring home at least one Clio.

Somewhere else in the building, Sarah and Cochran share an elevator. Knowing full well that flattery gets you everywhere with her, Cochran plays Sarah like a fiddle in the hopes of poaching her from Tony's group. He tells her that his floor is all abuzz about her big win last night. She asks if they're also talking about her making an ass of herself onstage and he says yes, but eases the blow by likening most people to "dicks." He then asks what she's working on. Mason has her doing shampoo, which she completely hates, but she acts like she doesn't completely abhor it or feel slighted by the assignment. Reading her well, Cochran lets her know that he thinks that's a waste of her talent. Blooming with self-righteousness, Sarah says that's the nicest thing anybody has said to her since she started at RGM. Cochran keeps it coming-he'd like for her and her talent to work with his group. Finally feeling wanted, graciousness oozes from Sarah's pores. He exits the elevator telling her they'll do lunch.

Later, Conner daydreams about intimate moments he shared with Carrie, who is dominating his mind. Unfortunately, he's at work supposedly helping Mason choose a campaign to submit for the Clio Awards. When Mason realizes he's not paying attention and texting Carrie, he tells Conner to stop it. She's married and pregnant-what's really going to come of this? Conner defends himself by attempting to convince him (perhaps himself?) that he's just trying to stay connected to a friend who used to mean a lot to him. Mason scolds him-Raynor just put him on the spot AND in Stu's award-winning shadow. Forgetting about him and failing to help him at this juncture in order to pursue a pointless romance is unacceptable. Friendship, Conner assures once again, it's a friendship thing. In any case, he sees the look on Mason's face and says he'll turn his phone off.

Sarah walks into Mason's office to tell him she's found a partner-Jamie Rawlston, an extremely talented art director. He wasn't on the list Mason gave her, however, and he'd cost a fortune to hire. Sarah reloads: He won two awards last night and he's worth the money. Mason should go ask Tony for more of it so they can hire an award-winning art director. When he balks because he knows that Tony will say no, Sarah can't believe it. He could at least try to have a good attitude about it and try to convince Tony how much of an asset this guy would be. Mason says no and asks why she isn't in her hair car consumer insight meeting. She says those meetings are demeaning to her talent. It's a shame she thinks that because, clearly, Mason doesn't agree, which is why he told her to go to it. She complains and whines as he leads her out of her office, managing to refer to him as "Mussolini" when he shuts the door.

All the while during this little encounter, Conner receives a text. Turns out he didn't turn his phone off. He's excited-Carrie wants to have lunch. . .

In the insight meeting, Sarah sits through a video of regular women talking about how having nice hair makes them feel good about themselves. They're "beauty realists." The manager in charge of the account goes through the nitty gritty of hair advertising as the endless string of videos continues. It's apparent on Sarah's face that she'd rather drill a hole into her head than sit through this meeting. That's when the consumers in the video begin speaking directly to her as she daydreams. They tell her that, while she likes Mason and Conner, she should feel no loyalty to them. Stu hired her, after all. Going over to Cochran's group would be a good move professionally and would allow her to work to on campaigns on her level. Plus, she'd finally get a partner-the longer she works without one, the more people will think she's hard to get along with.

Meanwhile, Mason walks excitedly through rows of cubes to find Conner, who's currently in the break room. As it turns out, the eligibility requirements for the Clios play to their advantage. Thanks to the stipulations, they're going to be able to submit one of their old projects and last year's Arc Mobile campaign instead of scouring the archives searching for an appropriate submission. Conner doesn't like the idea immediately because last year's Arc Mobile stuff was Stu's project. Does Mason really want to take credit for someone else's work? That's a really "Stu" move. Mason argue that it also has Tony's name on it and Raynor is more concerned with winning awards than looking at specific, anyway. Right when a smart retort from Conner should be forthcoming, he pauses, looks at Mason oddly and tells him that they need to switch shirts. What?

Because he's having lunch with Carrie, he'd rather wear a button-down shirt rather than the regular long-sleeve number he's got on. It'll make him look nicer. Mason refuses to switch shirts with him just as Sarah walks up asking to speak with him. He takes this opportunity to jump out of one fire right into another. . .

She walks him back to her new office, which is apparently not her office anymore judging by the fact that all of her stuff is sitting in boxes right outside of the door. They both walk in to find a new guy there, Jonah Quarles, working at his computer. Mason tells him that he's in the wrong office; he says HR must've forgotten to call him. As it turns out, the company is expanding and there's no room left for new people on the Retail Marketing floor. That's why Jonah packed up Sarah's stuff and moved into this office. Sarah, whose head has somehow not exploded yet, asks Mason if he ever actually told HR that he moved her into this office. A bit shamefaced, Mason admits that he might've never filled out the paperwork to make it official. And, hence, the final straw.

She walks out of her old/new/never-was office and immediately gets Cochran on the phone. How about they do that lunch today? Meet in five minutes? Great.

As his big lunch with Carrie approaches, Conner walks down the street speaking with the the restaurant they agreed upon. He lets them know that he'll be early and he wants to make sure that he's seated right away as soon as his guest arrives. Before he can finalize those plans, however, he sees Cochran and Sarah inside the restaurant he was passing by having lunch together. What the hell?

He calls Mason and asks if Sarah knows Cochran. Not really, but they've met once or twice. Could they be dating? Mason was under the impression Cochran is gay. Conner says he's just British, not gay. Then he drops the bomb-the two of them are having lunch together.

