Trust Me Episode 1.05 Way Beyond the Call

Mason and Conner watch casting videos for the Arc Mobile commercial shoot, which is scheduled for the following day. Mason grumbles because Arc scrapped the actors they'd already cast to be in the shoot earlier that day, leaving them little time to find replacements. Just as Conner says he likes one woman in particular-one who looks like a Pussycat Doll, Mason points out-Gordon Benedict, the Arc VP Account Director, walks in. He tells the guys that he's leaving RGM after 14 years to pursue other opportunities. Mason is shocked and a bit taken aback by how little Gordon has to say about it. After all, the guy has been there forever.

After Gordon walks out, Conner gives his theory: he was fired. He said "pursue other opportunities" and, really, who quits a job in this sort of economy? The dude got a pink slip and, if someone of his stature received one, it makes Conner wonder who's getting one next.

Across the office, Tony argues on the phone with his wife, Elaine, about something their daughter did. Elaine is trying to pin the blame on him and he vehemently defends himself. Sure, the daughter isn't a huge fan of his, but that's not completely his fault. An assistant interrupts the phone call and tells Tony that Rayner wants to see him in her office. The argument has to be postponed. . .

Mason and Conner continue watching casting auditions and find a guy who they'd like to play the main character in their Arc spot. Soon thereafter, a very chipper Sarah walks in with Mason's mail-they keep delivering it to his old office, which is now her new one. Conner asks why she's so uncharacteristically cheery and she tells them that it's her birthday. Oh, really? Does she have some sort of date this evening? As it turns out, yes, she does-with her ex-husband. But it's not a date. It's two adults enjoying a night together. Conner points out that this is the very definition of a date, but she just shrugs it off.

Mason opens a package that Sarah delivered and it contains an art book. His art book. As it turns out, he sent this sample of his work to a head hunter a while ago just as a precaution-it was always clear that Stu didn't like him and never felt like he had job security when the guy was around. Now, it's a completely different case. Conner, however, is offended. Mason was looking for a job without him. That's cold. Was he really of thinking of working at another agency in Chicago without him? Or was he planning on moving out of state without him? Mason's rationalization of the situation doesn't help. He says it was like being on a plane when they tell you to put on your oxygen mask first and then. . .help the kid sitting next to you. Oops. Conner takes this as Mason calling him childish and it doesn't sit well. He says he'll take his own cab to the airport and, after they get to LA for the Arc shoot, he's staying in his own hotel.

Tony nervously walks into Rayner's office. She starts out by asking how his group's doing. He reports that the Dove hair care work is much improved and he really likes what Sarah's doing with it. The Arc shoot is set for tomorrow in LA and they feel good about it. That's when Rayner throws up a road block. She asks Tony if he was aware that Gordon left this morning. He was not, but he assumes that she called him up to her office to tell him that they have a new account director on the campaign. Unfortunately, that's not the case. Rayner spoke with Peter Derby, the Arc exec in charge of the project on their end, and, apparently, he's not completely satisfied with Tony's group's work. The account is going into review.

Tony is floored. Why the hell are they doing that? His team is doing great work. Apparently not as great as they think, though; accounts go into review because clients get bored or nervous about how their campaign seems to be shaping up.

Rayner says she wanted to tell him before this hit the press. He tells her that his group is going to be devastated-Arc is their biggest account. Rayner assures him they'll get over it. After all, they're young.

Mason and Conner argue at Brooke, Tony's administrative assistant's, desk as she tries to get their travel arrangements set-Conner is switching hotels AND wants his own rental car. Then Tony walks onto the floor. He grabs a bag and tells everyone who has an Arc Mobile phone to put it in there. It seems that pretty much everyone in his group has one, save for Conner. Once he's collected all of them, the group watches with rapt attention as WHAM! WHAM! WHAM! Tony swings and repeatedly smashes the bag into a desk. After he's done completely destroying their phones, he tells everyone that they're not working on Arc Mobile any more, walks into his office, and slams the door.

Later, in Mason's office, Conner angrily flips through Mason's art book. Mason walks in and reports that Tony is still in his office with the door closed. He then finds out that Conner has strung together his own little theory about the Arc Mobile deal. It's now clear why Gordon got fired and why Mason sent out a sample of his work-he was covering his ass. He knew that their Arc campaign was going to go into review. Mason counters-then why did he let Tony take his phone if he knew he was going to destroy it? Conner doesn't have an answer for this, but it doesn't matter. Arc is pretty much dead and, come to think of it, it probably has something to do with Mason killing his tagline. Mason argues that he had to kill "Do Thumbthing" because Conner stole it. Never the one to be wrong, Conner tells him he didn't steal it he. . .quoted it subconsciously. Regardless, Mason tries calling Gordon to find out what's going on, but gets his voicemail. He leaves to go down to his office to try and find him while Conner promises that he'll be working on his portfolio while he's gone.

