Lobanov screws up particularly badly, and Bykov decides to train his memory — with some memorising games. Lobanov utterly fails, and Bykov gives him an ultimatum: either Semyon would memorise all the patients in the Therapy (complete with diagnosis), or Bykov would fire him. Lobanov, realising that he has no chance to succeed on his own, asks Rita for help, who suggests to use rhymes in order to memorise the patients and their diagnoses. The plan actually works, surprising even Bykov — who, ironically, forgets that he and Kisegach planned to attend circus.
Kupitman suspects that Bykov plans some cruel prank against him and asks Kisegach for help. She initially refuses, thinking that Kupitman is just paranoidal, but he insists. He actually provides some "evidence" — a bunch of seemingly random stuff, which, as he thinks, have some hidden meaning behind them. After several attempts, he comes to conclusion that they must mean "quit drinking". After this, Kisegach just sends him to a psychiatrist. Unfortunately, Kupitman is just too paranoidal by this point, and refuses to take the pills prescribed by psychiatrist, stating that Bykov "certainly already hired him, or, rather, threatened into compliance". Kisegach confronts Bykov and tells him that Kupitman's madness is his fault, due to his non-ending pranks. But Bykov tells her that he didn't prank Kupitman for quite some time, due to simply running out of good ideas. She just orders him to go and apologise, then tells Kupitman to leave home for a week and bring his mind in order. At home, the two have conversation about Kupitman... and Bykov suddenly remembers: Kupitman has a voucher for some resort, on that exact day, and "coincidentally" started acting like a paranoiac exactly today. Kisegach realises that she was tricked, but Kupitman's phone doesn't respond to the calls.
Phil's patient seems to be a pimp, judging from the way he talks over the phone. Gleb checks this, only to learn that he is an administrator of the company which sends artists (in thematic-appropriate costumes) to work with children, by organising the parties, birthdays and other such events. Gleb can't miss such opportunity and assures Phil (who's on the brink of insanity due to complete lack of sex) that his patient is indeed a pimp, and suggests to hire a "prostitute" (to which Phil reluctantly agrees, knowing that he's too horny to even think). He even organises everything (mostly to leave Phil no chance to talk with a "pimp" and find out the truth). At evening, the girl (dressed as a fairy) finally arrives, expecting that she's gonna do a show for some kid, only to meet Phil, who believes that she's a prostitute. She breaks into tears; when she manages to calm down, she tells him how hard her job really is, and that after so much troubles to prepare her role and costume, she deserves better treatment than this. Phil tries to comfort her. When Gleb finally arrives, he sees the girl leaving a shower (covered only by a towel), and Phil being very angry.
This episode provides examples of:
- Conspiracy Theorist: Kupitman suspects that Bykov prepares some very big prank on him; the further it goes, the more insane "clues" he finds, and less he trusts the people.
- When he notices that his patients suddenly started gifting him some seemingly unrelated things instead of usual cognac, he attempts to find what secret meaning they may have — felt insoles, fir oil, zirconium bracelet, chamomile broth, socks made of dog's fur, and healing badger fat; he tries to combine the first letters into something meaningful, only to create completely meaningless acronym. After some more thought, he comes to conclusion that it is a hidden message — "quit drinking".
- Seeing that Kupitman is clearly not in the best shape, Kisegach just sends him to psychiatrist. Unfortunately, Kupitman is just too paranoidal by this point, and refuses to take the pills which psychiatrist prescribed him, stating that Bykov "must already hire him, or, rather, threatened into compliance".
- When Kisegach, after speaking with Bykov (and learning that he didn't try to play pranks on Kupitman for quite some time, simply due to running out of ideas), tries to speak with Kupitman again, he accuses her of working for Bykov and tries to search for "bugs". She just sends him home for a week... and then it turns out that Kupitman simply pretended to be paranoidal in order to receive a whole week-long vacation. She fails to contact him to summon back.