Mason storms into Tony's office to tell him that Cochran is trying to steal Sarah. He's livid and expects Tony to be the same, but he's surprised by his boss's reaction. For all intents and purposes, he says let her go if that's what she wants to do. She's been bitching since she's arrived-hates her office, hates the accounts she's working on, and so on and so on. If Cochran wants her, he can have her. Mason is shocked and argues the fact that Sarah wins awards. Those are exactly want Raynor just said she wants. Unlike his new Creative Director, the veteran group leader is miffed by this. Of course Raynor is obsessed with awards at the moment-a big banquet was held last night with awards. Just like a lot of storms, this will pass. Mason still isn't convinced, even though he's aware Tony knows Raynor better than he. She sounded pretty serious about this awards thing. That's when Tony tells him to take a look around his office. Does he see any awards? The answer, of course, is no. He keeps them in a cabinet, unseen and ultimately uncared for. They're all about ego and distract people from the work at hand. Nonetheless, Mason promised Raynor that Sarah would be writing award-winning copy for their group. Tony lets him know that this was something he probably shouldn't have said. He also tells him that if he came into his office to get permission to hire a really expensive art director, like Jamie Rawlston, to keep Sarah from defecting, the answer is no.

So that went well for Mason.

Back at the restaurant, Sarah and Cochran discuss Jamie Rawlston. Of course he'd be a great art director for the team, Cochran believes. He'd work really well with Sarah. She only has to say the word and he'll bring him in. Sarah is a bit surprised by this. Isn't Rawlston too expensive for them? People like Stu, God rest his soul, and him make Raynor's life easier. They win awards, they get their faces on the cover of magazines, etc., etc., so when the time comes that they need some things, she's willing to open up the pocket book a little wider. She doesn't do that kind of thing for, say Tony, because she actually likes Cochran, so he says. Sarah, perhaps feeling somewhat guilty, inquires into what Raynor thinks of Mason. He has no idea, but except for Arc Mobile and Dove, he has small regional accounts with small regional budgets. Cochran has big stuff-last week, he got to play golf with Tiger Woods. Sarah's eyes widen and Cochran dives in for the kill. . .

He says he'd love to have Sarah and Jamie Rawlston partner up and come work for him starting next week. She's speechless. He says she doesn't have to answer right now, but be thinking about it.

Back at the office, Mason explains his predicament to Conner. In his argument to prove they can win awards to Raynor, he made Sarah the keystone to it all. If they lose her and her creative talent, especially to Cochran, he'd look like a liar or. . .a loser, Conner adds. Mason wryly thanks him for the support and Conner points out that he'd better be thanking him-he bailed on lunch with Carrie to help him out. Now, what's his plan? First thing's first: he needs to get Jonah out of Sarah's office. Then what? She hasn't had a partner since she got there. . .will Conner work with her for the day? Conner argues that he's not an art director. At least he's a warm body, though, Mason points out. She hasn't been able to bounce her ideas off of another person and that's extremely frustrating. Conner agrees to it, but says it's not enough. Cochran is full steam ahead in trying to get her to leave them, so they need to bring out all of the big guns they've got. He's doing a good job of wooing Sarah, so they have to out-woo him. . .

Cochran took her to lunch, so they'll take her to dinner. No. They won't just take her to dinner, Conner says, they'll show her they're a real family and make her dinner. Mason asks him if he's planning on cooking as he picks up the phone. Hell no. He dials and says hello to Erin, Mason's wife. As Conner sets up what he's about to ask her, Mason argues with Conner's deaf ears in the background. He doesn't want to get his wife involved in this, but when Conner hangs up he says that Erin is in. Dinner for four at the McGuire household this evening. But what if Sarah isn't available? Hmmm, good point. Conner rolls out of the office on Mason's chair to find Sarah. . .

. . .who's working in a conference room alone. She tells Conner that she's not going back to cube life and has finally gotten her own place with a window. Fantastic, they should celebrate. Does she have plans for the evening? No, she says, with an air of curiosity. Good. Dinner at Mason's it is then. He hands her the address and rolls out. . .

. . .and back into Mason's office. Mission accomplished.

Mason: But what if it doesn't work?

Conner: But what if it does?

Still at the office a bit later, Conner daydreams about a past memory with Carrie as he pitches a shampoo idea to Sarah. In it, he's washing her hair and asks if "he" ever does this for her. She won't answer that. He asks if she really wants to marry "him"; she says she does. When he says that he's going to miss this, she says that they can always still be friends. . .

Back to reality, he finishes pitching an idea like this to Sarah, who hates it. She thinks she might be the only woman in America who has no fantasy of a guy washing her hair. Conner surmises that this is because no straight man has ever shampooed her hair. He gets up and, much to her dismay, begins massaging her skull as if washing her hair and tells her to think of a brilliant tagline. For a few uncomfortable moments she sits there, then tells him to stop. Then it hits her. "Life Styled." Awesome. Two more like that and they'll be off to stay in a Four Seasons somewhere exotic for a shampoo shoot. She smiles, then recoils a bit. She's curious-why is Conner their helping her? Because she needs a partner. He's a copywriter, however, not an art director, which is what she really needs. He's just trying to help-he understands that it's tough not having a live person to bounce ideas off of. As of late, it's getting hard to pin Mason down to do something like that due to his new responsibilities.

Sarah seems to appreciate this and Conner moves on. Is she excited for tonight? She says yes, but also admits that it's kind of weird. Before she has a chance to tell him why, Conner's phone beeps because he has a text. He reads it, then asks for her advice. She doesn't really want to give any, but he goes on anyway. He has an ex that he hasn't spoken to for three years and Mason doesn't think he should meet up with her-what does she think? Sarah breaks it down by saying that depends on a lot of things. Who broke up with whom? Conner stalls in answering, so she knows it wasn't him who ended it. He assures her that it was mutual and happened on good terms. Sarah sees no reason why they shouldn't meet up then. She and her ex-husband remain close, but it's not sexual. If Conner is looking for a hook-up, then that's the wrong road to be taking. Does she have a boyfriend? Off his look, she asks this: Is she married? Off his look, she says that they should absolutely not meet up. She believes in loyalty. Conner asks if she really means that. She asserts that she does, somewhat realizing that she might be the world's biggest hypocrite. . .

