After watching The Ring last night, Phil was too scared to go sleeping early, resulting in him falling asleep at work; Gleb promptly wakes him up and makes fun at him. To scare Phil even more, Gleb creates a fake horror story about "black doctor", and cooperates with Semyon to prank Phil the next night. This results in Lobanov receiving a fork in his shoulder, Gelb being hit in the eye, and all three being punished with a night shift. Bykov also tries to scare them with a lame story about the "ear-cutting maniac", to which Gleb replies (when Bykov tries to call them at night) with suggestion to pronounce maniac-related sentence with several "Rs" in it. Bykov tells him to screw himself, and hangs up.
Varya realises that she has very little in common with David: he listens music she doesn't know, reads books by authors she doesn't know, watched movies she doesn't know and laughs at jokes she doesn't like. What they may even discuss together? To find at least some common topics, Varya spends a whole night researching his favourite soccer club, "Spartak
", despite it being very boring to her. She also obtains the tickets on upcoming match, to invite David. Except... she mistook David's favourite club, because the cap with Spartak logo belonged not to him, but his friend; David is a fan of CSKA, the rival of Spartak. Oops... Fortunately, David fixes the problem by himself, as he just has to "educate" Varya, and all she has to do is to play along.
Someone sent a hooker to Kupitman... not as a patient, but as... you know, hooker. Of course, Kupitman recognises it as Bykov's "gift" — and states that if he tried something like this, he doesn't know Kupitman enough. Kupitman does not need "help" like this, even though Bykov thinks that Kupitman became an old and boring; in fact, Kupitman thinks that it is Bykov who became boring with age, because even Gleb, of all people, is now more interesting to speak with. To prove otherwise, Kupitman suggests Bykov to try and play the "tie me to the bed" game with Kisegach... who agrees, only to use it to restrain Bykov for some time, so she may work alone. To not look like a loser, Bykov tries to ask Anastasia to at least leave scratches on his back, since Kupitman already has such marks. She refuses, and Bykov has to search for someone else who can do that; the only fitting candidate is Lyuba, but it turns out that Kupitman already asked her for the same, meaning that he had to cheat, too. Bykov decides to save Kupitman some dignity and pretend that he'd lost, but Kupitman snaps by himself, gets drunk and comes to Bykov to confess.
This episode provides examples of:
- Casual Kink: Bykov actually gets intrigued by Kupitman's suggestion to try and have sex with Kisegach while being tied to his bed. When asked, Anastasia agrees... only to leave handcuffed Bykov alone, because she needs to work, but he's too annoying, and this was a perfect opportunity to deal with him. Unfortunately, the very next day Bykov realises that this means he'd "lost" to Kupitman (who, apparently, had much more pleasant night), and asks Kisegach to scratch his back, so it would look believable. She refuses, forcing him to search for somebody else. Only Lyuba has the long enough nails, but she reveals that she already did the same for Kupitman.
- Chained to a Bed: Bykov tries to distract Kisegach from work by asking her to "play a game", where she chains him to the bed. She indeed chains him, but then leaves him alone for a night, so she can work.
- Epic Fail: Varya does all this research about soccer and Spartak club, to pass for its fan, even obtains some tickets... only to learn that David is a fan of the rival club. Fortunately, David just couldn't leave it like this and returns to "teach her who is the real champion here"note , giving Varya an excuse to invite him on another date where he may "reeducate her".
- Feeling Their Age:
- Bykov accuses Kupitman of becoming progressively more boring with his age; he no longer brags with his "sexual achievements", and his only two interests are now cognac and jokes. So Bykov tries to "help" him (by sending him a hooker). In turn, Kupitman accuses him of the same and claims that he hides his achievements to not harm Bykov's feelings. Kupitman then suggests Bykov to try "being tied to the bed" game with Kisegach.
- When the "game" failed because Kisegach refused to participate past the point where she tied Bykov, Bykov (once he recognises that Kupitman's attempt to pretend that he has a night of love failed as well (because he tried to fake it the same way Bykov did, by asking Lyuba to scratch his back), he decides to not press Kupitman further, or he may snap... only for Kupitman to snap anyway, get wasted and come to Bykov to cry about him becoming hopelessly old. He even agrees on that hooker Bykov "gifted" him early, just so he would have something.
- Kids Shouldn't Watch Horror Films: Phil watched horror movies since his childhood. Back then, they scared him so much, he is afraid of horrors to this day. He still watches them (and gets scared), for whatever reason, and him being scared by yet another one to the point it interfered with his sleep (causing him to fall asleep in on-call room and becoming victim of Gleb's prank) kickstarts his plot.
- Pet the Dog: When Bykov realises that Kupitman has failed, too, he decides to let him save some dignity and pretend that Kupitman has won, to not make him even more miserable. But Kupitman snaps first and just admits everything.
- Troll:
- Gleb just can't miss an opportunity to scare sleeping Phil. Then, when he hears about him being scared by the horror movies, he (with Semyon's help) creates, specifically for him, a fake horror story about "black doctor".
- When the "black doctor" prank backfires and Gleb, Semyon and Phil gets punished with a night shift, Bykov tries to scare them with a lame "true horror story" about the ears-cutting maniac, and then calls them during the shift. Gleb suggests him to repeat a maniac-related sentence with multiple "Rs" in it. Bykov tell him to go screw himself, and hangs up.
