Semyon gets asked by one of the patients to deliver him his cigarettes. Semyon takes them from the patient's belongings... and gets busted by Varya, who mistakes him for stealing. Semyon sarcastically tells her that yes, he steals from the patients (both cigarettes and their food). Varya responds by stealing Semyon's money and secretly putting them amongst patient's belongings — about which she proudly tells to Semyon. Unfortunately, he can't just ask the patient for confirmation since he's suffering from bad memory and can't remember even Lobanov himself, let alone their deal. Varya talks with a forgetful patient more, and learns that Semyon is innocent... and that the patient has really bad memory. He also can't remember that those money were in his pursue by Varya, not his wife, so Varya has no other way to deal with situation but to give Semyon some of her own money. Unknowingly to her, he already took some from her pursue, considering this to be only fair due to her stealing from him first. He's not okay with keeping any excessive money, and tries to put the rest of her money back in her pursue, only to get busted during the act. Fortunately, Varya mistakes his confession for being sarcastic.
Lyuba would depart to the USA tomorrow, to visit Levin who've invited her in hope of maybe reunite, and plans to throw the last party for her friends before that. But to her irritation, it turns out that no one is aware of this, despite her warning them beforehand. Bykov is angry about being kept in the dark about this, too, since he is Lyuba's direct superior, and now he's vehemently against allowing her to go anywhere. More so, he would punish anyone who would dare to visit her party! Meanwhile, Phil learns a new weird phrase when he goes out shopping. Gleb knows just as little about its meaning, and asks Semyon; the only thing he learns is that it's very, very dirty. Foretasting how much fun he would have, he lies to Phil that this is a compliment. Comes the evening, and the party finally starts... but there're no guests besides Gleb. Then Gleb asks whether Bykov is here, and when Lyuba tells him that no... Gleb tells everyone else to come in. In the middle of the party, Phil remembers about the "compliment" he learnt not long ago, and tells it to Lyuba. Cue shocked silence; only Gleb giggles in the corner. Suddenly, Bykov appears... not to crush their party, but to become a part of it. He reveals his real reason to be so rude today: he feared that Lyuba would leave him permanently, and tried to prevent it. But then he decided to just trust her; they are old friends, after all. He actually gives a great speech, with everyone applauding.
This episode provides examples of:
- Anger Born of Worry: As Bykov tells when he attends Lyuba's party himself, his real motivation for attempt to crush Lyuba's party (and prevent her leaving) was fear — fear that she would leave and never return, because he knows her for a long time, and knows that without her, the hospital would never be the same.
- Bait-and-Switch:
- Varya and Phil believes that Lyuba fell ill and needs immediate help. She needs help, indeed... with delivering the heavy packages with food: she plans to leave for vacancy, and wants to organise a party for her friends before that.
- At first, it seems that Lyuba's party was completely ignored, only Gleb attained it for some reason. Then Gleb asks whether Bykov is here, and when Lyuba tells that no... Gleb tells everyone else to come in.
- Blatant Lies: Phil asks Gleb what the weird phrase he's heard in the shop while standing in line; Gleb (after learning from Lobanov that it's swearing) lies that it's a compliment. Considering that Phil has heard that phrase from the angry customer tired of standing in line due to incompetent cashier, it's blatantly obvious that it's anything but; not to mention that Gleb is a known prankster. Phil still falls for it.
- Cassandra Truth: Varya doesn't believe Semyon when he tells her that he was joking about stealing from his senior patient. Semyon actually tries to ask the patient himself for confirmation, but he has bad memory and can't remember anything, making Semyon looking even more awkward in process. Varya only believes Lobanov when she feels just how forgetful that patient is by herself.
- Culture Clash: Gleb exploits Phil's lack of understanding of Russian "mat" (nuclear-grade arsenal of profanities and their combinations) to fool him into believing that the phrase he recently learned is a compliment.
- Everyone Has Standards: Semyon is not a stranger to profanities, but when Gleb asks him what the phrase he heard from Phil means, Semyon gets visibly stunned when he hears this, and refuses to explain this, with unhidden disgust in his voice.Semyon: Gleb, are you nuts? I'm drinking coffee here, you know?! Where you heard that?
Gleb: Not me; Phil. Which is interesting.
Semyon: He started snooping around garbage piles?
Gleb: So, what this means?
Semyon: This is really disgusting... really, better just forget it. - The Heart: Everyone considers Lyuba to be the heart and soul for the whole Therapy department; without her, it wouldn't be the same. This is one of the main reasons why Bykov is so vehemently against allowing her to leave: her departure would negatively impact the whole department's work.
- Honor Before Reason: Varya's response to Semyon apparently stealing the cigarettes from Semyon? Taking all his money and secretly giving them to the patient, as if Semyon "bought" them (sadly, she took much more than their actual value, but it was in one banknote; Semyon can consider the rest of this to be a "compensation for moral damage"), for which Semyon actually calls her dumbass.
- Idiot Ball: Yes, Phil still has much to learn about Russian language, but context alone (the phrase was used by an angry shopper who spent a lot of time standing in line due to incompetent cashier) would be a clear clue that this phrase is anything but a compliment. Especially since it's Gleb who tells him that, who's known for that sort of pranks, particularly at Phil's expense.
- Innocent Swearing: Phil, thanks to Gleb telling him that the phrase he recently heard is, in fact, a compliment; in reality, it's a very dirty profanity (so dirty, not even Semyon dares to explain it when asked, and we never learn what this was supposed to mean.