Mason gets off of the elevator while on the phone with someone from HR. He's trying to explain Sarah's office situation and get help in getting Jonah out of there, but to know avail. Erin then beeps in and, after he answers it, the HR guy hangs up. Great.

Erin isn't exactly thrilled about entertaining this new writer. She's spent the whole day cleaning the house for this guy and now she doesn't have time to cook. The new writer is a woman, Mason points out. Oh, really. He never mentioned that to Erin. Is she pretty? She takes his hesitation as a yes, then tells him that he needs to stop at some restaurant to get take-out after work. Will do. Now, what's this writer's name? Sarah Krajicek-Hunter. Oh, good, she's married then. Well, not exactly. She's kind of divorced. Erin is loving this situation more and more, except not really. She asks what train he's on knowing full well he's still at the office, but this lets him know that he'd better hurry or she's going to be really ticked. As if that's not enough, Mason gets back to his office as he hangs up to find Raynor standing behind his desk. Lovely.

She points out that she noticed he decided to display Stu's Best in Show brick from last night. She likes that-it reminds him of what he has to shoot for, although he should place it within his eyeline from his desk and not for guests in his office to see. If this grinds on him, which it most assuredly does, Mason doesn't show it. Raynor also points out a photo of his family. Is she keeping him from them? Of course not, he's forced to say. It's a hard thing balancing work and family, she says. Mason nods. Will she please get to her point?

Raynor tells him she worked with a Creative Director back in the day who gave her a good piece of advice-always hire people who are better than you because, in the end, your name is going to end up on their work. Tony clearly sees something special in him, yet she knows little about him. So. . .she wants Mason to tell her about himself. Right now. And leave out no details.

What must feel like hours later (and actually might be), Raynor and Mason emerge from his office. She says it was nice talking to him and bids him a good night. He does the same and waits until she's out of sight to sprint back into his office. He dials Conner, who answers and tells him he just got "here." Great. He's running late because he got waylaid by Raynor, so Conner needs to smooth things over with Erin for him, all while being charming and gracious to Sarah. Well, that might be a problem. . .

. . .as it turns out, "here" means a restaurant downtown. He's having dinner with Carrie. Mason explodes when he hears this. He's not supposed to be there; he's supposed to be at his house helping him save his rep and IGNORING THE MARRIED PREGANT LADY! Conner tells him to settle down and not get mad at him. After all, he's the one who's late.

At the McGuire household, the doorbell rings and Erin rushes to answer it. It's Sarah at the door, by herself. The two women share an awkward introduction-Sarah didn't even know Erin's name. She goes as far to say that people at work wouldn't even know Mason was married if it wasn't for the photos of his family in his office. Erin tries to shade her agitation after hearing this, but Sarah senses it. She attempts to repackage what just came out of her mouth by saying Mason is just all about work when he's at the office which is why he's failed to mention Erin, but the damage is done. Sarah changes the subject by hobbling over to the couch. She wishes she would've worn more sensible shoes as opposed to the expensive heels she has on because it was such a long walk from the train station. More sensible shoes like the ones Erin has on, for example. That comment is far from a compliment and pretty much solidifies the fact that these two might never get along. Where the hell is Mason?

Back in the city, Conner waits for Carrie at the restaurant when a man sits down in the seat across from his. Conner, somewhat offended, tells him that he's waiting for somebody. Yeah, the guy answers, it's his wife for whom he's waiting. Oh lordy.

Carrie's husband, Dan, explains that he happened to see Conner's first text to Carrie, so he decided to take her phone. Carrie just thinks she lost it. Conner puts it all together-it wasn't Carrie texting him all day, it was Dan. Trying to make light of the situation, he says it's him he owes an apology for skipping out on lunch then, not Carrie. Dan smiles, but it's clear that he really doesn't like the guy sitting across from him all that much. Conner assures him that he and his wife are just friends, but Dan doesn't believe it, even though that's the same thing Carrie told him. This isn't really surprising, though; as it turns out, the two of them slept together while Carrie was engaged to Dan. Conner wasn't aware that she told him that. Dan tells him they almost split up over it, but he said he could live with that fact as long as she never saw or mentioned Conner again. When his name popped up on her phone, he got suspicious. Conner tells him he should've never answered his text and that he's making nothing into something. Carrie did no wrong and absolutely nothing inappropriate is going on between them. Dan suggests calling her then and seeing if she wants to go out on a date with a man other than her husband. Conner says that's not necessary and his overreaction is misplaced. Dan gets up, tells Conner to stop texting, and calls him an asshole. For the most part, it seems like Conner agrees with the moniker.

At the McGuire household, Mason finally arrives. He's barely in the door when Erin inquires about the food he was supposed to pick up. Uh-oh. He totally forgot. It seems that Erin is on the verge of ripping his head off, so Sarah rises to leave. Mason tries to stop her, saying that they can order take-out really quick. That's not going to work. Erin says Sarah should probably just go. Mason offers to give her a ride to the train station and she accepts. He apologizes profusely to his wife as he makes his way to the door and she tells him to bring home Chinese.

When they pull up to the station, Mason tells Sarah to hang on before she gets out. She obliges unhappily. Here comes the big pitch. . .

He knows she's been talking to Cochran about going to his group. She was aware of this, mostly because of the last minute dinner that was supposed to happen tonight. Mason admits that Cochran is good-he's talented and smart, but how about this: Name one person in his group besides him. Sarah can't. Mason asks if that sounds like anybody she knows. Yep. Her old boss, Josh, and Stu. They were and are the only stars on their team. Nobody else ever gets a chance to shine because they take credit for other people's work. That's not how Mason operates. He will never go on a stage and accept an award for work she did.

