Kisegach asks Bykov to be more delicate with Polina, to not traumatise poor girl further — she just survived a divorce; Bykov reluctantly agrees. But Bykov wouldn't be Bykov without going overzealous with everything he does, so when Polina invites Sophia to go drink some compote, Bykov actually orders Sophia to play along, despite her not being interested. Sophia isn't happy with this order, as she thinks that Polina exploits her status as a victim to make Bykov go easy on her — which heavily contrasts with how happy she looks when he isn't around. Despite Gleb's attempts to talk her out of this, she decides to "prove" that Polina's lying. For that, she wants to befriend Polina and provoke her into acting like she's perfectly happy in presence of Bykov, so he would notice her not being depressed by himself. But Bykov ignores all her arguments, suspecting that Sophia tries to frame Polina up. Sophia then changes tactics, and starts pocking Polina's weak points, to demonstrate that she's merely pretending; she even prepares a dictaphone to record it. When Sophia goes too far, Polina tells her that everything is under control... and immediately snaps as soon as Sophia leaves. Polina tries to pour some water from a teapot, but accidentally drops the cup due to her hands shaking. She then breaks into tears. When Bykov comes to on-call room after hearing the "evidence" gathered by Sophia, he sees Polina absolutely devastated, and suggests her to take a day off to calm down, but then Kisegach arrives and mistakes the situation for Bykov abusing Polina, and takes her away. As for Bykov, he doesn't react kind to the revelation, and later calls Sophia out on acting like a jerk to Polina for no reason, as well as punishes her with a night shift. Polina, meanwhile, reveals that she only acts much quieter near Bykov because she's afraid to provoke him; she keeps Sophia's involvement secret from Kisegach, insisting that it was an accident and just reaction to sad memory.
Alexei tells Lyuba and Rita about weird yet funny "logical" riddle which actually may be found in some school books. Silliness aside, just paying attention is enough to solve them; Rita does so, while Lyuba fails, being too practical to think abstractly. Lyuba feels envious, so Alexei asks another riddle, even simpler: there's a primitive picture of a bus (without visible doors), and asks where it goes. Rita easily guesses that it goes to the left (Russia has right-handing traffic, that's why there's neither doors nor steering wheel visible), while Lyuba can only make a silly joke. To make fun on Lyuba (this was first grade-level riddle!), they don't reveal exact reason to her, so she may think by herself. Lyuba tries to cheat, by asking different people, but everyone whom she asks fails to provide an answer: Kisegach is just as clueless, Gleb doesn't care, while Bykov knows the answer, but prefers her to come up with it by herself. The only one who gives her the clue to answer it is Polina. To strike back, Lyuba prepares a "logical riddle" on her own. It's similar to the previous one, but instead involves trolleybus, and has several seemingly valid explanations where it goes, which Lyuba all rejects. Why? Because it goes nowhere, having no driver! Gleb is unimpressed and voices everyone's opinion: the "riddle" sucks. Unfortunately, now both Lyuba and Rita demands more and more riddles from (now quite tired) Alexei, refusing to let him go until they solves every one.
Phil has a problem: he has two patients, a married couple with same initials (Igor and Inna), and two test results — one positive, one negative, both signed with initials, so he has no way to know who's infected and who isn't. Phil thinks that it was Igor, while Kupitman suspects Inna. They even have a bet. How they would recognise who's right? They would tell both that they are infected, and see their reaction; the clear one would look surprised. But when they proceeds with the plan, turns out that both patients have cheated on each other. However, neither Phil nor Kupitman are willing to accept defeat just yet. Insisting on his version of events, Phil announces that it was Igor who had the positive test result; he asks Inna to check up "just in case", but she angrily refuses, confirming that it was Igor who was infected all along. Kupitman reluctantly gives Phil his money, but states that it was the last time when they have any sort of a bet. Suddenly, some guy rushes to Phil's office. Turns out, he's Inna's lover; Inna ordered him to check up, suspecting that he had infected her — which means, it was actually Inga all along, and Kupitman had won the bet. But when Phil goes to tell him so, Kupitman reacts hostilely, thinking that Phil came to gloat, and starts insulting him. Phil decides to just keep the money to himself, and leave.