In her office, Sarah answers the phone-it's Andrew, her ex-husband. He's calling to tell her that he can't make her birthday dinner tonight because he has to work late. As he explains this, Conner bursts into Sarah's office, sees the gigantic gift basket on her desk, and takes the bottle of champagne lying in the middle of it. Sarah protests, but to no avail. Conner escapes unscathed with the booze. Andrew, who hears all of this, asks her if she sent herself another gift basket this year. Yep, because she deserves it. She asks him if he wants to do dinner tomorrow night. She sets aside an entire birthday week just in case things fall through on the actual day. Hesitantly, he says yes. She can sense his trepidation and her good mood deflates a bit, but she convinces herself that it's okay.

Mason goes to check on Tony, but his office door is still locked. He returns back to his office to find the entire group in there drinking the champagne Conner stole and waiting for the man himself to set fire to all things Arc Mobile-storyboards, art work, pitch materials, etc.-in a trash can. When Mason tells them to stop it with the bonfire, Hector points out that this is more of a funeral pyre. Bonfires are more celebratory. Conner tries lighting it with matches on several occasions, but Mason blows them out before he can toss them into the trash can. Mason tells them to settle down and wait for him to give them direction. As soon as Tony opens up his door, he'll find out what he'd like them to do.

Conner gets nervous when he hears this. Tony's door is still locked? Last time someone was behind a closed office door for an extended period of time, he died. . .

The groups rushes to Brooke and tells her to grab her keys. When she opens up his office door, they find Tony lying on his couch, listening to music through his headphones, and drinking Dewar's. . .

With the rest of the group gone, Mason talks to Tony alone, but doesn't like what he hears. Tony says it's all over-the account is in review, which means everything is on hold. Mason suggests they participate in the review, but Tony refuses this idea. The incumbent group never gets involved with a review because they hardly ever win. Sometimes they do, though, Mason urges. No-go. They aren't doing the review. Fine, Mason concedes, but he continues to push. What about the commercial they're about to shoot tomorrow? Everything is ready to go.

Tony, who's somewhat drunk, puts his foot down and starts yelling. They aren't spending any more money on Arc Mobile. Peter Derby can go screw himself, even though Mason thinks he likes their stuff. Tony gives Mason a piece of advice: only fight the battles you can win. Yes, the commercial is all set to go, so now it's Mason's job to call the producer to cancel everything. End of story.

Tony hands him a glass of Dewar's and tells him once he takes care of all of that, he should round up the boys and go get drunk. Mason grabs the glass hesitantly and walks back to his office. . .

. . .where Conner still sits next to the Arc Mobile funeral pyre. Mason tells him that Tony said the campaign and the commercial are dead. He has to call the producer to cancel the shoot. Conner is agitated-did Mason even fight for their campaign? Did he stand up for their work? Mason tries to brush this off by picking up the phone to call the producer, but Conner hangs it up. He wants Mason to let him fix this. He'll take care of the shoot. When Mason asks if he's going to spend $100 thousand of his own money, Conner tells him that it'll technically be RGM's money. Mason laughs. No, absolutely not. If he shoots the commercial, he'll cost the agency huge amounts of money, Tony will fire him, and then it'll all be over. Conner thinks it's over if he doesn't act. Once Arc Mobile is officially out the door, his job is in jeopardy. He'll become expendable. Action is what's needed.

Mason asks him what he wants him to do.

Fight. Yell a little bit. It's what Stu would do. . .

Mason perks up at the mention of his old boss's name. The guy sure was an asshole, but Mason doesn't want to be outdone by him, even if he's dead.

Conner alludes to the story of Stu shooting a Reebok commercial even though the client killed it. When the Reebok people saw it, they loved it and paid for it. The campaign was reborn.

This is all find and good, but Mason points out that this never actually happened. It was a myth. Conner knows this, but he says it doesn't matter. Stories like that are the reason people respected Stu.

They can save the campaign. They'll shoot the spot, show it to Derby, and he'll love it and pay for it. It'll make them legendary. Mason pauses, thinks about this, then apologizes. He can't do it. He has a family to think about.