Sarah points out that Cochran said he'd hire Jamie Rawlston. Mason says he called him that afternoon-he'd already accepted a job at an agency in Miami. Sarah isn't happy when she hears that. Mason continues.

His group needs Sarah. They need her talent more than Cochran does.

Sarah counters. She's aware that they need her, but nobody has acted like they want her.

It's because others in the group are intimidated by her. She is Sarah Krajicek-Hunter, after all, the award-winning copywriter. In fact, he tells her that he told Raynor his entire plan to keep up the group's creative output is pinned on her writing ability. She's that good.

Sarah says he's saying that so she'll stick around; he says that's not the case at all. He doesn't play things like that.

She pauses. . .

. . .then explains that she might think it'd be a little awkward for them to work together. Mason says he doesn't think so, as long as she doesn't. . .

SMACK! Before have a chance to go into more detail about this, Conner arrives with a bang. He slaps the passenger side window and almost gives the two occupants a heart attack. How did they know he was on that train? They didn't, Mason tells him.

Conner says he's starving and when Mason inquires about his dinner with Carrie, he just shakes it off. There was no dinner at Mason's, Sarah tells him, but she's not moving to Cochran's group. She thanks Mason for the "lift," Mason thanks her for sticking around, and she goes to catch her train. Conner hands the flowers he had for Carrie to Mason and tells him to give them to Erin knowing full well that she's probably pissed at how the evening turned out.

The following day RGM, Mason tells Cochran he can stop trying to steal Sarah. She's committed to his group, so back off. Cochran asks him where this sudden sense of honor was in the Arc Mobile meeting when Mason ambushed him. Oh, the meeting during which Cochran attempted to steal his account, Mason asks to clarify. Cochran has no good answer for this, so he attempts to threaten his adversary. He says he needs to warn Tony-Mason is a bit of a liability.

Mason turns to storm out, Cochran tells him to keep his office door open, so Mason slams it shut.

These two guys really don't like each other.

Also dressed in a suit, Mason tells him to hurry up-they're running late. Conner, always the relaxed of the two, invites him in and asks if he wants a beer. Absolutely not-they have to get to the Chicago Creative Club awards banquet. Conner says they can't do this before they complete the "victory ritual," which is basically doing what he was doing before Mason arrived: listening to Flight of the Valkyries until their eardrums bleed. It's especially important this year because the two of them are finalists for not one, but two awards. Nonetheless, Mason points out that last year when they did the victory ritual, Stu Hoffman, God rest his soul, still won all of the awards. Conner, never to be outdone, turns up the music anyway and sits back down in his recliner to listen. . .until he notices that Mason is also wearing a tie. Both of them can't wear ties. He asks if everyone else is wearing is wearing a tie and Cochran's name comes up. Mason cringes because he'd forgotten that he was going to be at the banquet. If he wins an award, they'll never hear the end of it. A rare moment of silence passes between the two of them, then Conner says he needs to go change and Mason says he needs to go get a beer. . .

Later that night, Conner, Mason and Sarah sit empty-handed and disgusted as they watch Cochran accepts an award, which like all of the ones given away that night, is a brick. During his extremely smug acceptance speech, he gives the audience his one piece of advice for people starting out in the ad business: Watch your back. The ad world is shallow, cynical and egotistical one. . .unless you work for Rothman, Greene and Mohr, of course. After he finishes, Conner and Mason feign appreciation for his sincerity and honesty. He's the best guy who's ever tried to steal a campaign from them. . .and failed, thanks to Mason.

Up next at the banquet is the award for consumer electronics. Sarah hushes the two of them up because this is her category. Amidst their Cochran bashing chatter (they fail to listen to her), she manages to hear that her spot, "Lumberjack," won. Mason gives her a deflated "congratulations," because, yes, someone from RGM won, but it's for work she did at her old agency. Sarah waits excitedly for her name to be read as the copywriter on the spot, but is soon disappointed-her old boss, Josh Burkett's, name is read instead of hers. He took credit for her work! Mason has to basically pull her back down into her seat to keep her from storming onto the stage, but never one to back down, especially when she has the opportunity to be in the limelight, Sarah pops back up and walks towards the stage. It's at this point that Conner also gets up to go to the bar at the back of the room, saying he can't take anymore of what's taken place this evening.

Sarah arrives on stage just as Burkett finishes his speech and, as he exits, tells her to go back to her seat before she embarrasses herself any further. She refuses, of course, and takes a place right next to the podium as the emcee announces the next category. The crowd gets silent and a few moments pass before she realizes that even this is too awkward for her ego. She exits stage left.

Back at the bar, Conner runs into an old flame, Carrie, who, as it turns out, is extremely pregnant. Carrie points out that it's been three years since they've seen each other, so there's no way it's his. Conner is surprised it's been that long since they've seen each other. When he notices the ring on her finger, he asks if she married "that guy"-the one for whom she presumably called it quits with him. Yep, she got married to that one. Conner's a bit taken aback. Sure, he's the ultimate playboy, but even he might've thought that she was the one. Carrie can read the regret on his face and tells him that it would've never worked between the two of them. He was running around with dozens of girls and her being one of them would've never led to a successful relationship, even if she was really in the top ten, as he puts it. An awkward moment passes and she leaves him alone at the bar to return to her seat.

