Gleb invites Sophia to watch a new movie... and has three tickets instead of two. He states that the third one is for Semyon, but he can't go, so it would be wasted... unless Gleb gives it to Lyosha! Sophia, who wants to go with Gleb, and Gleb only, "delicatetely" asks Alexei whether he has something else to do, but he ignores all hints, to her irritation. Sophia tries to directly ask Alexei to not go, so she may have some privacy with Gleb. When he refuses, she remembers that time when he volunteered to stay on a night shift with her, and orders him to leave her alone. Alexei tries to return ticket to Gleb, stating that he sees no chances for success, as Sophia now knows what Alexei wants — and hates his guts. But Gleb assures him that not all is lost: as old saying goes, "there's one step between love and hate". The time would come when Sophia would be mad at Gleb for something — and all Lyosha would need to do is to be in the right place in the right time, and act on it. Comes evening, and movie is about to start, but Sophia is yet to appear. But just when Alexei states his doubts, she finally arrives... and brings her friend, Katia. Gleb proceed with his plan, by making his worst to enrage Sophia, but Alexei, instead of taking advantage of the situation, shows more interest... to Katia (which turns out to be mutual). They leaves mid-movie to go elsewhere. Later Gleb learns that the two had sex, which not only sabotaged the entire plan, but also made sure that Sophia would now hate Lyosha even more. But, to Gleb's surprise, not all hope is lost: Katia described Alexei's "performance" in bed as being so great that Sophia now can't stop thinking about it. Maybe, there's still a chance to salvage the situation...
Lyuba falls asleep right on the working place. When Rita wakes her up to learn why, Lyuba reveals that (likely drunk) Kupitman (repeatedly!) messaged her in the middle of the night, disturbing her sleep, to ask whether he can visit her, to the point that she eventually agreed and started waiting for him... only for him to never came! Their discussion gets interrupted by Kupitman finally appearing... with a huge bruise under his eye. Kupitman reveals how that bruise was made. He indeed was drunk, and mistook Lyuba's number for... another Lyuba's number. So, when our Lyuba allowed him to go, he was hit in the eye by his lover's husband, because he still thought that he called her instead of our Lyuba. When asked just how he managed to mistake two numbers, he reveals that he has a "system of secret codes", which normally works, but this time backfired. Lyuba, enraged by being registered as "Lyuba 4", demands him to give her his phone, so she may delete her number altogether. Then she learns that Bykov is registered as "Andryusha", and goes ballistic on his ass, ordering him to never come back again. Now, Rita is interested: did Lyuba had (or has) any affair with Kupitman? They chatted for half a night, then she waited for him for the rest of it, and now resents him for not coming; plus, her weird reaction to Kupitman's number list.. Lyuba denies all this, and instead states the real reason: she knows Kupitman for so long that she is one of his closest friends by now; whenever something bad happens (like his several divorces), she is the one whom he would call for solace. And now it turns out that she's merely "Lyuba 4"! They gets interrupted by Phil, who doesn't know what to do: Kupitman just sits in his office, drinking cognac and crying! Phil can't calm him down, so he thought that maybe Lyuba knows what's happening with him? Rita immediately recognises that Kupitman regrets harming Lyuba, but Lyuba refuses to help him. Later, she decides to talk with Kupitman after all, and even forgives him for being "Lyuba 4"... only to learn that real reason for him crying is him forgetting how his "secret code" system is supposed to work, rendering his collection of phone numbers unusable. Lyuba instantly loses whatever compassion she had for him. But later she receives a call from Kupitman, despite him no longer having her number. Then he rings her door, and shows up with flowers. At first it looks like he'd mistook the address again, but turns out that he's here to apologise: he forgot all the numbers (all dozens of them), but one number — Lyuba's number — he remembers by heart. Lyuba accepts his apologises and let him in. As a side effect, they gets forced to go on a work with heavy hangover; being Kupitman's friend has its price.