- Digging Yourself Deeper: Bykov suspects that something must be wrong with Semyon already dealing with his patient — and brings him to the ward, asking him to identify his patient. Lobanov fails — three times in a row — after which Bykov tells him that his patient is not even in this ward. Semyon's reply? Asking why Bykov didn't tell him this right from the beginning; Bykov gets surprised that even Lobanov can say something so dumb. More so, as it turns out, Lobanov prescribed the treatment not to his patient, but some completely unrelated one, which Semyon tries to "excuse" with "I just mixed them up". Bykov is not amused.Bykov: You are not an officiant to "just mix up". You've "just mixed up" — and killed a man; you've "just mixed up" — and ended up in jail.
- Forgetful Jones: Bykov is fed up with Lobanov being unable to remember even his patients' names, let alone what to do with them (he actually states that he avoided killing anyone just by dumb luck), and forces him to do some memory training: memorising cards (which he fails), citing multiplication table (which he can't remember in its entirety, despite it being taught in the second grade), memorising food in the refrigerator (this experiment gets cancelled due to Bykov realising that food is the only thing Lobanov cares about, and ergo it can't objectively show how good his memory is), memorising people in the elevator (Semyon succeeds partially) and finally, memorising the documents (Lobanov fails again). After this, Bykov just sends him to memorise every patient in the Therapy and their diagnoses before the evening comes, or be fired. Realising that he has no chance to succeed on his own, Lobanov asks Rita for help, who suggests him to use rhymes in order to memorise the patients' names and their diagnoses. This works, or at least he remembers enough for Bykov to leave him alone after a couple of right answers.
- Irony: After dealing with Lobanov and his terrible memory (so bad, he nearly fired him over it), Bykov forgets about his and Kisegach's plans to visit circus (Lobanov points out that with so high cost of the tickets, he would never forget it), despite being the one to suggest it in the first place, the one to buy the tickets and the one who bothered Kisegach with it for a full week. He also remembers too late about Kupitman having a voucher for resort for exactly the same day when he set up his scheme to get a week off.
- Manipulative Bastard: When everyone, even his colleagues, forgets how manipulative he may be, Kupitman flawlessly pretends to be completely nuts due to Bykov-induced paranoia, and fools Kisegach into giving him a week-long vacation. She and Bykov only realises this when it's too late to stop him.
- Mistaken for Prostitute: Firstly, Phil mistakes his patient for a pimp (due to the way he discussed with someone a possibility to hire some of "his girls"). Later, he actually hires one of them ("thanks" to Gleb, who assured him that they are indeed prostitutes after learning who they really are)... only to learn that they are actually actors, working with children. This drives the poor girl to tears. Oops.
- Out-of-Context Eavesdropping: Phil misinterprets his patient's phone talk and comes to conclusion that the guy must be a pimp; to be fair to him, with what little context he had, it actually does make some sense, especially with given somewhat revealint outfits of the girls, and he was sceptical until Gleb assured him otherwise). Unfortunately, later he tries to hire one of the girls, only to learn that they are actually actors, who works with children.
- Really Gets Around: Phil again raises the topic of Gleb bringing a new girls every night; due to it, Phil never can sleep well — firstly, because of the loud noises, and secondly, because he had no sex for a long time and now always gets tortured by Erotic Dreams on the slightest provocations (like, again, Gleb's girls). Gleb doesn't even bother to argue and all but outright states that he doesn't care about Phil's problems.
- Remembered Too Late: Bykov remembers about Kupitman having a voucher for resort on the same day when Kupitman started acting weirdly when it's already too late to stop Kupitman from leaving, or even call him.
- Troll: Gleb learns that Phil's patient is not actually a pimp, and his girls are just actors working with children... and still lies to Phil that they are prostitutes, motivating him to hire one. He even organises everything by himself, to leave Phil no chance to learn the truth until it's too late.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Kisegach calls Bykov out on constantly abusing Kupitman with his pranks; due to them, Kupitman now lives in constant fear and expects hidden threats on every step. She also orders him to apologise.
