Recap / The Interns S 1 E 1

It was a normal day for Doctor Andrey Eugenievich Bykov in a small Moscow hospital, until several things happens: his boss, Anastasia Kisegach, forces him to accept four young interns (one of them her son); Bykov's best friend, venereologist Ivan Natanovich Kupitman, goes to work with a strong hangover after three (okay, twelve) days-long binge, and now asks Bykov for a bottle of cognac to "fix" him; and the old widow asks Bykov to release her from the hospital, so she can attend her husband's funeral. Bykov is not amused by either of this, but he changes his mind when he sees his new interns clumsily falling right after their first entry into the hospital, already anticipating how much fun he can have with them.

Firstly, he interviews his new interns, and instantly figures out what's wrong with them. Boris Levin thinks that just having the red diploma^note  Both USSR and Russia have two types of diplomas, normal blue ones, and special red ones, which marks the ones who graduates with best marks makes him a good specialist, and acts very arrogantly about it. Semyon Lobanov relies too much on his experience at ambulance, despite lacking any significant academic knowledge (out of four, he graduated with worst results), and shows himself to be not very bright right from the get go. Gleb Romanenko is a spoiled rich kid who thinks that he can get away with anything because he is Anastasia's son. And Varvara Chernous (who introduced herself as "Doctor Varya") can just as well wear a sign "Little naive blonde". To test them, Bykov assigns to each intern their fist tasks; at the end of the day, he would grade their work, and those who would get an "F", would be punished with a night shift.

Levin is tasked with examining a woman, but he just can't stop to be distracted by her big breasts. Bykov suggests him to "let steam out", but Levin misinterprets his suggestion as permission to, well, relief himself. Thanks to Bykov, Boris quickly gets caught by a head nurse Lyuba.

Lobanov must interrogate an old widow, prescribe the treatment and then report to Bykov, who would check whether this treatment is actually correct or not. But Lobanov decides to just do everything by himself, and injects the patient with medicine without even bothering to doublecheck. To teach him a lesson, Bykov tells him that he just killed his patient with incorrect treatment, which Semyon doesn't take well.

Romanenko tries to exploit his connections with Bykov's boss, to which Bykov reacts by giving him an "easy" task... of interrogating a comatose patient. After wasting lots of time on doing nothing, Gleb decides to just fake his report, which obviously doesn't work.

Chernous, who right from the start shows herself to be spineless and clumsy, gets tasked with "curing" Kupitman from his hangover, but Kupitman decides to exploit Varya's naiveness and force her into breaking the rules to bring him some booze and other goods, then starts feeding her with blatantly false stories about himself.

In the end, each intern fails and receives an "F": Boris for failing to maintain professionalism; Semyon for blatant disregard for his patient's safety; Gleb for lying to his boss; and Varya for allowing the "patient" to manipulate her into breaking hospital's rules. That means that all of them would stay on a night shift.

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This episode provide examples of:

• The Alcoholic:
  • This is first, but surely not last time when Kupitman shows up on the work with heavy hangover, although this time even Bykov is surprised just how bad his condition is. Bykov exploits this to "test" Varya, when Kupitman pretends to be a terminally ill patient.
    Bykov: You're not a doctor, you're drunkard.
  • Old widow (Semyon's patient) is implied to like vodka a little too much, which explains most of her health problems.
• The Alleged Boss: Played With. Bykov, as part of Establishing Character Moment for them both, shows zero respect to Anastasia Kisegach, the Chief Doctor. He blatantly tries to ignore her summoning him, and when she comes in by herself (predicting that it's exactly what he's gonna do) and orders him to take four interns, he tries to leave without listening, and then refuses, making her unable to say anything but wimpy "but I'm a Chief Doctor!". He also informally addresses her as "Nastya" instead of proper "Anastasia Konstantinovna", which is a breach of working etiquette. But she does enforce her order for him to take interns after all.
• Bait-and-Switch Comment: When Bykov rates his interns in the end, each of them immediately receives an "F", for their respective failures. Lobanov instead gets a pass, despite being Lethally Stupid, but then gets informed that yeah, he failed too.
  Bykov: Doctor Lobanov. He decided that he is the most experienced one, and killed a granny. "C". Joking, "F".
• Blatant Lies:
  • Everything Kupitman says to Varya, from "terminal illness" to stories about his "achievements" (him being a spy on a submarine, or nearly becoming a cosmonaut), is blatantly made-up (especially since he uses it to demand booze); he intentionally makes the lies more and more insane to see how far he can go. She falls for all of this.
  • Gleb lies to Bykov that the patient just woke up, coherently stated that he's fine and is in perfect condition. Despite the patient being obviously comatose and Bykov being able to easily check on him. Bykov mockingly suggests to go visit the ministry: such a feat deserves a medal.
• Boob-Based Gag: Levin's first patient has massive breast. Due to Levin being a nerd with zero experience, he gets overwhelmed by hormones; to demonstrate this, dramatic music plays, some light can be seen (as if he's looking at something not from this world), and Levin at first freezes like a deer in headlight, then tries (but fails) to say coherently what he needs her to do.
• Boredom Montage: As a punishment for his audacity, Romanenko receives a comatose patient with "easy" task: interrogate him, report to Bykov and go home. Instead of learning his lesson and apologising to Bykov, he spends a lot, a lot of time doing nothing, and then just fakes his report.
• Brick Joke: Bykov makes sure that widow is not harmed by Lobanov's stupidity, and lets her go. At night she returns to the hospital, because she feels more comfortable here, and meets Semyon, who was told that the patient is dead (to punish him for his stupidity), leading to Semyon mistaking her for a ghost and panicking:
  Widow: Hello, Doctor. I have returned.
  Lobanov: How... returned?..
  Widow: I don't feel good at home, I can't sleep there.
  Cue Lobanov turning around, seeing a woman he supposedly killed, and screaming.
• Caught with Your Pants Down: Misinterpreting Bykov's advice about "letting steam out", Levin, after failing his task due to becoming too aroused, goes to the shower room to, well, "let steam out". Bykov sends Lyuba there just in time for Levin to get caught mid-action.
• Comically Inept Healing: Semyon Lobanov receives clear instructions — interrogate the patient, suggest treatment, check with Bykov whether everything is right. Instead, he blindly injects his patient (an old woman who was described as very fragile) with some medicine without neither asking Bykov nor doublechecking. By sheer miracle he doesn't harm her, but Bykov tells him that he just killed his patient, to teach him a lesson.
• Cruel and Unusual Death: To teach Semyon a lesson, Bykov lies to him that him blindly injecting a patient with syringe resulted in her having violent allergic reaction and dying in painful agony.
• Distracted by the Sexy: Levin's patient has rather... impressive breasts. Levin absolutely can't think straight near her, to the point that even music changes when she reveals herself for examination.
• Double Entendre: "Let steam out" moment. Bykov means cold shower, but Levin decides to "take the initiative". It's implied that Bykov did this expecting exactly this result, as the moment Levin rushes to shower, Bykov sends Lyuba after him, telling her that there's something nasty going on.
• Establishing Character Moment:
  • Opening scene when Bykov stops the dying patient (the scene happens in the patient's vision), is the first clue about Bykov's massive ego.
    Bykov Where are you going so early?
    Patient: To the other side. The time has come.
    Bykov: The time would come when I would say so! Clear! [zaps patient with defibrillator] That's how you do it! Instead of whining "we're losing him, we're losing him!"
  • First interaction between Bykov and Kisegach shows that she's struggle to actually enforce her rule in the hospital, while Bykov shows very little respect to her, and tries to avoid interacting with her for work-related questions as much as possible.
  • The first thing Kupitman does is to arrive with heavy hangover and ask for a private ward so he may wait it out. Even in that condition he recognises the opportunity to exploit new interns for some fun.