Bykov still keeps the red tape in on-call room, meaning that interns have very little place to stand. And Alexei stands too close for comfort to Sophia, who kicks him right into Bykov's territory — who is vehemently against anyone of them being there. When Bykov refuses Alexei's request to at least increase it somewhat, Maxim suggests another option: what if interns wins it in some sort of a challenge? Bykov agrees and suggests a medical "Victorina". note Considering that Alexei isn't even aware of the word "Victorina", their chances to win are slim. Bykov and Gleb needs time to prepare the questions, so for now, interns must leave. When Bykov finishes the preparations, he announces the rules: if interns would answer the questions right, they'd receive one quadratic meter of on-call room; on the wrong answer, it goes to Bykov. Unfortunately, interns answers wrongly all five questions and gets kicked out not only from the on-call room, but also loses a part of the corridor. Maxim tries to ask for another go, but Bykov thinks that he has enough: interns can't go closer than two meters to his precious on-call room. But if Max insists, they can try again later, so Bykov would be able to kick them out of the hospital altogether! Maxim suggests to just cheat. Sophia is Gleb's girlfriend, and Gleb is Bykov's assistant, so they may receive the answers through him. Gleb agrees to help them (in fact, he already tried to give them subtle hints, but they missed every single clue). When asked by Phil whether he did this because of Sophia, he says that Bykov plans to put Gleb himself through "Victorina" once he deals with interns. The plan seemingly works, and interns have already won half of the on-call room back, but then Bykov busts Gleb giving interns hints. Bykov almost cancels all results, but Max stops him in the last moment and suggests to do one last bonus round: all or nothing. Bykov agrees, stating the following rules: interns can choose the topic and have one minute to answer, but if they fail, Bykov would kick them all the way to the restrooms. But the "question" he asks is... his daughter's name (with options being "Isolde", "Veronica", "Alisa" and "Eugenia"). Interns can't agree on any option, and at the last moment, Max says "Veronica" — and learns that Bykov didn't exaggerate in his threat. However, when Bykov tells Kisegach about how he punished interns for failing the quiz, she asks what he knows about his daughter; does he even know her whereabouts? He doesn't, and even deleted her number to make place for pizza delivery service. Bykov indeed fells ashamed, and, after being reminded the number, spends long time talking with daughter. He then tells interns that while they guessed wrong, "Veronica" is Alisa's favourite name, so he'd let it pass.
This episode provides examples of:
- Alcohol-Induced Idiocy: Kupitman has (or, rather, had, considering how it ended) a lover who's also called "Lyuba". When he by drunk mistake (repeatedly) called our Lyuba until she allowed him to visit her, he mistook it for his lover allowing him to visit her. When he did, he was hit in the eye by her husband.
- Bookend: Kupitman's plot starts with drunk Kupitman messaging Lyuba (by mistake) and then going to other woman (it's complicated), which results in him ruining his friendship with Lyuba over him valuing her number as low as her being "Lyuba 4". It ends with (mostly) sober Kupitman messaging Lyuba (this time purposely) and then going to her to apologise, restoring their friendship, because Kupitman values her number so much, its the only number he remembered by heart, and there were several dozens of them.
- Digging Yourself Deeper: Lyuba is already angry at Kupitman for messaging her (multiple times!) in the middle of the night, asking to allow him to visit her until she agreed — only for Lyuba to waste the rest of the night waiting for Kupitman to appear (he never did) until she fell asleep right with her face on the table. Kupitman tries to explain that he was so drunk that he meant to message other woman (also called Lyuba), so when he was finally allowed to visit, he went to his lover instead, and was hit in the face by her husband. This by itself makes Lyuba angrier since it turns out that Kupitman wasted her time for no good reason, but then Kupitman states that our Lyuba's number is registered (using his "secret codes" system) as "Lyuba 4" (which she interpreted as him valuing three women more higher than her, his close friend), after which she demands his phone so she may just delete her number altogether. Then she learns that Bykov is registered as "Andryusha", which, when combined with her being simply "Lyuba 4", causes her to go ballistic on his ass and ordering him to never come back.
- Epic Fail: Rules of Bykov's "Victorina" are simple: if interns answer correctly, they'd receive one bonus quadratic meter of on-call room. If they answer wrong, they'd lose it to Bykov. By the end of the Victorina... they were kicked out in the corridor, and even lost two meters of corridor itself!
- Heel Realisation: Bykov gives interns blatantly impossible (with information they know) question about his daughter's name (while it's supposed to be a medicine-related quiz), making them choose between "Isolde", "Veronica", "Alisa" and "Eugenia". Later, Kisegach asks him whether he knows where Alisa is known, making him choose between Goa, Saint-Petersburg, Tibet and Sochi. He doesn't know. He then reveals that he erased her phone number; there wasn't a room for pizza delivery service. Kisegach, who does have Alisa's number, despite not being her parent, calls him a terrible father... and he can't help but agree with her. He actually calls Alisa after being given the number (turns out, she's in Tibet), and spends long time talking, after which forgives interns under first flimsy excuse he can find (as her favourite female name is "Veronica", he would pretend that Maxim guessed right).
- Hypocrite: Bykov gives his interns blatantly unsolvable (with information available to them) question about his daughter's name (not even related to the theme of their quiz). When asked by Kisegach (who considered him "defeating" interns in this manner to be an extremely dick move) about Alisa's whereabouts (in a manner similar to his own question earlier, he fails to answer, and asks for phone call to his daughter... only to reveal that he has no her number, deleting it to make a place for pizza delivery service — while Kisegach herself has it, despite not even being related to Alisa in any way. She also asks whether he considers messing around with interns being more interesting than being a parent, and whether same would happen to Ilya. Bykov not even tries to deny it... because he actually agrees with it, and when Kisegach leaves, actually calls Alisa to finally talk to her.
