Gleb considers to quit smoking: Phil bothers him with it without end; he has a bet with his friend; and now he has nicotine patch — who knows, maybe he would quit for real? Lobanov (who recently had a similar discussion with Olga, who accused him of lack of willpower to quit) considered this to be funny — because Semyon talked with his wife, while Gleb with Phil, and the two situations are suspiciously similar; who knows, maybe Phil and Gleb becomes a little too close? After dealing with his job, Gleb confronts Phil about him being way too close for comfort, and tells Phil to leave him alone. He later realises that he was too harsh and tries to apologise, but due to Phil continuing acting in a "mama hen" mode, he snaps at him again, this time without any help from Semyon.
Semyon and Gleb have a stage magician Orlandino as their new patient, and have different opinions about his skills: Gleb thinks that Orlandino is a really cool magician, while Semyon thinks that he is just pretender at best and a con artist at worst; Semyon even has a bet with Orlandino about this: Lobanov would hide his pursue, and Orlandino would need to somehow obtain it, without leaving the room. Later, when Lobanov remembers about Orlandino and comes to test his "magic", he's well-prepared to sabotage everything the "magician" can use against him, by holding his pursue with his arm and keeping it in his pocket. But instead of taking the pursue, Orlandino somehow obtains all the money from it, which he promptly reveals to Semyon. He refuses to reveal how he did this, but Gleb does it for him: he and Orlandino were in league, just to mess with Lobanov.
Igor, Bykov's favourite ficus, dies due to neglect (after Lyuba leaved, no one bothered to water it, because interns were forbidden to even touch it, while Rita was simply unaware). Bykov realises that this was his fault and falls into depression. Rita orders each intern to bring Bykov some good news to somewhat compensate for it. However, neither one of them succeeds with attracting his attention. Meanwhile, Varya, who was earlier invited by David to quit the Therapy and join him in the Surgery, can't spit it out to Bykov, out of fear to make Bykov's condition worse. Kupitman reveals to interns and Rita that "Igor" is, in fact, just the last ficus in a long line: they just keeps dying due to neglect, and Bykov just keeps reacting to it like the end of the world, then buying new ones (always calling them "Igor"). Varya finally gathers enough courage to tell Bykov about leaving the Therapy. This snaps Bykov out of depression... but drops Varya into it, as she feels insulted by Bykov's indifference. Bykov realises that she misunderstood his reaction, and tells her that he's happy not with her leaving, but her being the the first of his pupils who has found her own place in life and became independent; they parts ways on the good terms.
This episode provides examples of:
- Agent Mulder: Gleb believes that their patient, Orlandino, is not just a really cool Stage Magician, but may, in fact, possess the real magic. Subverted in that he was in league with Orlandino all along, just to mess with Semyon.
- Agent Scully: Semyon believes that their patient, Orlandino, is just an ordinary magician at best and a Con Man at worst, but certainly not a real mage — even after Orlandino demonstrates him his trick which just can't be explained in any rational way. Semyon even tries to bring up hypnosis, because this would still be easier to believe in than magic. Ultimately, he gets proven right, because Orlandino only managed to achieve this trick with Gleb's help.
- Benevolent Boss: David's boss is much nicer to his subordinates, comparing to how Bykov treats people; when he busts Varya sitting on his table, making out with David, he only jokes, while Varya expected something Bykov-like: screaming, insults, threats and punishments. David assures her that Bykov is theonly true Mean Boss in the hospital, and suggests her to move to his department instead. Ultimately, she agrees.
- The Bet: Semyon has a bet with Stage Magician Orlandino — whether he really has those skills he claims he has, or he's just a pretender. To win, Orlandino must obtain Lobanov's pursue without ever leaving the ward. Semyon manages to render this task impossible... so Orlandino instead takes the money inside. Then it turns out that Gleb was in league with Orlandino against Lobanov.