At the table, Mason attempts to console Sarah, but she stops him short-she was justified in going onstage, so save it. Conner returns and tells Mason that he just ran into "the one that got away." Mason names off four women before Conner corrects him-Carrie Taylor. This doesn't excited Mason at all; in fact, it makes his night worse. Carrie turned Conner into a mopey emo guy and it was a painful thing. As if on cue, Cochran strolls on over and bangs his brick down onto the table. Mason and Conner mumble out their congratulations, Cochran accepts, then congratulates Sarah. She manages a weak thank you. Sensing the awkwardness, the greasy Brit excuses himself and, as he picks up his brick, says, "I've got a house to build." Barf.

The final award of the evening is Best in Show and the winner is. . .Stu Hoffman.

Whaaaat?

Unfortunately, not one person managed to let the emcee know that Stu died. As a result, the hapless guy is at the microphone calling Stu's name and searching for him in the crowd. Someone has to go up there to tell him the situation and, of course, Conner volunteers Mason. He doesn't want to of course because he has absolutely nothing nice to say about the guy, but knows he really doesn't have a choice-he' the new Creative Director at RGM. He gets up and slowly makes his way to the stage.

At the podium, Mason is nothing short of awful. He tells the crowd that he's not actually Stu Hoffman (some jerk in the gallery yells, "You can say that again!") and then tries to spit out something to say about the guy, but dies onstage. After an unbearable minute passes by, he manages to say that Stu was the quintessential ad man, takes his brick, and leaves the stage. Tonight was not a good one for the Tony Mink group.

The following day, Mason and Conner stare at Stu's award sitting on a table in Mason's office. He's disgusted by it, but feels even worse about his performance onstage. Conner tries to make him feel better by saying the crowd probably saw it as a respectful awkward silence in Stu's honor. Nonetheless, Mason isn't comfortable displaying the brick in his office-people will think he's taking credit for Stu's work. Conner flips this and says this award doesn't represent that. It really is a testament to all of the great campaigns the two of them put together that Stu slashed and burned because all he ever sold was his own work. If Mason tells people that, they won't be able to say he's stealing Stu's thunder.

In a rare visit, CEO Denise Raynor makes a visit to Tony's office. She wants to discuss his group's creative output now that Stu is dead. Caught off guard, Tony says he'd like to bring Mason, his new Creative Director, into the meeting and begins walking out of his office. Raynor asks who this Mason is exactly. Clearly, he doesn't generate the same amount of gravitas as Stu did.

In Mason's office, Conner asks if he should text Carrie to reconnect. Absolutely not-she's married and pregnant. Too late, he already has. Tony walks in and tells him he needs to meet with Raynor. Conner is relieved that he's not the one Tony wanted.

In Tony's office, Mason is introduced to Raynor, even though he told Tony they've already met. She acts as if she does, in fact, remember him and says Tony has told her that he has many exciting ideas that will keep the Mink group's winning streak intact. Mason is caught off guard on this, but wholeheartedly agrees with her-he does have a bunch of great ideas brewing. Tony attempts to build him up by saying he and his partner, Conner, were finalists last night at the Chicago Creative Club awards, but she's not really impressed. She knows Tony disagrees, but she believes awards matter. If their group isn't bringing home trophies and plaques, clients will start pulling away and going to other agencies that do. She was a big fan of Stu because he knew this. Unfortunately for Mason, this means that he will be living in Stu's shadow until he can bring home some hardware. He tries to save face by saying they hired Sarah to do exactly this-her talent as a copywriter has earned her multiple awards in the past. When Raynor asks who hired her, however, both he and Tony become sheepish. Stu hired her. Raynor says this is another reason to thank "poor" Stu. Before she leaves Tony's office, she does two things: says the Clio Award deadline is coming up soon and lets them know that she's very interested in seeing their submission; she also completely butchers Sarah's hyphenated last name. It's clear that the only way Raynor will have the time of day for any of them is if they bring home at least one Clio.

Somewhere else in the building, Sarah and Cochran share an elevator. Knowing full well that flattery gets you everywhere with her, Cochran plays Sarah like a fiddle in the hopes of poaching her from Tony's group. He tells her that his floor is all abuzz about her big win last night. She asks if they're also talking about her making an ass of herself onstage and he says yes, but eases the blow by likening most people to "dicks." He then asks what she's working on. Mason has her doing shampoo, which she completely hates, but she acts like she doesn't completely abhor it or feel slighted by the assignment. Reading her well, Cochran lets her know that he thinks that's a waste of her talent. Blooming with self-righteousness, Sarah says that's the nicest thing anybody has said to her since she started at RGM. Cochran keeps it coming-he'd like for her and her talent to work with his group. Finally feeling wanted, graciousness oozes from Sarah's pores. He exits the elevator telling her they'll do lunch.

Later, Conner daydreams about intimate moments he shared with Carrie, who is dominating his mind. Unfortunately, he's at work supposedly helping Mason choose a campaign to submit for the Clio Awards. When Mason realizes he's not paying attention and texting Carrie, he tells Conner to stop it. She's married and pregnant-what's really going to come of this? Conner defends himself by attempting to convince him (perhaps himself?) that he's just trying to stay connected to a friend who used to mean a lot to him. Mason scolds him-Raynor just put him on the spot AND in Stu's award-winning shadow. Forgetting about him and failing to help him at this juncture in order to pursue a pointless romance is unacceptable. Friendship, Conner assures once again, it's a friendship thing. In any case, he sees the look on Mason's face and says he'll turn his phone off.

Sarah walks into Mason's office to tell him she's found a partner-Jamie Rawlston, an extremely talented art director. He wasn't on the list Mason gave her, however, and he'd cost a fortune to hire. Sarah reloads: He won two awards last night and he's worth the money. Mason should go ask Tony for more of it so they can hire an award-winning art director. When he balks because he knows that Tony will say no, Sarah can't believe it. He could at least try to have a good attitude about it and try to convince Tony how much of an asset this guy would be. Mason says no and asks why she isn't in her hair car consumer insight meeting. She says those meetings are demeaning to her talent. It's a shame she thinks that because, clearly, Mason doesn't agree, which is why he told her to go to it. She complains and whines as he leads her out of her office, managing to refer to him as "Mussolini" when he shuts the door.