- I Resemble That Remark!: Kisegach accuses Bykov on not caring about his daughter, Alisa (even Anastasia talks with her more often than him). Bykov tries to deny it — and then reveals that he's deleted Alisa's number to make place for pizza delivery service.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold:
- You think that Kupitman cries out of regret of breaking Lyuba's heart? Nope! He cries because he no longer understands his "secret code" system (which caused this whole mess in the first place) — which he outright states to Lyuba! Lyuba (who came to calm him down) reacts as well as may be expected. But later that night, he messages her again (surprising her, since she previously deleted her number from Kupitman's phone as a sign of ending their friendship), and, when she ignores it, rings in her door, so he may apologise personally; turns out that he forgot all numbers in his phone — but Lyuba's number he remembers by heart, the first such case in a long time! She gives him a second chance after that.
- Bykov previously deleted his daughter's number from his phone to make room for pizza delivery service. Yet when he gets called out by Kisegach (despite showing no signs of regret initially), he does call her, and spends a long time talking. Kisegach takes it as a sign that not all is lost to him. Then Bykov cancels the results of the last quiz and takes interns' last (technically wrong) answer as a pass under first lousy excuse he could find, thus allowing them in on-call room.
- Like an Old Married Couple: Rita mistakingly believes that Lyuba has (or had) an affair with Kupitman, because she waited for him for full night, and now resents him for not coming. They're not in relationship, however; sometimes, old friendship can be just hard to tell apart from romance.
- Laser-Guided Karma:
- It's hard to feel sorry for Kupitman and his black eye, considering that he received it because he messed with a married woman, not to mention the only reason he was caught was his own Alcohol-Induced Idiocy.
- Bykov feels no regret due to giving interns unsolvable question in their quiz, because interns previously cheated themselves. And only reason they resolved to cheating in the first place is their lack of professional knowledge, which is their fault, not Bykov's.
- Luck-Based Mission: When Maxim asks Bykov to give them last chance, Bykov states the symptoms of what happened to his daughter (with four options available)... and then asks what is her name. While "Alisa" is amongst the variants available, interns have no way to know it without asking somebody else, and have only one chance. Predictably, they loses (in fact, they fails to even agree on one name; Max just says his variant at the last moment). Alexei promptly points out that they were not even aware that he has a daughter in the first place!
- The Millstone: Subverted. Gleb's plan involves angering Sophia to the point that she'd snap at him, then Alexei would be ready to take advantage of the situation. Alexei... leaves early and then sleeps with Sophia's friend Katia, which, as Gleb states, all but guarantees that Sophia would hate him even more from now on (no girl would forgive a guy seducing her best friend!). Alexei fails to see his point, to Gleb's irritation. However, later, judging by Sophia's reaction, Gleb realises that not all is lost — Katia's talked about Alexei so positively, Sophia now can't stop thinking about him, so situation seems to be salvageable.
- Not Cheating Unless You Get Caught: Since they almost certainly would lose the second round of Bykov's "Victorina", Maxim suggests to exploit Sophia's connections to Gleb in order to obtain answers. Since they have nothing to lose, everyone agrees. Unfortunately, when they almost wins, Bykov busts Gleb giving them hints, and almost cancels all results, but Max stops him in the last moment by suggesting a bonus round: all or nothing... which they still fails.
- Not Hyperbole: Bykov warns interns that if they lose the bonus round of his "Victorina", he would kick them all the way to the restrooms. It's not an exaggeration, he indeed does that when they lose.
- Please Dump Me: Gleb takes another go at his old plan with enraging Sophia with acting like a jerk, but this time specifically targeting Sophia's weak points. This quickly loses any meaning since Alexei starts showing interest to Sophia's friend Katia (which turns out to be mutual), and leaves with her, ruining the plan.
- Rage Breaking Point: When Lyuba learns that Kupitman has her phone as "Lyuba 4", she goes ballistic on him, as it means that, after all those years of their friendship, he still values her below his lovers. Then she sees that Bykov is saved as "Anryusha", and outright refuses to have anything to do with him ever again.
- Shout-Out: When Bykov suggests his interns a "medical Victorina", he states that he needs time to prepare questions, and then calls Gleb "Passe-Partout", while Gleb in turn calls him "Fouras".
- Too Much Information: While Phil's story is indeed rather funny and ironic (husband and his wife's lover in the same ward), Gleb would prefer Phil not talking about his work when Gleb tries to eat sausages, of all things!
- Ungrateful Bastard: The real reason for Lyuba being so enraged by being "Lyuba 4" in Kupitman's numbers list — they are friends for a long, long time (in fact, she may be his second best friend after Bykov)... but she is merely "Lyuba 4", meaning that there are at least three other "Lyubas" he values more than her.
