Kupitman's night visit to Lyuba in the nurse room goes completely wrong when, instead of Lyuba he (already undressed to his undies) finds... Alexei, who switched places with Lyuba, who's currently in on-call room. Now, Alexei must keep it secret from everyone else. But Alexei can't help but burst into laugh whenever he sees Lyuba or hears something related to her or Kupitman. To discourage Rita from asking what's so funny, Lyuba lies that Alexei just smoked some weed, and suggests to not talk to him. Now, everyone thinks that Alexei is a stoner, which makes him angry; he tells Lyuba that if he would be asked about weed one more time, he would just spill the truth. She agrees to stop the rumour on condition that he would stop laughing. Then Alexei gets confronted by angry Bykov, and indeed almost reveals the secret, but reluctantly sticks with the version about weed; suddenly, he no longer feels funny at all. But even that doesn't stop him for long, and now Lyuba worries that if her relationship with Kupitman is that funny, if information spreads out, it would "explode" the hospital.
Sophia notices that Kisegach acts weirdly around her, pressing her for no apparent reason. Gleb remembers his yesterday's talk with his mother, and starts thinking whether this is related. Tired of this, he confronts his mother about mistreating his girlfriend, but Kisegach defends herself by stating that she simply wants to "know her better". Gleb in turn suggest that if she "simply wants to know her better", she may simply invite both Sophia and Gleb to dinner and talk like adequate people; she agrees. But Sophia thinks that she's not ready for getting closer to Kisegach, so far being perfectly fine with her being merely her boss, not her mother-in-law, and refuses the invitation. Gleb tells his mother that Sophia wouldn't come today — and she takes it as a sign that Sophia dislikes her. Only way to disprove it is to somehow convince Sophia to go; when she still insists on "not being ready", Gleb tells her that she may spoil relationship with Kisegach not as "Gleb's mother", but as her boss. But then Kisegach warns Gleb that she and Bykov are invited to celebrate someone's jubilee, so dinner with Sophia must be cancelled. Gleb finds it suspicious, and asks Bykov, who confirms that nothing like this is planned. Which means that Kisegach just dislikes Sophia — who in turn dislikes her. And Gleb doesn't know what to do with it.
Bykov thinks that something is wrong with Timur, who just gives Bykov no excuse to punish him: he never screws up and never slacks off. There is something fishy about him... Kupitman tries to prove that sometimes, people are just that responsible, and uses Phil as example, but when they checks, it turns out that Phil is slacking off, too. Now, Bykov wouldn't stop until he proves that Timur somehow fools them. Bykov sends Sophia to spy on Timur, to find out what he actually does when Bykov doesn't watch over him. This lets him learn that Timur is a lazy asshole... who only starts working when Bykov is nearby. But how he learns when to start working? Bykov asks Polina, as he and Kupitman, so far, suspects simple intuition. But she tells them that Timur and "intuition" are mutually exclusive, so he clearly gets info somehow; she would help them finding out. Just before Bykov enters on-call room, Timur receives a text message from someone, and suddenly starts pretending that he's working. This can't be a coincidence. To break his scheme, Bykov suggests to steal Timur's phone and see when the message would come; to fool Timur himself, they would quietly switch his phone with Gleb's one — they're identical, he wouldn't notice until it's too late. When checking the phone, Bykov learns that Timur has entire network of informants who're spying on Bykov for him. While they can simply fire him, it wouldn't be fun; instead, they would destroy the network. For that, Bykov sends a message from Timur's phone to his every contact in the hospital, promising a money reward. Then, when Timur calls on his phone from Gleb's one, Bykov invites him to go near restrooms, where he meets his "agents" who came for their money. Timur insists that it's a prank, but then they gets a message from Bykov, stating that it's not a prank. Bykov himself then appears, and offers the "agents" to work for him: they would spy on Timur and inform Bykov whenever he tries to slack off.
This episode provides examples of:
- Cannot Keep a Secret: Downplayed. Alexei is a terrible Secret-Keeper, because he just keeps bursting into laugh whenever he sees Lyuba or hears something about either her or Kupitman (clearly remembering what's happened this night). This makes Rita interested in what's going on, despite initially suspecting nothing. Lyuba barely convinces her to not ask Lyosha. But he still manages to not reveal the actual information, sticking with Lyuba's explanation about him being a stoner.
- He Knows Too Much: Played for Laughs. When Lyuba jokes that they can't just kill Alexei to preserve their secret, dramatic music starts playing and Kupitman looks on Alexei in weird way. Lyuba kicks him, and music (and weird look) stops.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: After Bykov learns about Timur's network, he recruits it to work for him, and spy on Timur whenever he tries to slack.
- Internal Reveal: Alexei learns about Kupitman's affair with Lyuba when Kupitman accidentally shows up near him in underwear (expecting to see Lyuba).
- Keeping Secrets Sucks: Alexei's constant laugh over Lyuba's relationship with Kupitman makes Bykov suspect that he is a stoner (especially since previously Lyuba started that exact rumour). To not betray Lyuba, Alexei accepts this version, despite Bykov barely resisting firing him on the spot. This encounter is so unpleasant, it actually makes him stop laughing.
- Obnoxious In-Laws: Sophia and Kisegach starts hating each other preemptively, and shows it in passive-aggressive manner. Now Gleb must find a way to to neutralise this "cold war" before it goes hot.
- Secret-Keeper: Alexei is first one to find out about Kupitman's affair with Lyuba. They forces him to remain quiet about it... only for him to burst into laugh whenever he sees anyone of them (especially together), or when they are mentioned near him; he may as well go and just straight up tell everyone, with this attitude it would make little difference. He (somehow) still manages to not actually reveal it, though, even to Bykov.
- Secret Relationship: Kupitman and Lyuba's plot involves their attempts to insure that their relationship remains secret. Unfortunately, Alexei already knows and he is a terrible Secret-Keeper.
- The Slacker: Timur established a network with only one purpose — to spy on Bykov and inform him via messages of his movements, so whenever Bykov arrives, Timur manages to pretend that he is working; in Bykov's absence, he's slacking off.