- Can't Spit It Out: Varya tries to warn Bykov that she plans to leave the Therapy (to work with David), but can't tell him (especially when he falls into depression over "Igor"). She finally succeeds at the end of the episode.
- Deliberately Monochrome: The scenes from Bykov's PoV are shot in monochrome to represent his depression. Same for Varya when she interprets Bykov's joy as him being happy about her leaving.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: Semyon compares Gleb's interactions with Phil to Semyon's own interaction with his wife Olga — meaning, of course, that Gleb and Phil are halfway towards becoming a couple. This discussion kickstarts Gleb's and Phil's plot of the episode. Initially sceptical, Gleb quickly starts seeing that Semyon may be right, to his frustration.
- False Reassurance: Bykov greets Rita and Pasha with cheerful voice, indicating that he's in good mood... and then threatens to kill whomever spoils it:Bykov: I'm warning you: I went to work late, ergo I slept well, ergo I have a good mood... and whoever spoils it, would receive a nail in the head.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Bykov forbid anyone besides him or Lyuba to touch Igor; he trusted Lyuba to keep watering it, but completely forgot that she'd leaved already. Due to Rita being unaware, and everyone else being too scared to touch it, Igor died without water.
- Impossibly Awesome Magic Trick: Orlandino somehow manages to steal the money from Semyon's pursue, despite him keeping it in his pocket, while holding it with his hand. Later it gets revealed that the money were stolen by Gleb even before Semyon went to Orlandino; they were in league to prank Lobanov.
- Legacy Character: Turns out that it's not the first Igor — it's the fifth time when Bykov accidentally allowed it to die due to neglect. He always reacts in overly dramatic manner, and always manages to find a replacement, which he calls the same way.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Bykov doesn't react well when he realises that "Igor" died due to him forgetting to ask Rita to water it, and falls into depression.
- Nepotism: Invoked by Lobanov during his and Gleb’s discussion about possible future: if Gleb would become the Head Doctor, he could appoint Lobanov to be his deputy. Gleb immediately lampshades how it correlates with undying Russian corruption.
- Noodle Incident: Bykov's current reaction to "Igor's" death isn't the most severe one; he tried to off himself when the fourth one died, and there was something outright unspeakable the very first time.
- Paranoia Gambit: Semyon, to mess with Gleb, points that Gleb's interactions with Phil strongly resembles Semyon's interactions with Olga, who's his wife; and that it may be just the beginning. Gleb, who never noticed it until now, become nervous about this until he snaps and tells Phil to leave him alone. Gleb later tries to apologise (mentioning that this was Semyon's fault), but due to Phil continuing acting overprotectively towards him, he snaps again and tells Phil to go screw himself.
- Pet the Dog: Bykov assures Varya that he's happy not for her leaving him, but rather, for her finally finding her place in life, first amongst his interns. Not only this snaps her out of her depression (caused by her previously misinterpreting his joy as him being indifferent towards her), she embraces him almost like a father before leaving.
- Put on a Bus: Varya leaves Therapy to work with David in Surgery. She would never return, even for cameos.
- The Scapegoat: Interns tries to shift the blame for "Igor's" death on Rita, because, as Lyuba's replacement, she was "supposed to" keep it safe. They don't mention that no one bothered to even tell her about it.
- Stage Magician: Semyon's new patient is a stage magician with weird surname "Orlandino" (he created it for himself, people of his profession must have cool names). He, of course, claims that he really knows magic (and shows them some trick with fire).
- Tempting Fate: Bykov goes on the work in good mood and warns everyone that he would kill whomever ruins it. Soon enough, he finds out that "Igor" has died.
- Trauma Button: Rita can't use a vacuum cleaner anymore after accidentally killing her pet hamster Homka with it back in childhood; attempt to do so reminds her about it and drives her to tears.
- Troll: Lobanov mentions how Gleb and Phil sounds way too similar to a married couple (comparing their behaviour to his marriage with Olga), and reminds Gleb about Phil's gay parents. He does that solely to mess with Gleb.
