Levin finally returns from the USA to work under Bykov. He already imagines how great everything would go and how happy people would be to see him. But, to his surprise, Levin sees no enthusiasm over his return. No one is here to meet him, and most of the people don't even recognise him. The first familiar person whom Levin meets is Gleb... drunk, shaggy and apathetic; hes is more interested in his burning desire to throw up, and rushes to the restroom. Bykov recognises Levin, but ignores him, having more important things to think about. And Kisegach is too busy, so she sends him back to Bykov. Levin loses any motivation to continue trying, but gets met by Kupitman, who not only recognises him, but invites to his office to "celebrate". Of course, it results in them both getting drunk. Kupitman suggests to tell Bykov to go screw himself, and just work for him instead. But then Lyuba enters — and she and Levin recognises each other. Lyuba, obviously, reacts negatively to his presence, so Kupitman can't hire him. Only then Levin realises that Lyuba actually dislikes him — and gets asked why he thinks that everyone should be happy about seeing him.
When Kisegach sees Gleb (who showed up at work for the first time since breakup with Polina (all that time he spent drinking heavily), still not exactly sober, she sends him to on-call room before he causes any harm to people around him or to himself... with him starting acting weird even before leaving lobby. Bykov fails to deal with Gleb, and goes to Kisegach: they should try the "radical measures", and save Gleb before he ends with hopeless alcoholism. She reluctantly agrees... and Bykov reveals that by "radical measures", he meant water torture — nearly drowning Gleb until he sobers up. Gleb is in slightly better condition now, so it's time for food — a special soup; rightly prepared food greatly helps with detoxication. Gleb refuses to eat, and when Bykov insists, just throws the soup away. Bykov reacts to it by strapping him to the gurney and force-feeding him, after which, without untying him, forcibly shaves off his beard (cutting him several times). He manages to bring him into adequate condition (more or less), and though Gleb still looks (and talks) like a zombie, at least he no longer wishes to drink. Now-sober Gleb finally recognises Levin (he mistook him for a drunk hallucination at first meeting). Levin is very sad: it seems that no one cares about his return, like he is an empty place! Gleb, who had "slightly" more severe problem just recently, calls him out on complaining, and... offers to go home, so they, like two loners, may drink together and talk about each other's problems.
Timur — and Polina! — were invited on jubilee of one of their friends. While Timur is enthusiastic, Polina is not so much: this may imply that they restarted relationship, and she's afraid to trust Timur again, after he already let her down. She needs to check whether Timur actually changed for the best, or he already started lying to her again. She would ask him just one question. She recognises that he suddenly became better in sex than before divorce. If he would admit that he had a girl or two before, she would forgive him and let him back in her life. If he would attempt to deny it, it would mean that he lies — and that there's no place for him. Rita asks Alexei to inform Timur about Polina's test, and that he should tell the truth when asked about the past. But, when asked, he says that he had no one, which Rita takes as a lie. Rita calls Timur out on acting like a total dumbass: it's literally his only chance! When Rita is about to leave, Timur reluctantly reveals the real source of his inspiration: porn. Rita can't help but laugh. After catching Polina alone in in-call room, Timur locks all doors, and starts showing her... his porn (from which he took most of ideas). It's easier to show once than tell one hundred times. And indeed, she quickly starts noticing things which Timur tried on her (some successfully, some not). Polina forgives him, and they decides to ignore that jubilee completely, and "celebrate" together.
This episode provides examples of:
- Beard of Sorrow: Over the week of drowning his sorrows non-stop, Gleb grew up unkempt, shaggy beard. Bykov forcedly shaves it off while roughly sobering up Gleb.
- The Bus Came Back: Levin finally returns to Moscow, to work under Bykov — but, to his surprise, no one is particularly happy to see him.
- Cassandra Truth: Timur really had no other girls after Polina; he developed all those "skills"... by watching porn. He only admits this at the very last moment, because it was too embarrassing to say.
- Cruel to Be Kind: Bykov's methods of sobering Gleb up are harsh (down to and including water torture), but they works and sobers him up in short time.
- Drowning My Sorrows: To deal with Sophia breaking his heart, Gleb started drinking — and drinking heavily. By the start of this episode, he spent a whole week drinking non-stop, and Kisegach was unable to even contact him. Now he continues doing so at work.
- Entitled Bastard: It comes as surprise to Levin that Lyuba actually dislikes him for his past behaviour: he expected that she would be happy to see him, despite offending her time and time again.
- Hope Spot: Levin thinks that he finally found someone who's happy to see him — Kupitman, who even invites him to work under him — but then Lyuba steps into Kupitman's office, and reacts badly to seeing Levin. So no, Kupitman isn't gonna hire him.
- Small Name, Big Ego: Levin imagines how everyone would throw a party to celebrate his return, like he is some very important person around here, whom they spent many years waiting for. In reality, he only ever befriended Gleb, Semyon and Varya (of whom only Gleb still works under Bykov, and currently is in not exactly best condition), and also Lyuba (whom he completely alienated over his egoism). Bykov and Kisegach are just busy, but he interprets the lack of reaction as them not caring about him, too.
