Varya has a new a plan how to date Gleb: she has two theatre tickets, but must somehow hide from Gleb that they're from her, so she asks Bykov for help. Everything goes wrong immediately, because one ticket gets taken by Lobanov, and the second one by Phil. Varya manages to persuade Semyon to just give her that ticket (he was not interested in the play anyway, it was just an excuse to leave early), but it would be harder with Phil.
Phil rats Lobanov out to Bykov, not realising just how unacceptable the snitching is in Russian culture. Lobanov decides to teach him how to cover for other people, by forcing Phil to cover for him while Semyon is away from the hospital. Meanwhile, Varya decides to ask Bykov for leaving Phil on a night shift (for any reason he can find). Bykov's choice of words leads to Phil mistaking it for him being busted, and he confesses to Bykov, which leads to both Phil and Semyon staying on a night shift (for a lie attempt and leaving during working hours, respectively).
Gleb gets warned by Kisegach that if he would yellt at patients again, he would be punished. Unfortunately, his new patient is deaf like a trunk, so there may be no other way. When he predictably snaps and starts shouting at the patient (who just keeps misunderstanding him), he immediately gets busted by his mother. But when she attempts to do his work for him, she gets the same results (and even gets busted herself, this time by the patient's daughter). Only then she apologises to Gleb.
Just when Varya finally has everything set up, Gleb tells her that he has a new girlfriend, and wants that second ticket for her. Varya decides to ask Bykov to leave him on a night shift as well, but Bykov, already tired of her schemes, punishes her instead, and lets Gleb go. However, seeing how sad she is, he offers to just go and watch that play together.
This episode provides examples of:
- Bad Liar: Phil must cover for Lobanov (who leaved to buy new shoes), but his attempts to lie to Bykov sounds too clumsy to be believable. It becomes a moot point, however, when he reveals the truth himself by accident.
- Culture Clash: Phil learns the hard way that snitching on other people is far less tolerable in Russia than in USA.note
- I Can't Hear You:
- Gleb's second patient is an old man with extremely bad hearing; he either can't hear Gleb at all, or hears anything but what was really said to him. Gleb quickly gets tired of attempting to calmly explain what he needs, and starts shouting. Unfortunately, he just gets busted by Kisegach (he had a conflict with her about other case when he yelled at a patient not long ago — again, for a very good reason), and now has to explain what it was.
- When Kisegach tries to treat Gleb's deaf patient by herself, she achieves the same results, including shouting at him and being busted (by the patient's daughter this time). Only after that she reluctantly admits being wrong, and returns Gleb his keys.
- Mistaken Confession: When Bykov tells Phil that he would stay on a night shift, saying that knows why, Phil thinks that it was for his attempt to cover for Lobanov, and comes to apologise before Bykov. Then he learns that Bykov was unaware about this, because he told Phil about a night shift only because Varya asked him for that. Now, Phil has a legitimate reason for his night shift (for his lie attempt), and he accidentally let Semyon down, again, so they would spent that night shift together.
- Not What It Looks Like:
- Gleb did act rudely to his first patient (which gets him chewed out by Kisegach)... but he did this only after his smoker patient with pneumonia decided to ignore his treatment and just sit here and smoke, and reacted no less rudely when his stupidity was pointed out to him. Unfortunately, Kisegach doesn't believe him and threatens to take away his car keys if this happens again.
- Gleb's next patient is a deaf old man, who can hear that Gleb tells him something, but can't hear anything specific, and when he can, he always hears something entirely unrelated. Naturally, Gleb resolves to shouting at him, just in time for Kisegach to bust him again.
- Ultimately, Kisegach herself gets busted yelling at a deaf patient by patient's daughter. The patient then fails to hear what his daughter says, too.
- Missing Steps Plan: Varya's plan involves Bykov announcing that he has two theatre tickets (she hopes that Gleb would take one, and Varya would leave one for herself), and then she would handle everything from there. The plan has a lot of details unaccounted for, and goes wrong immediately, because Varya didn't think how she would actually ensure that Gleb would get that ticket. The first ticket gets taken by Lobanov (who just wanted to leave early), and second one by Phil (who's genuinely interested, because it's a classic Russian play). She manages to take a ticket from Semyon without problems (he tells her that her plan is too insane to work), but it would be harder with Phil, since he isn't aware about her and Gleb. So, she asks Bykov to leave Phil on a night shift, which he reluctantly agrees to. Phil no longer needs this ticket, so he gives it to Gleb. Congratulations? Nope, Gleb has a new girlfriend and wants the second ticket for her, so Varya asks Bykov to leave Gleb on a night shift. He refuses to do as she asks for the third time, and instead punishes her.
- Pet the Dog: After Varya's attempt to win Gleb backfires on her, Bykov takes pity on her, cancels her (deserved) punishment and invites her to watch that play together.
- Rule of Three: Varya tries to ask Bykov for help three times. First two times, he agrees (giving away the tickets, and leaving Phil on night shift, respectively), but on third time, he punishes Varya herself for wasting everyone's time.
- Running Gag: The deaf patient consistently either hears nothing, or hears the question about his eyeglasses (they're on bedside table). In the end, when Kisegach is forced to apologise for not believing Gleb, Gleb even copies the patient's "signature" lines before accepting.
- The Stool Pigeon: Phil rats Semyon out to Bykov (that he leaved his night shift too early). Semyon, of course, is not happy, and decides to "teach" Phil how to "cover" for his friends if they really needs this. But then Bykov (on Varya's request) tells him that he must stay on a night shift, and "he already knows why", just after asking where's Lobanov (to which Phil lied). This leads to Phil accidentally telling Bykov the truth, which results in both Lobanov and Phil staying on a night shift (Lobanov for his screwup, and Phil for his lie attempt). He does better the third time, when Bykov asks what Lobanov is doing, and Phil hides the fact that Semyon is just sleeping.
- Sustained Misunderstanding: Gleb's deaf patient either can't hear what Gleb tells him at all, or hears something entirely unrelated, primely about his glasses (they're on the beside table). For basically half of the episode.
- Too Dumb to Live: Gleb's first patient suffers from pneumonia, but decides to ignore his procedures, and instead just sit and smoke, which would obviously make his condition even worse. When Gleb tells him that this is a very stupid idea, he rudely tells him that he doesn't care. No wonder, Gleb starts acting rudely in turn.
