Phil a conversation which makes him suspect that Gleb is secretly gay. Phil reveals his suspicions to Semyon, who reacts very negatively to such accusations. But when Phil explains just what made him suspect that, Semyon agrees to "delicately" investigate — only to ask in most straightforward and insulting manner possible. The only thing that Gleb can reply with is a flat "what?..". Once the situation clears out, and Gleb confirms that Phil is just paranoid, Gleb suggests to prank Phil, and play along with his suspicions. Lobanov tells Phil that Gleb is indeed gay, and they must "save" him, as it's their fault — he became gay to fight his apathy; for that, they need vodka and some snacks. At evening, Semyon goes to "talk" with Gleb over vodka, and Gleb pretends that Lobanov "betrayed" him by revealing his "very important secret" to Phil, whom he accuses of homophobia. When "offended" Gleb leaves, Semyon goes to "calm him down", and then Phil starts hearing them having sex — very loudly. Of course, when he goes to check, he learns that they just messed with him.
Sophia has a conflict with very aggressive nurse Spitzina from Cardiology, and must learn how to oppose her. She tries to find some advices in weird (and questionably useful) psychology book. The book suggests to imagine someone she hates the most in place of her enemy — then, in her mind, tell this being just what she really thinks of it, to destroy it, and with it, her stress. For Sophia, such being is... Mozart, whom she associates with exhausting music lessons she hates. She actually tells to "Mozart's" face why she hates him and his music, with cathartic effect. But Spitzina complains to Kisegach, stating that Sophia "insulted" and threatened her. Kisegach forces Sophia to apologise, and she does — to Mozart, who was the only one whom she insulted. She also tells Spitzina to never mistreat her again, or she would ask Lyuba for help.
Maxim and Alexei tricks Bykov to force them to work together by pretending to hate each other's guts. Now, when they have one patient for them two, they can deal with their task much quicker and safer than by themselves. But since they deals with their patient perfectly and without conflicts, Bykov considers work being done, and decides to separate them. Maxim, realising that it's their only chance, starts insulting Alexei (who, due to surprise, fails to provide adequate response). Bykov decides that it's too soon, and allows them to continue working together... but, unknowingly to Max, starts suspecting that something is fishy. He decides to learn more about origin of Maxim's conflict with Alexei, and starts asking them, separately. They tries to create new details on the move, but due to lack of cooperation provides completely opposite answers, confirming Bykov's suspicions. Alexei takes all the blame, but Bykov suspects that the scheme isn't actually his, and asks Rita for help, as Maxim can't be allowed to get away with it. For that, they spreads the rumours that Max managed to fool Bykov, so now everyone congratulates him. Maxim eventually feels remorse, and suggests Lyosha to reveal the truth — only for him to refuse, stating that even if Max gets punished, Lyosha himself wouldn't be pardoned, so no point of suffering together. Bykov then starts complimenting Alexei's "trickster's mind", and asking him for ideas how to play a prank on Kupitman. Maxim, hearing that Lyosha suggests only the lame ones, starts suggesting his own, more creative ones, but Bykov dismisses them as "lame", which leads to Max snapping and revealing that the whole plan was his own idea — and getting punished with twelve night shifts (eleven for a plan itself, and one for "corrupting" Alexei). Alexei gets one night shift as well, because one of his prank suggestions was too cruel to Bykov's tastes.
This episode provides examples of:
- Animal Motifs: Maxim's idea for a prank on Kupitman involves fake internet advertisement, which would have a photo of puddle for mating, and Kupitman's phone number. Fortunately, they never proceeds with it.
- Batman Gambit:
- Max and Lyosha pretends to hate each other to the point of violence, knowing full well that Bykov would force them to work together (so they would be forced to either deal with conflicts or fail the task). It works, and now they can cooperate to do their work much quicker and safer than by themselves, while still having just one patient to work with.
- Bykov forces Maxim into revealing himself by praising Alexei for being a "genius trickster", while dismissing Max himself. Maxim, who feels that his pride was insulted, quickly snaps and reveals that it was his plan and Lyosha just took the blame — and credit. Only then Maxim realises that he was manipulated himself, and congratulates Bykov on a good job.
- Brick Joke: Sophia deals with Spitzina by imagining that she talks with Mozart (whom she hates since the childhood, because she associates his music with her non-ending trainings), and insulting him instead of Spitzina, whom she fears. Later, when forced to apologise, she apologises to Mozart again, for previous insults. Sophia's plot seemingly ends, but at the very end of the episode she starts playing Mozart's music on piano, only to suddenly stop and say "nope, still hate him".
