Shout Out / Trace

• "Buratino":
  • The murder is committed in a The Golden Key, or the Adventures of Buratino-themed restaurant, and for a long time, the suspect is only known as Malvina. When it's revealed the murderer was Disguised in Drag, Tikhonov dubs him Buratino instead; bonus point that the victim's last name is Karlov and he is the murderer's father, leading to the FES musing that this Buratino has killed his Papa Carlo.
  • When the murderer tries to get away Disguised in Drag, Lisitsyn comments "Nobody's perfect".
• "The Dead Hour" includes several references to The Tale of the Military Secret, The Boy-Kibalchish and His Firm Word, a popular Soviet children's story by Arkady Gaidar. Culminates in a military salute at Nikita's funeral and Lisitsyn quoting the final line of the story verbatim.
• "Ends in the Water": Igor Shustov finds Death Under Sail, a mystery story by Charles P. Snow, on a crime scene. He constantly brings the story during the investigation. The final twist of the episode emulates the book's ending: the death was murder disguised as suicide disguised as murder.
• "Fire with Fire": When Shustov offers to "scratch" (comb) an area which is too big (400 square kilometres), Tikhonov answers: "If it itches, scratch in another place". It is one of the most famous quotes by the 90s-era Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin, known for his sayings and malapropisms.
• "Just Like The Movie" features a sex party with both men and women wearing masks (with coats for men).
• The murder in "Lolita" looks like a Whole-Plot Reference to Charlotte's death in Nabokov's novel. Until it's revealed that the girl in question, a Child Prodigy Manipulative Bitch, was the one pulling the strings the entire time.
• "Nighttime Tours" contains a series of references to The Master and Margarita. The crime scene is located in the same district where Berlioz and Bezdomny met Woland, with an urban legend saying that one of the bodies is found on the very bench where Woland had sat, and black cat hairs and traces of kerosene are discovered there, leading Amelina and Belozyorov to chuckle that Behemoth was involved.
• "Roadside Picnic" has Belaya making a sculpture suspiciously reminding of "Big Clay #4" by Urs Fisher. The sculpture created big controversy and became a meme while being installed in Moscow.
• "Secret Mission" features this dialogue between Rogozina and suspect, Vikentiy Konetsky (who actually met Subbotin in drag):
  Konetsky: But Olya... is a different deal. She's sensitive, sharp-minded. It's a pity her real name is Leonid.
  Rogozina: (beat) Nobody is perfect.
• In "The Wench", woman gets decapitated by tram. It constantly gets lampshaded in the episode, starting with Dunaeva asking Shustov if he has found any sunflower oil on the rails.