Varya has new a suitor – Vadim, an extremely attractive and galant man, with whom she instantly fell in love. But now he, for some reason, flirts with Lyuba, and even provides her with his phone number. Varya doesn't believe and thinks that this is some kind of joke. It isn't, and not only Lyuba refuses to give her this number – later this man couldn't even remember Varya's name, while he actually invites Lyuba on a date. In a restaurant, Vadim reveals to Lyuba that he wants her to become his... housekeeper. She angrily refuses, and badmouths him to Varya, so in the case he would try her as "plan B", he would utterly fail.
Gleb is once again low on money. He hopes that Kisegach would reward him with bonus money for his decision to stay "loyal" to medicine despite being invited for (much better-paid) work at the club. She indeed rewards him... with a trip to medical conference. Fortunately, he soon acquires an opportunity to sell it to Phil for a good sum of money. Phil falls for it, but Bykov learns that Phil plans to attend that conference — and through him, so does Kisegach. Anastasia compensates Phil his money, but now she's very angry at her son. Meanwhile, Lobanov learns about the scam, and reacts badly: their conflict about Olga aside (which was already resolved), Semyon does consider Phil part of the team, and you don't scam your friends like this! This makes Gleb realise that he was a jerk, and he apologises before Phil. The friends forgives him, and covers before Kisegach, by lying that it was just a prank, but now she wants all three to attend the conference — to Lobanov's dismay.
Bykov fails his qualification exam; he only passed it originally by sleeping with his examiner, and since he refused to do so this time, he was forced to pass legitimately, which he failed due to not remembering one specific subject. If he would not pass reexamination one way or another, he would lose his qualification — and position of the Head of Therapy. And he has only one day to prepare! Fortunately, he can force his interns to help him with studying.
This episode provides examples of:
- Be Careful What You Wish For: Lobanov and Gleb mocks Bykov for failing his exam, and Semyon even questions him where specifically he failed. Bykov explains... and forces them (and Varya and Phil, despite them not doing anything) to help him with remembering one specific subject, right until the late night.
- Berserk Button: As everyone at the hospital knows, Lyuba has two forbidden topics — her weight, and her age. Varya, within a single day, touches both, in an act of jealousy, making Lyuba extremely angry at her.
- Book Dumb: Bykov, of all people, has major problem with theoretic knowledge. This is a plot point, because he must regularly attend exams to check if he still qualifies to be on his position, and previously, he only passed by sleeping with his (female) examiner; this time, due to being in relationship, he refused to do so, and she tested him legitimately, which led him to failure. He only manages to pass on the second (and last) attempt with the help of his interns, who helped him during studying.
- Clingy Jealous Girl: Varya is extremely assertive of "her" man (despite only meeting him today), which leads her into conflict with Lyuba when Vadim started flirting with her and even provided her with his phone number; she even pressed both Lyuba's pain points (weight and age) in process. Though some time after Vadim rejected her anyway, she realises that she acted like a jerk and apologises; in return, Lyuba lies to her about Vadim, so she would not fall for his flirt if he tries her as "plan B".
- Didn't Think This Through: Okay, Gleb, you fool Phil into buying that (free) trip. But how you would avoid other people to find out? Bykov quickly learns about Phil attending that trip, and from him, learns Kisegach, who's definitely not happy.
- Gone Horribly Right: After Lobanov scolded him for scamming Phil, Gleb realises that he really go too far, and apologises to Phil. In return, Phil and Semyon agrees to cover him before Kisegach, by telling that this was deliberate prank in order to teach Phil be more careful with entrusting anything he hears from them (in fact, he asked them himself to "teach" him this, to help to adapt to Russian humour). And Gleb does, actually, consider this trip to be a good gift! In fact, both Phil and Semyon are jealous of him! Not only Kisegach falls for it, she... offers both Phil and Semyon to attend that conference, too! Phil is happy (this trip was what Gleb used to scam him in the first place, after all; he's also only one who takes this conference seriously), Semyon... not so much.
- Kick the Dog: Okay, Vadim was interested in Lyuba only as his housekeeper right from the start. But why he made it look like a date, and worded his offer like a marriage proposal (only revealing the truth at the last moment)? There's literally no reason to do this, unless you either do this deliberately, or just don't care. Predictably, Lyuba (who thought that he actually fell in love with her) angrily refuses him.
- Sextra Credit: Bykov previously passed his qualification exam by sleeping with his (female) examiner. Now, since he's in relationship with Kisegach, he can no longer do this. When she started testing him legitimately, he completely failed. While Bykov "had won morally", he now must somehow pass reexamination (which would occur tomorrow), otherwise, he would lose his qualification — and position of the Head of Therapy. Kisegach learns about this from Kupitman (who specifically mentioned that this time, Bykov failed exactly because he refused to do so). When Bykov did pass reexamination, she accuses him of doing this again, and when he insists that he did this legitimately, decides to examine him herself. She only believes him when he answers correctly on some hard question.
- Wants a Prize for Basic Decency: Gleb just rejected (much better-paid) work at the club. Now, he expects that he would be awarded bonus money just for this. Kisegach did reward him... with a trip to medical conference, and even provided him with ready report, so he would no go empty-handed. While he actually needs those money, he did nothing to actually deserve them (even his work's quality is mediocre at best, which was one of the reasons why everyone were surprised that he stayed at the hospital in the first place). Of course, he's not dumb enough to complain in her face, but his face tells everything. At the first opportunity, he sells everything to Phil (who's actually enthusiastic).
- What the Hell, Hero?: When Lobanov learns that Gleb scammed Phil for 9k roubles for (free of charge) trip, he's not impressed, and tells Gleb just why he sucks; he also refuses to eat anything Gleb bought wit those dirty money. This works, and Gleb apologises before Phil.Semyon: You know what you did, right? He is not some random dude, he is one of us.
Gleb: Since when you consider him to be "one of us"? He sleeps with your wife!
Semyon: And he was hit in the face for it, like a man. But you, Romanenko, a scum. Bon appetite. [drops spoon and leaves] - Woman Scorned: Lyuba wins a battle for Vadim's attention... and it turns out that he wants her not as a wife, but as a housekeeper (while he meant this sincerely, the way he announced this was needlessly cruel). She angrily refuses in a rather rude manner. She also lies to Varya about him acting like a horny jerk, in case Vadim would try her as a "plan B".