- Dude, Not Funny!: Phil complains that Gleb and Semyon's "gay joke" was utterly moronic and tasteless. Gleb counters that it was him who thought about all this in the first place, they just played along.
- Fat Bitch: Spitzina, fat nurse from Cardiology who mistreats Sophia. She is rude, she is loud and she acts like she is totally superior to Sophia, and may order her around or outright insult.
- Gilligan Cut: Phil asks Semyon to delicately interrogate Gleb to learn more, so they can check whether he really became gay or not. Cut to Semyon straight-up asking him whether he's a "fa**ot", and receiving Flat "What" as a reaction.
- Hypocrite: When Sophia tells Spitzina all she thinks about her, Spitzina... complains to Kisegach, stating that Sophia insulted and threatened her. Doesn't matter that Spitzina does the same all the time.
- Imagine Spot: Following advices from her book, Sophia imagines Mozart in place of Spitzina, and says everything to "Mozart's" face. Later, when Spitzina complains to Kisegach, who forces Sophia to apologise, Sophia apologises... before Mozart, for insulting him earlier, after which she states that she would never apologise before Spitzina, because she thinks that she's in the right.
- Karma Houdini: Spitzina never gets punished for her rude behaviour. On the bright side, Sophia manages to avoid apologising before her, either, so it's not a complete victory for Spitzina.
- Mistaken for Gay: When some random dude visits Gleb during night, after analysing what he overheard Phil, in combination with the other weird things he'd noticed in Gleb's behaviour earlier, jumps to conclusions that Gleb may be gay now (he isn't). He asks Semyon to help with "checking it", but Lobanov gets in league with Gleb, who decides to milk that situation for all its worth.
- Open Mouth, Insert Foot: When Lyuba suggests to deal with Spitzina for Sophia, Sophia rejects help on the basis that she must be able to deal with problems without help, or she would be in troubles if Lyuba retires or dies. Lyuba does't react well to the last one.
- Out-of-Character Alert: Gleb's weird apathy was the first sign that something is wrong with him (he even lost interest in sex). Then he started dressing weirdly and even spanked Phil's ass. Then Phil overhears something weird, and realises that Gleb may be gay now! When Semyon doesn't reacted well to presumption that Gleb may be gay, Phil reminds him that this is fairly similar to his (biological) father's story; it started from apathy, too, and ended with him starting loving other men.
- Out-of-Context Eavesdropping: When Gleb invits some random dude in his room during night, Phil hears some weird words from Gleb which suggests that it could have been sex. Gleb's dialogue with that guy next morning (from their words to their gestures), combined with Gleb's weird behaviour even before that, only reinforces it. In reality, they played video games, but Phil only learns this in the end of the episode.
- Spotting the Thread: Bykov starts suspecting foul play when Maxim tries to imitate another fight, but Alexei reacts too late and puts up very bad job at pretending that he's angry.
- Taking the Heat: Alexei takes the credit for Maxim's plan, and thus receives very harsh punishment from Bykov — while Max gets spared. When Maxim asks just why, Alexei states that he considers himself being a reason why Bykov even started suspecting that they are lying. Alexei also objects to Maxim revealing his involvement in the scheme, as it's too late for Lyosha, but Max still can get away.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Invoked and Exploited by Maxim; knowing that Bykov's response to his underlings hating each other's guts is to force them into one team (meaning that only way to success is to start working as a team), Max cooperates with Alexei to pretend that they are on the brink of a fight, knowing that working together on one patient is easier than working separately on two. Plan works, but after their success Bykov decides that it's safe to separate them, forcing Max to imitate another conflict; Lyosha botches it, due to making poor job at imitating wrath, leading to Bykov suspecting that something is wrong.
- Troll: When Semyon realises that Gleb is not gay, Gleb suggests to cooperate and troll Phil (whom they didn't warn yet); for extra fun, they even makes it look like it's Phil who's "intolerant" one. Then they locks in a separate room, and makes sex-like sounds until Phil enters and realises that they're just playing video games (with Gleb joking that Semyon "just raped him", referring to his devastating defeat). Phil is not amused.
- Two Rights Make a Wrong: Bykov asks (separately) both Maxim and Alexei about the reasons they started fighting in the first place. They provides him with conflicting answers, ruining their cover story.
- Your Approval Fills Me with Shame: When everyone starts praising him on fooling Bykov, Maxim starts feeling regrets (due to Alexei taking all the blame), and suggests to reveal the truth to Bykov. Alexei refuses, thinking that Bykov would not pardon him anyway, so why bother and suffer together? However, Max doesn't confess, so Bykov, instead of trying to guilt-trip him, appeals to his pride by starting praising Lyosha for it.