All the while during this little encounter, Conner receives a text. Turns out he didn't turn his phone off. He's excited-Carrie wants to have lunch. . .

In the insight meeting, Sarah sits through a video of regular women talking about how having nice hair makes them feel good about themselves. They're "beauty realists." The manager in charge of the account goes through the nitty gritty of hair advertising as the endless string of videos continues. It's apparent on Sarah's face that she'd rather drill a hole into her head than sit through this meeting. That's when the consumers in the video begin speaking directly to her as she daydreams. They tell her that, while she likes Mason and Conner, she should feel no loyalty to them. Stu hired her, after all. Going over to Cochran's group would be a good move professionally and would allow her to work to on campaigns on her level. Plus, she'd finally get a partner-the longer she works without one, the more people will think she's hard to get along with.

Meanwhile, Mason walks excitedly through rows of cubes to find Conner, who's currently in the break room. As it turns out, the eligibility requirements for the Clios play to their advantage. Thanks to the stipulations, they're going to be able to submit one of their old projects and last year's Arc Mobile campaign instead of scouring the archives searching for an appropriate submission. Conner doesn't like the idea immediately because last year's Arc Mobile stuff was Stu's project. Does Mason really want to take credit for someone else's work? That's a really "Stu" move. Mason argue that it also has Tony's name on it and Raynor is more concerned with winning awards than looking at specific, anyway. Right when a smart retort from Conner should be forthcoming, he pauses, looks at Mason oddly and tells him that they need to switch shirts. What?

Because he's having lunch with Carrie, he'd rather wear a button-down shirt rather than the regular long-sleeve number he's got on. It'll make him look nicer. Mason refuses to switch shirts with him just as Sarah walks up asking to speak with him. He takes this opportunity to jump out of one fire right into another. . .

She walks him back to her new office, which is apparently not her office anymore judging by the fact that all of her stuff is sitting in boxes right outside of the door. They both walk in to find a new guy there, Jonah Quarles, working at his computer. Mason tells him that he's in the wrong office; he says HR must've forgotten to call him. As it turns out, the company is expanding and there's no room left for new people on the Retail Marketing floor. That's why Jonah packed up Sarah's stuff and moved into this office. Sarah, whose head has somehow not exploded yet, asks Mason if he ever actually told HR that he moved her into this office. A bit shamefaced, Mason admits that he might've never filled out the paperwork to make it official. And, hence, the final straw.

She walks out of her old/new/never-was office and immediately gets Cochran on the phone. How about they do that lunch today? Meet in five minutes? Great.

As his big lunch with Carrie approaches, Conner walks down the street speaking with the the restaurant they agreed upon. He lets them know that he'll be early and he wants to make sure that he's seated right away as soon as his guest arrives. Before he can finalize those plans, however, he sees Cochran and Sarah inside the restaurant he was passing by having lunch together. What the hell?

He calls Mason and asks if Sarah knows Cochran. Not really, but they've met once or twice. Could they be dating? Mason was under the impression Cochran is gay. Conner says he's just British, not gay. Then he drops the bomb-the two of them are having lunch together.

Mason storms into Tony's office to tell him that Cochran is trying to steal Sarah. He's livid and expects Tony to be the same, but he's surprised by his boss's reaction. For all intents and purposes, he says let her go if that's what she wants to do. She's been bitching since she's arrived-hates her office, hates the accounts she's working on, and so on and so on. If Cochran wants her, he can have her. Mason is shocked and argues the fact that Sarah wins awards. Those are exactly want Raynor just said she wants. Unlike his new Creative Director, the veteran group leader is miffed by this. Of course Raynor is obsessed with awards at the moment-a big banquet was held last night with awards. Just like a lot of storms, this will pass. Mason still isn't convinced, even though he's aware Tony knows Raynor better than he. She sounded pretty serious about this awards thing. That's when Tony tells him to take a look around his office. Does he see any awards? The answer, of course, is no. He keeps them in a cabinet, unseen and ultimately uncared for. They're all about ego and distract people from the work at hand. Nonetheless, Mason promised Raynor that Sarah would be writing award-winning copy for their group. Tony lets him know that this was something he probably shouldn't have said. He also tells him that if he came into his office to get permission to hire a really expensive art director, like Jamie Rawlston, to keep Sarah from defecting, the answer is no.

So that went well for Mason.

Back at the restaurant, Sarah and Cochran discuss Jamie Rawlston. Of course he'd be a great art director for the team, Cochran believes. He'd work really well with Sarah. She only has to say the word and he'll bring him in. Sarah is a bit surprised by this. Isn't Rawlston too expensive for them? People like Stu, God rest his soul, and him make Raynor's life easier. They win awards, they get their faces on the cover of magazines, etc., etc., so when the time comes that they need some things, she's willing to open up the pocket book a little wider. She doesn't do that kind of thing for, say Tony, because she actually likes Cochran, so he says. Sarah, perhaps feeling somewhat guilty, inquires into what Raynor thinks of Mason. He has no idea, but except for Arc Mobile and Dove, he has small regional accounts with small regional budgets. Cochran has big stuff-last week, he got to play golf with Tiger Woods. Sarah's eyes widen and Cochran dives in for the kill. . .

He says he'd love to have Sarah and Jamie Rawlston partner up and come work for him starting next week. She's speechless. He says she doesn't have to answer right now, but be thinking about it.