Conner storms out of his office, ridiculing Mason for his selfishness. Mason picks up the phone to call the producer, but pauses. He takes a long swig of the Dewar's, then goes to dial once again, but stops. What the hell is he supposed to do?

Later that night, Mason sits at home in front of his TV. The commercial on the screen suddenly changes and Stu appears on the screen. He doesn't have much to say, but he does scorn Mason over and over again for being too soft. How is this happening? Stu's dead.

Mason is awakened by Erin. Apparently, he fell asleep watching TV. She can sense that something is wrong and he fills her in. Is the Arc Mobile spot is worth losing his job over? He really likes their idea and he knows Derby likes it. Erin has him remind her what spot it is: The one where the guy loses his job because he can't think of the big idea, his family leaves him, and he's forced to live on the streets. . .until he thinks of the big idea. He jumps on a bike, texts his office with his brilliant plan and reaps the spoils of victory, until, SPLAT! He's hit by a bus and flies into Mike Ditka's arms.

Erin calls it cute, which gets Mason excited. He picks up his phone, but she stops him. She doesn't want him pinning his decision on her, or anybody else. If he likes it fine, but it's his choice to make. He just needs to make sure that, in the morning, he doesn't regret whatever decision he makes.

The following morning, Mason is up and at when he bangs on Conner's apartment door. Groggy and perhaps a bit hungover, a disheveled Conner answers. Mason is all smiles when he tells him to hurry up and get ready-L.A. awaits. In a surprising change of attitude, Conner tells him it's a bad idea. They shouldn't shoot the spot because Derby could end up hating it and they'd be screwed. Plus, when he was saying all of that stuff last night, it was probably the champagne talking. Mason assures him that Derby won't hate it. If they pull this off, they'll be legendary. Conner will be known as a "ballsy, reckless legend." He likes the sound of that. Before he commits to what might be the worst mistake he's ever made, Conner asks if Mason still has the number to the headhunter. Mason tells him he's not going to need it. That's all Conner needed to hear. He begins packing excitedly as a little of the doubt Mason was hiding with his boisterous entrance crosses his face. . .

At the office, Tom and Hector receive specific instructions to cover for Mason and Conner. When Tony walks to their cube asking if they've seen Mason, they tell him that he's not around. He's certainly at the office, just not on the floor at the moment. Tony is a bit annoyed that he can't reach him on his cell. Tom points out that this is probably because he smashed it to bits yesterday. Before he realizes that he should probably keep his mouth shut, Hector tells Tony that he didn't crush Conner's phone. He should call him because he'd probably know where Mason is. Tony thanks him and walks away, so he doesn't see the look of complete horror that crosses Hector's face. What has he done?

In L.A., Mason and Conner get out of a cab at the studios when Conner's phone rings. The caller id says it's the office. Conner goes to answer it, but Mason stops him. What if it's Tony? Conner points out that it could be Hector and Tom with an update.

But it could be Tony.

But it could be Hector and Tom.

Never one to prevent life from being exciting/complicated, Conner answers.

It's Tony.

Crap.

He asks Conner if Mason is with him and is told yes. Mason looks like he's about to hit Conner, who tries to talk his way out of it. He's with him, but he's busy. They're in line at. . .Mr. Beef. Tony tells Conner to let Mason know that there's an internal new business meeting at six and he needs to be there. He then asks Conner to pick him up a Mr. Beef with extra hot peppers.

Conner tells him no problem-he can count on Mason.

When he reports all of this to Mason, he's less than pleased. It turns out he just might have a conflict at six. . .like being across the country.

Mason grabs Conner's phone and calls Sarah, who's sitting at her desk enjoying food from the gift basket. He begins by lying to her and saying his son is having a dental emergency, but she stops him. She knows he's in L.A. What does he want? He points out that she hates working on hair care stuff and there's a new business meeting today. He needs her to cover for him. She says no-it's her birthday and she has plans. But wasn't her birthday yesterday? Well, technically yes, but it didn't work so she had to push it back a day. She goes on to say that her birthday determines how the rest of her year will be and she hopes Mason isn't trying to ruin her year. He's not, but depending on the outcome of this meeting, it could make her year by allowing her to keep her job and save the rest of theirs. Almost in tears, Sarah says she'll cover for him, even though she just wants to go bowling. Mason says Conner will take her and hangs up. . .

. . .then calls her back to tell her to get Tony a Mr. Beef with extra hot peppers.