  • Each intern receives their personal moments, first during the interview with Bykov (which shows their personalities), then when they start "treating" their patients (showing their main flaws as the doctors):
    • Boris Levin tries to show his intellectual superiority and starts pretending that he is a good specialist from the get-go, despite not having any practical experience. When he actually receives his patient, he demonstrates complete inability to deal with non-standard situations without panicking and embarrassing himself.
      Bykov: You're gonna be my favourite. I always loved such haughty pretenders. They make me look better by comparison. Rule number one: forget the colour of your diploma and that it calls you "doctor", it's a lie; you know no shit.
    • Semyon Lobanov can't even answer the first question (what is your surname?), instead he says his first name, before correcting himself after Bykov gives him angry look. Then he starts mentioning his experience at ambulance, despite it not being what he was asked for. Later, when he deals with his patient, he demonstrates his Hair-Trigger Temper and utter inability to follow the rules without screwing up.
    • Gleb Romanenko suggests that Bykov should cut his working day, so they would interact with each other as little as possible. When Bykov assigns him to do an Impossible Task as a punishment, he tries to lie to Bykov so he may go home early.
    • Varvara Chernous introduces herself as "Doctor Varya". Then, when Bykov says her that she is not "good doctor material" because she is a woman, instead of trying to disagree, she sheepishly asks what she can do with it. When Bykov introduces interns to their first patients, turns out that she is also clumsy, so Bykov doesn't risk with any real patients and sends her to Kupitman, who tricks her into breaking some rules by pretending to be terminally ill and exploiting her willingness to help, even through breaking some rules — something she would easily disprove by just using her brain rather than blindly rushing to help.
• Establishing Series Moment: Interns enters into the hospital marching under epic music... only to slip on the wet floor, and fall in rather comical manner. Bykov, Kupitman — and the viewers — immediately realises just what to expect from those guys' internship.
• Foreshadowing: Three out of four interns' screwups gets set up before interns even shows up in the hospital:
  • Bykov checks on a comatose patient, confirming that he's still in coma after three months. Later Gleb would be assigned to work with this patient as a punishment for being such a smartass.
  • The old widow shows up before Bykov even accepts interns, and begs Bykov to let her go, so she can attend funeral. That's why she would later temporarily leave the hospital, and why Lobanov, when visiting her house, wouldn't learn that she's actually alive, mistaking people being mournful for her instead of her husband.
  • Kupitman shows in with heavy hangover and begs for some help with it, with Bykov giving him a VIP ward. He would come in handy when Bykov realises that he can't test Varya with any real patient until she deals with her clumsiness.
• Freudian Slip: Levin just can't say anything to his patit... patient, without mentioning that she has big... potential issues.
• Gameplay Grading: Bykov decides to award his interns with grades depending on how they deal with their tasks. Those who screws up, would receive an "F" and would stay on a night shift. Predictably, they all fails: Levin for failing to maintain professionalism, Lobanov for disregarding instructions, Romanenko for lying to his superior, and Chernous for being tricked into breaking the rules.
• Heel Realisation: Subverted with Kupitman; he says that he's shamelessly exploits Varya, in tone indicating that he may feel shame over it... just before saying that nope, he doesn't. At least, he apologises later when she actually gets punished.
• Hiding Behind the Language Barrier: Levin and Bykov switches to Latin, so Levin can explain why he wastes so much time, without patient understanding them.
• Idiot Houdini: Each intern gets away with serious screwups, which would get them kicked out on the very first day anywhere else; they merely gets night shifts as a punishment.
  • Boris Levin wastes two hours without any meaningful results, and then gets caught masturbating in the shower.
  • Semyon Lobanov makes stupid and very dangerous mistake, avoiding hurting his patient by sheer dumb luck, while blatantly disregarding his superior's instructions.
  • Gleb Romanenko attempts to blatantly exploit his connection to his mother (unsuccessfully), and later outright lies to Bykov, his direct boss.
  • Varvara Chernous fails to recognise blatantly fake patient, and follows his demands to bring blatantly illegal items like booze and cigarettes, while doing nothing out of the things actually required when dealing with the actual patient — starting with skipping reading the clinical history, which would've disproved his "illness" right away.
• Impossible Task: When Gleb asks for an easy task, Bykov gives him an "easy" task — one patient whom Gleb must just interrogate, and report back. The problem? The patient is comatose, which Bykov "forgot" to mention.
• The Klutz: Varya hits several people and objects before she even receives a patient. This is why Bykov gives her Kupitman instead, not being willing to risk her near actual patients.