Back at the office, Mason explains his predicament to Conner. In his argument to prove they can win awards to Raynor, he made Sarah the keystone to it all. If they lose her and her creative talent, especially to Cochran, he'd look like a liar or. . .a loser, Conner adds. Mason wryly thanks him for the support and Conner points out that he'd better be thanking him-he bailed on lunch with Carrie to help him out. Now, what's his plan? First thing's first: he needs to get Jonah out of Sarah's office. Then what? She hasn't had a partner since she got there. . .will Conner work with her for the day? Conner argues that he's not an art director. At least he's a warm body, though, Mason points out. She hasn't been able to bounce her ideas off of another person and that's extremely frustrating. Conner agrees to it, but says it's not enough. Cochran is full steam ahead in trying to get her to leave them, so they need to bring out all of the big guns they've got. He's doing a good job of wooing Sarah, so they have to out-woo him. . .

Cochran took her to lunch, so they'll take her to dinner. No. They won't just take her to dinner, Conner says, they'll show her they're a real family and make her dinner. Mason asks him if he's planning on cooking as he picks up the phone. Hell no. He dials and says hello to Erin, Mason's wife. As Conner sets up what he's about to ask her, Mason argues with Conner's deaf ears in the background. He doesn't want to get his wife involved in this, but when Conner hangs up he says that Erin is in. Dinner for four at the McGuire household this evening. But what if Sarah isn't available? Hmmm, good point. Conner rolls out of the office on Mason's chair to find Sarah. . .

. . .who's working in a conference room alone. She tells Conner that she's not going back to cube life and has finally gotten her own place with a window. Fantastic, they should celebrate. Does she have plans for the evening? No, she says, with an air of curiosity. Good. Dinner at Mason's it is then. He hands her the address and rolls out. . .

. . .and back into Mason's office. Mission accomplished.

Mason: But what if it doesn't work?

Conner: But what if it does?

Still at the office a bit later, Conner daydreams about a past memory with Carrie as he pitches a shampoo idea to Sarah. In it, he's washing her hair and asks if "he" ever does this for her. She won't answer that. He asks if she really wants to marry "him"; she says she does. When he says that he's going to miss this, she says that they can always still be friends. . .

Back to reality, he finishes pitching an idea like this to Sarah, who hates it. She thinks she might be the only woman in America who has no fantasy of a guy washing her hair. Conner surmises that this is because no straight man has ever shampooed her hair. He gets up and, much to her dismay, begins massaging her skull as if washing her hair and tells her to think of a brilliant tagline. For a few uncomfortable moments she sits there, then tells him to stop. Then it hits her. "Life Styled." Awesome. Two more like that and they'll be off to stay in a Four Seasons somewhere exotic for a shampoo shoot. She smiles, then recoils a bit. She's curious-why is Conner their helping her? Because she needs a partner. He's a copywriter, however, not an art director, which is what she really needs. He's just trying to help-he understands that it's tough not having a live person to bounce ideas off of. As of late, it's getting hard to pin Mason down to do something like that due to his new responsibilities.

Sarah seems to appreciate this and Conner moves on. Is she excited for tonight? She says yes, but also admits that it's kind of weird. Before she has a chance to tell him why, Conner's phone beeps because he has a text. He reads it, then asks for her advice. She doesn't really want to give any, but he goes on anyway. He has an ex that he hasn't spoken to for three years and Mason doesn't think he should meet up with her-what does she think? Sarah breaks it down by saying that depends on a lot of things. Who broke up with whom? Conner stalls in answering, so she knows it wasn't him who ended it. He assures her that it was mutual and happened on good terms. Sarah sees no reason why they shouldn't meet up then. She and her ex-husband remain close, but it's not sexual. If Conner is looking for a hook-up, then that's the wrong road to be taking. Does she have a boyfriend? Off his look, she asks this: Is she married? Off his look, she says that they should absolutely not meet up. She believes in loyalty. Conner asks if she really means that. She asserts that she does, somewhat realizing that she might be the world's biggest hypocrite. . .

Mason gets off of the elevator while on the phone with someone from HR. He's trying to explain Sarah's office situation and get help in getting Jonah out of there, but to know avail. Erin then beeps in and, after he answers it, the HR guy hangs up. Great.

Erin isn't exactly thrilled about entertaining this new writer. She's spent the whole day cleaning the house for this guy and now she doesn't have time to cook. The new writer is a woman, Mason points out. Oh, really. He never mentioned that to Erin. Is she pretty? She takes his hesitation as a yes, then tells him that he needs to stop at some restaurant to get take-out after work. Will do. Now, what's this writer's name? Sarah Krajicek-Hunter. Oh, good, she's married then. Well, not exactly. She's kind of divorced. Erin is loving this situation more and more, except not really. She asks what train he's on knowing full well he's still at the office, but this lets him know that he'd better hurry or she's going to be really ticked. As if that's not enough, Mason gets back to his office as he hangs up to find Raynor standing behind his desk. Lovely.

She points out that she noticed he decided to display Stu's Best in Show brick from last night. She likes that-it reminds him of what he has to shoot for, although he should place it within his eyeline from his desk and not for guests in his office to see. If this grinds on him, which it most assuredly does, Mason doesn't show it. Raynor also points out a photo of his family. Is she keeping him from them? Of course not, he's forced to say. It's a hard thing balancing work and family, she says. Mason nods. Will she please get to her point?

Raynor tells him she worked with a Creative Director back in the day who gave her a good piece of advice-always hire people who are better than you because, in the end, your name is going to end up on their work. Tony clearly sees something special in him, yet she knows little about him. So. . .she wants Mason to tell her about himself. Right now. And leave out no details.

What must feel like hours later (and actually might be), Raynor and Mason emerge from his office. She says it was nice talking to him and bids him a good night. He does the same and waits until she's out of sight to sprint back into his office. He dials Conner, who answers and tells him he just got "here." Great. He's running late because he got waylaid by Raynor, so Conner needs to smooth things over with Erin for him, all while being charming and gracious to Sarah. Well, that might be a problem. . .