On the set, Mason and Conner watch as the director shoots the portion of the spot where the guy gets hit by a bus. A crashing sound rings out and the guy screams and goes flying. The director yells cut thinking that he's done with the scene, but Mason the Conner stop him. The crash was more frightening than funny. They need it to be funny. The director tells them it was close enough, but that's not good enough for the two ad men. Conner says the guy needs to flail through the air. Then it'd be funny. He should be floppy like a Muppet-that'd be great. Mason agrees and asks the director to shoot it again. Begrudgingly, he obliges.

Back in the office, Tony tells Brooke to pull him out of the new business meeting if his daughter calls as he walks into the conference room. He's a bit surprised to see Sarah there and wants to know where Mason is. Clearly the worst liar in the world, she says he's taking care of an edit on a 15-second Dove spot. Oh, the one he, Tony, approved yesterday? Sarah glows for a moment-he liked her spot? He answers her question with another question:

Is Mason in L.A.?

The look on her face answers that for him. He rises, apologizes to everyone for his Creative Director not even being in the same state, and walks out.

On the set, the bus hits the guy texting once again and he flails and flops through the air like a pro. The director yells cut and Mason and Conner cheer. They absolutely love it. Conner's phone rings-it's Sarah. Conner hands the phone to Mason and goes to see why the director has suddenly gotten angry. Sarah tells Mason that Tony knows they're in L.A. Completely disappointed, he's less than genuine when gives his thanks and tells her to have a nice birthday. When he hangs up, Conner delivers more immediate bad news-Ditka won't do the commercial. As it turns out, the wear and tear his body has taken over the years, not to mention the multiple surgeries he's had to fix it, has him a bit frail these days. He can't catch anybody.

Mason is incredulous. The commercial they put their careers on the line for has no ending.

The two of them knock on Ditka's trailer door, but find out that it's empty. The director tells them that the legendary coach left. His agent never showed him the spot's storyboards and he just assumed he was going to be holding a cell phone, not catching a man. Meanwhile, they're burning daylight and money, and they have no ending to shoot.

Conner says he has an idea. . .he doesn't know if it's brilliant or completely awful, but he does know one thing: it's expensive. Mason is less than thrilled, but has no choice other than to listen.

Back in Chicago, Sarah bowls with Andrew. When she asks him if he wants another beer, he says no. In fact, he's ready to move on to dinner. Sarah doesn't like this idea. They just got to the alley and she already had to miss out on cocktails because of Mason. She doesn't want him to cut her bowling time short. When he says they'll going to miss their reservation, she says they'll just eat there. The chili dogs are great. Andrew can't help but to smile despite himself and Sarah returns the look.

In L.A., Conner directs an increasingly annoyed video editor on the cutting of the spot. He continually tells him to cut two frames off of the end right after the guy gets hit by a bus. He asks Mason what he thinks and, trying to convince both himself and the room, he says he likes it. What does the video editor think? He says he finds the Ditka idea funnier. Great. . .

At the bowling alley, Andrew works the claw game trying to snag a birthday present for Sarah. He picks up a stuffed purple dinosaur, which Sarah names Gary. Andrew apologizes for not getting her a real gift or taking her to a nice swanky restaurant. She says she's grateful anyway, and, in the silent moment when they should kiss. . .nothing happens. Andrew suggests they go somewhere else, somewhere nicer, so he can treat her right for her birthday. Sarah takes a huge risk with her next suggestion-why don't they just go back to her plac?

Things don't go the way she would've liked after that.

Andrew tells her that this isn't a good idea. She reminds him that it was fine the last time they did it-it's just one night, after all-but he doesn't agree. They have to stop doing this weird dance. They talk on the phone every night, they hang out regularly, they even still say "I love you" from time to time. It's not normal. She deserves to be with someone who she can be with. Sarah, in tears, tells him that she doesn't have anybody like that. He says maybe that's because they still talk to each other. It's time to move on. The next morning, Mason and Conner get off of the elevator at RGM. Conner checks his phone and sees that the spot was delivered to Derby in the morning, which means he's seen it by now. Should be any time now when they receive a message from him saying he loves it. He will love it, right?

When they walk in the office, they find Brooke, Hector and Tom in a bit of a tizzy. Elaine, Tony's wife, is on the phone. As it turns out, Tony never returned home last night and nobody's heard from him since he left the office. Mason asks if anybody tried calling his cell, then realizes it's smashed with the rest of them. He suggests they start calling hospitals, but Conner has a better idea-they need to start checking out the bars Tony frequents.

