Bykov is still in coma after being hit by a truck. Fortunately, there's still hope left. A doctor compares his condition to being under some sort of a "glass dome". By constantly interacting with him, his friends and colleagues may weaken and ultimately break that "glass dome", bringing him back into the wake world. Interns just can't decide who would do this, each one tries to volunteer, but Kisegach just leaves them to decide by themselves. Kupitman takes their attempts to promote themselves as shameful, and goes to Bykov by himself... which leads to him and Kisegach meeting a driver of the truck which hit Bykov, a woman called Marina, who now feels extreme regret over it. Kisegach is extremely hostile to her, but Kupitman decides to exploit the situation to hit on her (which ultimately fails when she realises his intentions, and quits out of disgust).
Meanwhile, interns can't agree on a plan how to help Bykov. Varya thinks that they should tell him about pleasant things, like her patient who gets better, while Lobanov thinks that it would be "too boring"... which, in turn, leads Phil into suggesting to instead tell him something which would enrage him, so he would want to wake up and kick their asses. They agrees on Phil's plan... but now can't agree who would remain in charge while Bykov is still comatose. When they fails to decide by themselves, Kisegach suggests to use one patient (whom they previously ignored, fearing to take additional responsibility) as the "win condition"... and now they can't decide who would treat him, forcing them to ask Lyuba to judge them. Lyuba just manipulates them into doing all her work, without choosing anyone. But her conversation with Varya gives Varya an idea what else she may try...
Each intern tries to wake Bykov up by enraging him. Phil pretends to be fatally moronic in regards to his patient, and Gleb and Semyon provokes him with audacious comments. All of them fails (though Gleb and Semyon nearly succeeds), and then Varya steps in and starts irritating Bykov by the stories about David. Unfortunately, this still fails to achieve anything but nearly driving Bykov nuts. Kisegach realises who is really the boss here and appoints Lyuba to be in charge in Bykov's absence. Anastasia then makes the last ditch attempt, and successfully wakes Bykov up by telling him that she's pregnant.
This episode provides examples of:
- And I Must Scream: Bykov is perfectly self-aware while in coma, but can't interact with outside world. Visually, this is represented by him being stuck under a glass dome, seeing and hearing what's happening outside, but not being able to answer. As he gets provoked into strong emotions (specifically anger), the dome gets gradually damaged by Bykov's attempts to break free. It finally shatters when he hears that Kisegach is pregnant.
- Battle in the Center of the Mind: Bykov's condition is compared to him being under some sort of "glass dome", which prevents him from interacting with the outside world. Outside world, however, may interact with him; any attempts to talk with him would gradually weaken the "glass dome" until it breaks. Indeed, throughout the whole episode, Bykov is depicted under a literal glass dome, angrily commenting on the stories the other people tells him. As the time goes on, the dome gradually gets damaged when Bykov gets provoked into strong emotions (specifically anger) and attacks the dome, until it results in explosion, finally freeing Bykov and allowing him to wake up.
- The Bore:
- According to Bykov, Kupitman's story about a lame gift from one of his patients (which he tries to use to raise Bykov's mood) is frustratingly boring. This certainly does not work towards the plan of awakening Bykov by speaking with him.
- Invoked by Varya in order to wake up Bykov. As Lyuba previously mentioned, her stories about David can "irritate even a deadman"; so, she correctly deduces that they may enrage Bykov, too, to the point that he would wake up just to shut her up. Instead, it nearly drives him insane.
- Comically Inept Healing: Invoked. Phil's plan to wake up Bykov involves telling his "plan" of the patient's treatment, in order to enrage Bykov to the point that he would want to kick Phil's ass. This does enrage Bykov... but not nearly enough, though Bykov hitting the glass with a chair probably helped Lobanov and Romanenko on their try to achieve more.
- Dirty Old Man: Kupitman uses the whole situation with Bykov to hit on Marina (a driver who caused Bykov's condition, and feels extreme remorse about it). All of this instead of visiting comatose Bykov, despite him previously insisting that he should be the first to visit him. He gets called out on this, firstly by Kisegach, and then by Marina herself.
- "Eureka!" Moment: Lyuba's offhand comment ("you may irritate even a deadman!") about Varya not shutting up about David helps Varya to realise that she may try and start telling those stories to Bykov, until he wakes up just to shut her up.
- Gave Up Too Soon: When their method (enraging Bykov with audacious comments) seemingly fails, Lobanov decides to abandon it... but Bykov can actually see that this leads to some progress, and (futilely) tries to encourage them to continue.
- My God, What Have I Done?: A truck driver who (accidentally) hit Bykov feels extreme regret because of the whole situation, and even arrived into the hospital to see if he would get any better.
- Rejected Apology: Marina, a driver of that truck which hit Bykov in the previous episode feels extreme regret and arrived into the hospital to find out wether he would manage to get better. Kisegach is unimpressed and reacts very hostile, forcing Kupitman to calm her down.
- Seen It All: First things Gleb and Semyon tries during their attempts to enrage Bykov by stories about their screwups is to state how lazy they are. It achieves zero results, as Bykov is completely unsurprised, and can't get angry enough to act on it. Semyon's next comments works better, as he uses more serious screwups.
- Take a Third Option: When they fails to decide who is the leader while Bykov is absent, interns asks Kisegach, who suggests one patient (whom interns previously ignored) to be the "win condition" (whoever treats him would be the leader), but since they can't decide who would treat him, they asks Lyuba. Lyuba manipulates them into doing all her work, and in the end Kisegach assigns her to be the temporal "leader".
- We ARE Struggling Together: Interns are too concerned with who should be the leader to do anything useful:
- Initially, interns are more concerned with who's supposed to be in charge than, you know, helping Bykov. Gleb thinks that he is supposed to lead, because "genes" (his mother is a Chief Doctor). Semyon thinks that he is supposed to lead, because he is older; Gleb instantly counters this by pointing out that Kupitman is older than Kisegach, yet he is her subordinate. Phil suggests that "smartest one" must lead (hinting at himself), which Gleb counters by pointing out that Bykov is smarter than Kisegach, yet he is her subordinate. Lobanov gets angry, and says that if Gleb continues to use the same logic, they would stick with Varya as the leader (to which Varya agrees, and everyone else disagrees, in unison). Lobanov is first one to give up and just go to work (with others following).
- Interns reassigns the patient from one to another, because no one wants to deal with him and be the one to screw up. When the patient complains about them to Kisegach, Gleb asks her to assign one of them to be in charge... but instead she makes treating that patient to be the "win condition", forcing interns to fight for the right to treat him. When this leads to nowhere, Phil suggests to ask Lyuba... who manipulates them into doing all her work, without choosing anyone as a leader. This only stops when Varya has an "Eureka!" Moment and rushes to Bykov.
- Wham Line: How Kisegach in a single line manages to achieve more than all interns in a whole day? By telling Bykov that she is pregnant.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Kisegach reacts extremely negatively to Kupitman hitting on a woman who nearly killed Bykov. Marina, once she realises that Kupitman is trying to hit on her, calls him out on this, too, and leaves.