• Lethally Stupid: Lobanov, in blatant violation of Bykov's instructions, injects his patient with medicine without consulting with Bykov first, or even reading clinical history. Luckily, his blind guess turns out to be correct, but, had his patient really been allergic, like Bykov said, she would be dead. He doesn't take it well.
  Bykov: What you injected the granny with, you vermin?!
  Lobanov: Verapamil.
  Bykov: Did you check her clinical history?
  Lobanov: No; why?..
  Bykov: She's allergic to Verapamil.
  Lobanov: So, what happened?..
  Bykov: Anaphylactic shock. Your granny is gone. Passed away in horrible agony. Congratulations, colleague, you just opened your personal graveyard.
• Malicious Misnaming: Bykov calls Levin "Lenin" to mock him.
• Missed Him by That Much: Lobanov just barely misses running into old widow before she leaves the hospital, and then just accidentally fails to meet her when he arrives at her house; as result, he only meets her again at night, and mistakes her for a ghost.
• My God, What Have I Done?: When Bykov lies to Lobanov that he just killed his first patient over his stupidity (in rather gruesome way), Semyon takes it very personally, and spends the rest of the day trying to find the patient's family and apologise. Then the patient returns at night, which he mistakes for a ghost and panics.
• Nerds Are Virgins: Levin demonstrates his overblown ego right from the start, insisting on being the great specialist. He fails the very first task, being so aroused by the patient's huge breasts, he wastes two hours, neither interrogating her nor prescribing a treatment, clearly showing that he doesn't even know how to handle his hormones. When Bykov suggests him to go to shower and "let steam out", he immediately interprets it as excuse to masturbate, while Bykov actually meant cold shower.
• New Meat: Bykov makes it pretty clear that he dislikes idea of having interns: they're afraid of him, while he can't stand their incompetence. He only changes his mind once he realises that he just got his personal toys to abuse.
  Bykov: You do know that I can't find common language with children; they fear me, and tend to pee themselves.
• One Dialogue, Two Conversations: Lobanov doesn't learn that his patient is alive when visiting her house, because he's here to apologise for failing to save "the patient", while people at house are here to mourn the man who died due to ambulance being too late; neither suspects a thing, even though Semyon should've notice that they specifically refer to "ambulance". As result, Semyon only learns about his patient being still alive much later.
• Pet the Dog: At the end of the day, Kupitman comes to apologise before Varya for exploiting her, thanks her for her help (since she helped him with curing his hangover), and buys her chocolate. He also tries to explain to her what she was actually supposed to do in their situation.
• Refuge in Audacity:
  • Gleb tells Bykov that since they clearly dislike each other, Bykov should cut his working day, so they would communicate as little as possible. He doesn't get away with it, and Gleb's "easy" task ends up being a punishment in disguise.
  • When Varya believes Kupitman's lies that he's dying, and asks what can possibly be done, Kupitman... asks her to bring him booze. When she gets shocked by this, he moans as if he's in agony, which immediately kills any doubts she has. Before she leaves, he asks her to bring cigarettes as well. The next time we see them, it turns out that Kupitman has asked for chips as well, and received them. Varya still suspects nothing.
• Rule of Three: Kupitman asks Varya to bring him cognac. Just before she leaves, he asks for cigarettes, too. When the story returns to him, it gets revealed that he had asked for chips at some point, too.
• Screams Like a Little Girl: Lobanov's reaction once he sees "a ghost" of his "dead" patient is to scream on top of his lungs in horror.
• Slippery Skid: Establishing Character Moment for all four interns as a group is them slipping on a wet floor and simultaneously fall. Bykov considers that to be this In-Universe, and they prove him right before the day ends.
• This Is Gonna Suck: Bykov isn't even remotely amused when interns arrives... Then he sees them clumsily slip and fall on a wet floor, and realises that he may have a lot of "fun" with them.
  Kupitman: Who's that?
  Bykov: This is my headache.
• A Tragedy of Impulsiveness: Had Varya actually used her brain instead of her emotions, and bothered to check the clinical history first, she would have realised that Kupitman is not really sick much earlier.
• Troll: Bykov gets set up as the person who loves messing with people:
  • When Bykov and Kupitman sees interns arriving, they are not very enthusiastic at first, but when they sees them falling, they realises that they just got new toys to play with.
    Bykov [grinning]: Fun, fun!
  • When Levin interprets Bykov's vague advice to "let steam out" as a permission to masturbate (instead of taking a cold shower), Bykov sends Lyuba to check on him, specifically so she would bust him and make the situation even more awkward.
  • When Gleb asks for "easy" task, Bykov sends him to just interrogate a patient, after which he can go. What he didn't tell Gleb is that the patient is comatose.
• Verbal Backspace: Bykov asks how is his comatose patient who "had no complaints in three months". When told that he's still comatose, he says "good", before correcting himself to "bad".

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