They go to rush out, but Tom stops them. He knows it's an inappropriate time, but asks how the shoot went. Conner tells him that, yeah, it is an inappropriate time, but the shoot went well. They also ended up using his tagline-"Way beyond the call." Tom is thrilled, but Mason brings him back down. That might be the good news, but the bad news is they might've killed Tony.

The two of them walk the streets, even though Mason doesn't understand why they're looking in bars-they close at two in the morning. Conner points out that by saying that, it's clear that Mason has never slept at a bar. They peek into one of Tony's usual haunts, but find it locked and empty. Where could he be? Conner suggests they put themselves into Tony's shoes-where would they go if their #2 betrayed them and destroyed what was left of their career? Just then, Conner's phone rings. It's Tony. Conner hands the phone to Mason, who immediately asks where he is. Everybody is looking for him. Disheveled, somewhat drunk, and holding some sort of booze in a paper bag, Tony plays with Mason. He lets him know that it's really hard to find a payphone these days AND they cost 50 cents per call now. He then tells him that he's in his office. When Mason says this is impossible because they were just there, he tells him he's in L.A. on a shoot his boss told him to cancel. Mason pleads with him, but still doesn't receive a straight answer. Tony says he's in. . .Paris.

Mason sighs and wonders how long it'll take before Tony comes around.

A bit later, Conner and Mason walk into a large banquet hall and find Tony taking pulls from a bottle of Dewar's. He tells them that his daughter is getting married there next month. The two of them tell him congratulations and that they weren't aware that she was getting married. Neither was he, as it turns out. When he ran into his old dentist recently, he congratulated him on the happy occasion, but Tony had no idea what he was talking about. His daughter invited her dentist to the wedding, but not her father.

Ouch.

He goes on. He wonders out loud why nobody listens to him. His daughter went to college and he paid for it, which is fine with him, but she met the guy she's now marrying while at that college. She could've picked up the phone and called him. And, then there's Mason and Conner. He's taken bullets for them, fought for them, gotten them promotions and gone out of his way to make sure they always got the best projects. Stu wanted Mason gone years ago and Tony stood up for him. Then they go to L.A. to go on the shoot he said was dead. Mason didn't listen.

Mason knows he's right, but says he did it trying to save the group. Tony tells him that people have a short memory for the good things a person does. When that person screws up, though, they remember it for the rest of your life.

He leaves Mason and Conner in silence to go catch a cab.

At the office, Sarah trudges through the cubes towards her office in all of her somber glory. Tom and Hector watch as she arrives at her door, looks at her hyphenated nameplate, and snaps it in two. Her name, according to her office, is now "Sarah Kraj."

Mason and Conner arrive a bit later and report that Tony is in bed. They ask Brooke if Derby has called yet. He hasn't, but she received a call from Rayner-she wants to see the two of them in her office.

Hopefully Mason still has that head hunter's number.

Rayner screens the spot for the two of them and the new ending is revealed. . .

The man rides a bike down the street, texting his great idea excitedly when WHAM! He's hit by an oncoming bus. He flails comically through the air and CRASH! He flies through the window of the conference room where everything started. A guy in a business suit tells him he just received his text and loves his idea. Voice over: "Arc Mobile: Way beyond the call."

Rayner stops the video and pauses. Then she asks about Mike Ditka's absence from the spot.

Mason and Conner explain that they went with an ending they felt was better.

Rayner asks if Tony knew about them going to L.A. Mason tells her he eventually found out. She says that's unfortunate-she would've liked to have heard that Tony actually took a risk for once.

Conner and Mason brighten a little. She liked the spot?

It's obvious that she does, but she tells them what she thinks doesn't matter. Derby likes the spot, though, and Arc is going to pay for it and run it as planned. Mason and Conner are ecstatic and do a semi-decent job of downplaying their joy.

Conner tries to confirm that the account is now officially out of review, but Rayner doesn't give him news he wants to hear. It's definitely still in review, but it's not Creative's fault. Arc wanted to cut costs-basically pay them less to do more work-and she's not interested in that sort of thing. Plus, Arc will probably just end up following Gordon to Leo Burnett, the agency at which he now works. So, as it turns out, he didn't get fired, he just took a new job. Mason and Conner are stunned, but the hits keep coming.

Rayner tells them that they'd better get back downstairs to start working on replacing the $75 million account their group just lost by the end of the year.

Um, what?

Mason points out that the end of the year is a couple of months away. Rayner says she's aware of that-it's surely going to be an exciting time for them.

Well, that went well.