- Mistaken for Thief: Lobanov, twice. First time, it's when he takes the cigarettes of one patient and fails to explain that he was asked by the patient himself (his Sarcastic Confession only makes the things worse, due to Varya being Sarcasm-Blind), the second time during putting the money into Varya's pursue; he confesses to her for real, but Varya takes it as sarcasm, due to situation resembling another one, where sarcasm was genuine.
- No Listening Skills: Lyuba is on receiving end:
- Lyuba all but directly states that she would depart to the USA, to visit Levin (who've invited her to spend some time with him, with hope to reunite). Neither Varya nor Phil gets it (mainly because they are too busy with their own problems to actually pay attention to what she says to them), and when they "suddenly" learns that she does, in fact, plan to leave, asks her why she never warned them before, to Lyuba's irritation. Then Galya asks about it, too...
- Bykov was unaware about her vacancy and reacts negatively, since he was not informed about it. When Kisegach tells him that she's unaware, too, he considers that Lyuba just faked her signature... and then Kisegach remembers that Lyuba did ask her, but she never paid attention and signed a document without reading. When Bykov tries to insist that since he was not informed, he would not care whether Lyuba has permission from Kisegach or not, Lyuba reminds him that she did inform him, but he never listened; just quickly signed a document and forgot.
- Not Helping Your Case: When senior patient can't remember ever talking to Semyon about the cigarettes, Lobanov tries to press him, then shouts on him. This not only fails to confirm his claims, this makes him look like a jerk in process.
- Nothing Is Funnier: We never learn exactly what the profanity which Phil used means; unlike several other ones Phil uses to show what he knows (which can be heard clearly enough even behind bleeping, and which gets explained afterwards by Phil himself), this one is censored well enough to preserve the mystery. But whatever it is, it surprises even Gleb (let alone Lyuba when Phil thoughtlessly calls her that), while Lobanov can only say that it's so disgusting, he would not dare to even talk about it.
- Old Flame: Despite how ugly they parted when Levin leaved to the USA back in season 3, both him and Lyuba still have feelings for each other. This is why Lyuba decided to visit him in the USA, and today is the last day before departure.
- Poor Communication Kills: Semyon's and Varya's plot, in its entirety:
- Semyon gets asked by a senior patient to deliver him cigarettes from the patient's belongings. Lobanov gets busted by Varya, and when she accuses him of stealing, gives her Sarcastic Confession (which she takes as a face value, due to being Sarcasm-Blind).
- Varya, to "punish" Semyon, steals his money and gives them to patient (secretly). When Lobanov finds out, Varya tells him what and why she did, and he tries to explain that she misunderstood his joke. When she doesn't believe, he tries to ask the patient himself... only to learn that his memory is very poor, making himself look like a jerk in process due to shouting on an old man without achieving anything.
- Varya learns, when talking with the patient, that Lobanov was innocent all along, and tries to ask him to return those money back, only to learn that he thinks that it's a gift from his wife (he is senile, after all). So, Varya has no other way but to give Lobanov her own money instead.
- Lobanov, suffering from Perpetual Poverty even without Varya's antics, decides to steal her money ("if you want to help people, do it from your own money")... just before Varya returns with intention to give him money by herself. He tries to return excessive money back... only to get busted during the act. He somehow explains everything to her offscreen.
- The patient suddenly remembers that those money were not from his wife, and asks for Varya to return them. Unfortunately, Semyon now must somehow explain why he wouldn't accept them without confirming that he already stole some from Varya. He manages to defuse the situation by "gifting" those money to her, as his "punishment" for bad jokes. When Varya starts prising him for his "selflessness", he, to end the whole mess once and for all, puts these money on her phone and confesses to stealing from her (but by this point she's too convinced in him being a good man to believe, and takes it as sarcasm).
- Put on a Bus: In the end of the episode, Lyuba leaves to the USA for two months, in attempt to reunite with Levin.
- Sarcasm-Blind: Varya can't recognise sarcasm, at all:
- When accused of stealing cigarettes from patients, instead of telling that one of the patients had asked to bring his cigarettes, Semyon tells Varya that yes, he did stole them (and also that he steals and eats on site any unhealthy food he can find). Unfortunately, Varya can't understand sarcasm at all, and takes this as face value. She decides to stole Semyon's money and put them into patient's belongings, as "payment".
- When Lobanov (genuinely) confesses in stealing from her, Varya believes that he's saying it sarcastically, possibly due to the situation resembling the one where she did miss the obvious sarcasm.
- Scatterbrained Senior: That senior patient who asked Semyon to deliver him cigarettes has serious memory issues, and quickly forgets about the whole situation when receives those cigarettes — unfortunately, now Semyon needs his confirmation that he did ask for them, so Varya would stop accusing Semyon of stealing. The patient himself claims to have ideal memory and that he would've remembered Lobanov had he ever seen him. Later Varya learns about this when he asks her about the book he'd lost, and she realises that he does have memory problems. Then he remembers that he did ask Semyon for help... and forgets about being interrogating by him after this. But for whatever reason he "remembers" how his wife gave him money, while in fact it was Varya who leaved them. This is a problem, since those money belongs to Semyon (Varya's "great plan" to punish Semyon for "stealing").
- Troll: Gleb, instead of warning Phil that the phrase he just learnt is extremely dirty profanity, tells him that this is a compliment (specifically, the compliment meant for beautiful woman, preferably in romantic circumstances). This culminates in Phil calling Lyuba this on her party. Cue everyone's Stunned Silence. Only then Gleb reveals Phil the truth. Phil loses any interest in swearing, even towards Gleb.