. . .as it turns out, "here" means a restaurant downtown. He's having dinner with Carrie. Mason explodes when he hears this. He's not supposed to be there; he's supposed to be at his house helping him save his rep and IGNORING THE MARRIED PREGANT LADY! Conner tells him to settle down and not get mad at him. After all, he's the one who's late.

At the McGuire household, the doorbell rings and Erin rushes to answer it. It's Sarah at the door, by herself. The two women share an awkward introduction-Sarah didn't even know Erin's name. She goes as far to say that people at work wouldn't even know Mason was married if it wasn't for the photos of his family in his office. Erin tries to shade her agitation after hearing this, but Sarah senses it. She attempts to repackage what just came out of her mouth by saying Mason is just all about work when he's at the office which is why he's failed to mention Erin, but the damage is done. Sarah changes the subject by hobbling over to the couch. She wishes she would've worn more sensible shoes as opposed to the expensive heels she has on because it was such a long walk from the train station. More sensible shoes like the ones Erin has on, for example. That comment is far from a compliment and pretty much solidifies the fact that these two might never get along. Where the hell is Mason?

Back in the city, Conner waits for Carrie at the restaurant when a man sits down in the seat across from his. Conner, somewhat offended, tells him that he's waiting for somebody. Yeah, the guy answers, it's his wife for whom he's waiting. Oh lordy.

Carrie's husband, Dan, explains that he happened to see Conner's first text to Carrie, so he decided to take her phone. Carrie just thinks she lost it. Conner puts it all together-it wasn't Carrie texting him all day, it was Dan. Trying to make light of the situation, he says it's him he owes an apology for skipping out on lunch then, not Carrie. Dan smiles, but it's clear that he really doesn't like the guy sitting across from him all that much. Conner assures him that he and his wife are just friends, but Dan doesn't believe it, even though that's the same thing Carrie told him. This isn't really surprising, though; as it turns out, the two of them slept together while Carrie was engaged to Dan. Conner wasn't aware that she told him that. Dan tells him they almost split up over it, but he said he could live with that fact as long as she never saw or mentioned Conner again. When his name popped up on her phone, he got suspicious. Conner tells him he should've never answered his text and that he's making nothing into something. Carrie did no wrong and absolutely nothing inappropriate is going on between them. Dan suggests calling her then and seeing if she wants to go out on a date with a man other than her husband. Conner says that's not necessary and his overreaction is misplaced. Dan gets up, tells Conner to stop texting, and calls him an asshole. For the most part, it seems like Conner agrees with the moniker.

At the McGuire household, Mason finally arrives. He's barely in the door when Erin inquires about the food he was supposed to pick up. Uh-oh. He totally forgot. It seems that Erin is on the verge of ripping his head off, so Sarah rises to leave. Mason tries to stop her, saying that they can order take-out really quick. That's not going to work. Erin says Sarah should probably just go. Mason offers to give her a ride to the train station and she accepts. He apologizes profusely to his wife as he makes his way to the door and she tells him to bring home Chinese.

When they pull up to the station, Mason tells Sarah to hang on before she gets out. She obliges unhappily. Here comes the big pitch. . .

He knows she's been talking to Cochran about going to his group. She was aware of this, mostly because of the last minute dinner that was supposed to happen tonight. Mason admits that Cochran is good-he's talented and smart, but how about this: Name one person in his group besides him. Sarah can't. Mason asks if that sounds like anybody she knows. Yep. Her old boss, Josh, and Stu. They were and are the only stars on their team. Nobody else ever gets a chance to shine because they take credit for other people's work. That's not how Mason operates. He will never go on a stage and accept an award for work she did.

Sarah points out that Cochran said he'd hire Jamie Rawlston. Mason says he called him that afternoon-he'd already accepted a job at an agency in Miami. Sarah isn't happy when she hears that. Mason continues.

His group needs Sarah. They need her talent more than Cochran does.

Sarah counters. She's aware that they need her, but nobody has acted like they want her.

It's because others in the group are intimidated by her. She is Sarah Krajicek-Hunter, after all, the award-winning copywriter. In fact, he tells her that he told Raynor his entire plan to keep up the group's creative output is pinned on her writing ability. She's that good.

Sarah says he's saying that so she'll stick around; he says that's not the case at all. He doesn't play things like that.

She pauses. . .

. . .then explains that she might think it'd be a little awkward for them to work together. Mason says he doesn't think so, as long as she doesn't. . .

SMACK! Before have a chance to go into more detail about this, Conner arrives with a bang. He slaps the passenger side window and almost gives the two occupants a heart attack. How did they know he was on that train? They didn't, Mason tells him.

Conner says he's starving and when Mason inquires about his dinner with Carrie, he just shakes it off. There was no dinner at Mason's, Sarah tells him, but she's not moving to Cochran's group. She thanks Mason for the "lift," Mason thanks her for sticking around, and she goes to catch her train. Conner hands the flowers he had for Carrie to Mason and tells him to give them to Erin knowing full well that she's probably pissed at how the evening turned out.

The following day RGM, Mason tells Cochran he can stop trying to steal Sarah. She's committed to his group, so back off. Cochran asks him where this sudden sense of honor was in the Arc Mobile meeting when Mason ambushed him. Oh, the meeting during which Cochran attempted to steal his account, Mason asks to clarify. Cochran has no good answer for this, so he attempts to threaten his adversary. He says he needs to warn Tony-Mason is a bit of a liability.

Mason turns to storm out, Cochran tells him to keep his office door open, so Mason slams it shut.

These two guys really don't like each other.