One of interns — either Romanenko or Lobanov — must replace a mammalogist while she is on vacation. But, quoting Bykov, only the strongest should receive all those boobs. Lobanov wins, but the "girls" he's supposed to examine turns out to be old and unattractive. To avoid dealing with them, he fools Gleb into switching places with him, only to find that Gleb now works with attractive young students. Lobanov then attempts to take everything back... only to receive more old women.
Levin has an argument with Lyuba because she is highly superstitious, while he is not. After learning that Kupitman is also superstitious (and that Levin himself is considered to be a bad omen amongst personnel), Levin decides to prove them that omens are meaningless... by deliberately violating as many as possible, and then going home as nothing happened. This almost works out... until Levin wishes Bykov "good night shift", which angers him enough to punish Levin (as this is yet another bad omen).
Varya thinks that she fell in love... with Bykov. She asks Lyuba for help, only to learn that this had happened to Lyuba herself many years ago. Now Varya just can't leave her alone until she hears the whole story. Lyuba finally tells her the truth: she tried to write an anonymous love letter for Bykov, only for him to mock it via intercom, for the whole hospital to hear and laugh. From now on, her feelings to him are dead; and now, so are Varya's. However, Bykov then reveals that he knew whose letter it was, and did this on purpose — not out of malice, but because he considered those feelings hurtful for Lyuba herself in the long run, and killed them off before it became too late. This resurrects Varya's trust in Bykov.
This episode provides examples of:
- Cruel to Be Kind: Bykov had broke Lyuba's heart many years ago not because he is a jerk, but because he was aware that her love to him would not lead to anything good, and decided that the sooner he stops this, the less harm overall it would do.
- Failure Is the Only Option: Semyon gets a honour to replace a mammalogist for a day (which means — boobs!), only for all his patients to be old unattractive women. He switches with Gleb (by tricking him)... only for nearly all Gleb's patients to be young attractive students. He tries to pretend that he's a second mammalogist... and the old unattractive women returns, in even larger numbers.
- The Friend Nobody Likes: Apparently, Levin is considered a bad omen by the hospital's personnel.
- Gave Up Too Soon: Had Lobanov waited a little bit longer, he could have met those young attractive girls who were the reason why he and Gleb wanted to become mammalogists for one day in the first place, rather than just old unattractive women; but he decided to backstab Gleb, and now this "prize" comes to Romanenko, while Semyon, who tries to take it back when something good starts to come out of it, only gets more old unattractive women.
- Ignored Enamored Underling: Varya falls in love with Bykov. According to Lyuba, this happens at some point with every new girl in the hospital. Including her, back in the days when both her and Bykov were still young. Of course, Bykov had no such feelings for her, and in fact, he destroyed her feelings in very cruel way. This kills Varya's feelings as well... right until Bykov tells her why he did this.
- Kick the Dog: Back in the old days, Lyuba was in love with Bykov, and decided to write a love letter to him (without signing it). When Bykov found it, he decided to read it aloud via intercom, and mock its anonymous author, thus breaking her heart. When Varya learns about this, she decides that after this, she no longer loves Bykov, too. Except, Bykov was aware whose letter it was all along; he did it deliberately, to stop this unprofessional relationship right at the beginning; in his words, "when you detect an illness, you must deal with it immediately, even if it hurts to do so". This resurrects Varya's trust in him.
- Superstition Episode: Levin doesn't believe in "bad omens" and other superstitions. Lyuba and Kupitman do. Since Levin just can't keep it for himself, and decides to "teach" them, this leads him into conflict with both of them when he decides to deliberately ignore as much of those omens as possible, and still not get punished with a night shift in the end. He almost wins, but then he makes a mistake to wish Bykov "good night shift" (another bad omen), which enrages him.
- Undesirable Prize: Gleb and Semyon both desires to "win" a possibility to become mammalogists for a day. Semyon wins, but "girls" whom he should examine are all old and unattractive. So, he fools Gleb into switching places with him. Except, Gleb quickly deals with them, and now works with attractive young students. Lobanov then attempts to pretend to be a second mammalogist, to receive the other patients... only for Lyuba to bring in even more old women.
