Today is Kupitman's birthday, but Ivan Natanovich is not happy; in fact, he never celebrates it. Only Bykov ignores this each year to drink with him and gift him lave gifts. This time, after Kupitman grows tired of his antics and tells him to leave, Bykov decides to organise a birthday party for his friend, and asks Lyuba for help. Kupitman is surprised by this, but decides to play along to not harm their feelings. Then, to Bykov's surprise, he uses intercom to invite everyone else to his office. But when Bykov tries to go as well, he finds out that Kupitman invited everyone excluding Bykov. Bykov then rents an expensive restaurant for the party; and Kupitman would pay for everyone! Kupitman is too drunk to refuse in any meaningful way, but states that he's happy for once.
Lobanov's back hurts so much, he barely can walk, let alone work, so Levin tries to "fix" him. This works, but now, due to allergic reaction, his face becomes red as tomato, and just as swollen. In attempt to fix this, Levin injects him with antihistamines... but accidentally hits a nerve. Now, Lobanov is after his head. Fortunately for Levin, the medicine works before Semyon can harm him, but now Lobanov is unconscious, so Levin must move him to on-call room by himself. In the end, Lobanov gets better... but now Levin's own back hurts.
Gleb tries to fix his relationship with Varya, by reminding her about events what united them, and measuring her pulse to see her reaction, all to force her to admit that she still has feelings for him. But after this fails, Gleb tells her that, apparently, she not just has no more feelings for him now; she never had. This actually breaks her "armour", and she decides to "test" again, this time by kissing him, after which she accepts that he is right: she never actually loved him.
This episode provides examples of:
- Backstory of the Day: We learn that Kupitman and Bykov have a long-time tradition of Kupitman forbidding to celebrate his birthday, and Bykov consistently disregarding it and bringing him gifts. It seems that this episode finally put an end to this tradition, by "curing" Kupitman's hatred for birthdays.
- Birthday Episode: One of the three storylines is all about Kupitman's birthday (and his unwillingness to celebrate it).
- Birthday Hater: Kupitman never celebrates his birthday, and everyone knows it. He makes an exception only for Bykov, since they are just that close friends. But when Bykov accidentally offends him, and Kupitman tells him to leave, Bykov decides to troll him and organise a Surprise Party for him. It backfires, since Kupitman uses that party against him. In the end, he is happy with his birthday for the first time in a long time.
- Here We Go Again!: Levin's attempts to help Lobanov ends in him hurting his own back. He even tells Lobanov the same words when Semyon offers him help.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Bykov's attempt to troll Kupitman by Surprise Party backfires on Bykov when Kupitman decides to play along and invite everyone... except Bykov himself.
- Jerkass Realization: In the end, Bykov realises that out of all people who came to celebrate Kupitman's birthday, he was the only one who acted like a jerk and only used it as a chance to mess with Kupitman. He pays all expenses by himself, despite initially being willed to drop them on Kupitman.
- Love Will Lead You Back: Gleb is convinced what Varya still has feelings to him, and tries to convince Varya herself of this.
- My New Gift Is Lame: Bykov is the only one who gives gifts to Kupitman on his birthday (everyone else are aware that he doesn't like to celebrate it), and every single time he gifts him something insanely stupid. This time it is a t-shirt with "Kupit-man, the venereologist" on it. That last one offends Kupitman enough to refuse celebrating with Bykov, which provokes Bykov into organising a Surprise Party for his friend and thus kickstarting the whole plot.
- Surprise Party: Bykov organises surprise birthday party for Kupitman, perfectly aware that Kupitman doesn't like to celebrate his birthday (in fact, it's the reason why he does that). Kupitman pretends that everything is okay to not harm guests' feelings.
- Troll: Why Bykov bothers to organise a birthday party for Kupitman at all, if he knows that he doesn't like this? Because it's a great excuse to gift him something silly and mocking. This backfires when Kupitman decides to play along and invite everyone... everyone, except Bykov himself. Bykov retaliates by telling everyone that Kupitman now invites them to expensive restaurant... and he would pay for everything. Kupitman is already too drunk to refuse in any meaningful way. Bykov decides to at least pay for all this by himself in the end, though, when he realises that he is the only one here who acted like a bad friend.