This episode provides examples of:
- The Bet: Phil and Kupitman have a weird case, where they have two patients with same surname (they're married) and initials (Igor and Inna), but one is infected with STD due to cheating on the other one, and they don't know who. They makes a bet about who it is (Phil bets on Igor, Kupitman on Inna). How they plans to verify? By separately telling them both that they're infected, and see who would be surprised (the other one is a culprit). Inna angrily refuses being tested, feeling insulted, making it look like Phil'd won, but later turns out that she's just a good liar: she sends her lover to do the test instead; this technically makes Kupitman a winner, but Phil doesn't tell him, as Kupitman acted like a jerk to him.
- Crocodile Tears: Sophia notices that Polina only acts like she is sad due to her divorce when near Bykov, and remains cheerful otherwise, and now thinks that she fakes being traumatised by this, and merely exploits Bykov, since he always falls for it and starts making her favours in attempt to "comfort" her. Turns out that Polina was entirely sincere, and Sophia's manipulations only made the situation worse.
- Everyone Has Standards: Bykov is completely unimpressed by Sophia's attempts to "prove" that Polina simulates depression (especially since he knows that she doesn't, which he soon confirms), and not only calls her out on extremely mean behaviour, but also punishes her — while he tries to give Polina a day off to help her to calm down.
- Failed a Spot Check: Alexei's second riddle (purposed for first-graders) involves the picture of a bus; you're supposed to realise where it goes (to the left, or to the right). Since Russia has right-hand traffic and you can't see any doors (they are supposed to be on the right side, and only right side), it means that it goes to the left. Simple enough? But Lyuba completely misses this. Kisegach, whom she asks for help, misses it too, but it's unclear whether it happens for the same reason as with Lyuba, or because she's looking for (non-existent) twist.
- False Friend: Sophia befriends Polina, only to try and use the cruelest words possible to provoke Polina into breaking her "disguise" and confirm that her depression is "fake". Since it was not a disguise, this eventually drives Polina to tears, which disgusts even Bykov when he finds out, to the point that he punishes Sophia. Despite everything, Polina still never reveals Sophia's involvement to Kisegach (Bykov learned by himself, since Sophia came to gloat).
- Literal-Minded: First riddle Lyosha asks is about a psychiatric clinic: "In one psychiatric clinic, the chief doctor heals all patients. Each patient bites someone once per day. One week later, chief doctor has one hundred bites, each patient has two bites. How many patients are there?". Rita can distance herself from the wording and solve it (there are 20 patients), while Lyuba can't, as all her experience tells her "just check the documents", which she promptly suggests. She then jokes that they should medicate the psychos to make them stop biting. Her attempt at comeback (trolleybus goes nowhere, as there's no driver) shows that she'd learned nothing from her failures.
- Never My Fault: Instead of learning anything from her punishment, Sophia interprets it as Polina "framing" her.
- Not What It Looks Like: Bykov notices Polina, still crying (after Sophia provoked her), and tries to persuade her into taking a day off, since she is clearly not able to work right now. His specific choice of words causes Kisegach (who appears just at that moment) to think that he again mistreats Polina. This is not the first time something like this happens, by far, which Bykov lampshades.Bykov: You have a natural talent to appear at the "best" moments possible, and always hear everything wrong.
- The Paranoiac: Sophia acts very hostilely to Polina, stubbornly insisting that her "depression" is merely Crocodile Tears (it isn't). To "prove" it, she starts deliberately provoking Polina, expecting that she wouldn't receive genuine reaction since Polina simulates (but exact words she uses would be mean regardless of whether Polina has depression or not). And when Bykov sides with Polina when she finally snaps and starts crying, and punishes Sophia for her cruelness, Sophia interprets it as Polina "framing" her.
- Pay Evil unto Evil: Phil learns that he'd lost that bet after all, and goes to give Kupitman the money he just won, but when Kupitman (who thinks that Phil came to gloat) starts rudely telling him to go away, Phil decides to do exactly that and keep money to himself.
- Sore Loser: After losing a bet, Kupitman, instead of just accepting defeat, angrily tells Phil that he would never bet with him again. When Phil later confirms that it was actually Kupitman who had won, and comes to give him the money he'd won, Kupitman thinks that Phil came to gloat and insults him. Phil decides to keep the money.
- Stepford Smiler: Polina acts cheerful and friendly whenever she isn't in Bykov's point of view. Sophia, thinking that she merely pretends, since Bykov starts favouring her out of pity, presses Polina further... and it turns out that Polina's cheerfulness was her attempt to cope with divorce (as for Bykov, Polina later reveals that difference in her behaviour was caused by her fearing to provoke Bykov in any way); when Sophia goes too far, Polina barely manages to move far away before breaking to tears.
