Phil's patient has the hematomas from cupping therapy
on his back; Gleb, exploiting Phil's unawareness of this "treatment" method (which is more common in Russia, where "untraditional medicine" still has some influence), lies to him that this is a cruel criminal torture. After speaking with the patient, Phil decides to call police to "protect" him from his wife. Fortunately for him, policeman decides to just laugh on him and leave, without even fining him for making a false call.
Lobanov is no longer afraid of Bykov, and not even the threat of a night shift can force him to work, which makes Bykov sad. Fortunately, Kupitman has an idea how force him to do his work: every time he does something wrong, he would get fined. Semyon attempts to work "more effective" to avoid wasting money, but fails anyway. Bykov agrees to abolish the new system, if Semyon would beg him for it.
Kisegach is in depression after her breakup with Bykov. Gleb (who is not aware about the true reason) can't leave her like that, and asks Kupitman for help. When Kupitman tells him that the reason behind this, he barely manages to stop Gleb from rushing to Bykov and kick his ass (or, rather, die trying). Instead, Kupitman suggests to make Kisegach focus on work. How? By "creating" a crisis that only she can fix. When every attempt to attract her attention fails, they decides to try the last idea — using the fake medicine minister (or rather vice-minister, since no one ever remembers vices, ever). Who would play him? One particularly annoying patient, Kirnosov. This works, but then Kirnosov gets noticed by Lyuba, who immediately recognises him (because he wasted so much of her time before). Realising that something is wrong, Kisegach asks him one simple question — the name of his boss — which he can't answer. But now Kisegach is angry, and Kupitman with Romanenko have to run...
This episode provides examples of:
- Bluff the Impostor: When Lyuba notices Kirnosov (who pretended to be a vice-minister of medicine), and tells Kisegach about him, Anastasia decides to ask him one simple question: the name of his boss. Kirnosov accepts defeat.
- Culture Clash: Phil is unfamiliar with cupping therapy, because it is much more common in Russian than in USA, so, when he notices the "strange hematomas" on his patient's back, he asks Gleb for help. Gleb lies to him that this is a unique Russian criminal torture. Hilarity ensues.
- Did I Just Say That Out Loud?: When Lobanov decides what would be best — to just stick with ulcer diagnosis, or make a blood test, he decides that the fine for "useless tests" would be not as severe as for incorrect diagnosis. He realises that he said this aloud only when the patient points this out.
- Exact Words: Lobanov thinks that he can cheat and avoid being fined by simply doing nothing, as the fines are applied for mistakes, including unneeded tests. It doesn't work, as Bykov simply expands the rules to include wasting time.
- Flaw Exploitation: Lobanov is no longer afraid of Bykov. But Kupitman suggests another solution: since Lobanov is always in dreadful deficit of money, Bykov can punish him with fines: for every mistake, from useless tests to incorrect diagnosis, he would lose a part of his salary. This doesn't work at first, as Lobanov decides that he can avoid screwing up by just doing nothing, but then Bykov reminds him that he can be fined for wasting time, too.
- Literal-Minded: When Phil, believing that the cupping therapy is a "unique Russian torture" ("thanks" to Gleb), decides to learn more from his patient about this, he learns that it was patient's wife who did this. When patient mentions that she is not that bad, simply can sometimes "gnaw him out a little", "saw him" and "drill his brain" (all of those are idioms which means that she acts grumpy), Phil imagines this to be literal and gets horrified. He then suggests to divorce her, to which the patient tells him that they spent twenty five years together, and she would just kill him if he tries. Phil takes this literally, too, and decides to call police. Policeman, once he learns why he was called, decides to record the whole "horrible torture" story on his phone, so his friends can laugh, and leaves without fining Phil for false call.
- Out of Focus: Varya doesn't appear in this episode.
- Refuge in Audacity:
- Lobanov outright tells Bykov that he would not work, because he would screw up anyway and would be punished with a night shift. When Bykov warns him that he can just punish him with a night shift for his slacking, Lobanov tells him that he is okay with this. He doesn't even react when Bykov threatens to outright fire him. Bykov gets so surprised, he leaves him alone and asks Kupitman for help.
- When Lyuba's patient Kirnosov plays a vice-minister for Kisegach (as part of Kupitman's plan to distract Kisegach from her depression), he asks for three things. First two (dealing with "rude" Lyuba and receiving new TV into his ward), while selfish, are at least somewhat meaningful, but the last one? He asks for "chicks" (yes, just like that); he only corrects himself to more polite term when he realises that the high-ranking official is unlikely to talk like that when on-duty.
- Riddle for the Ages: We would never learn how Lobanov managed to persuade Bykov into abolish his fines system. The only description gets provided by Bykov, who immediately specifies that it was fake which he created specifically for Lyuba, to humiliate Lobanov further.
- Status Quo Is God: By the end of the episode Bykov abolishes his new fines system before ever actually using it.
- You Shall Not Pass!: When his patient's wife finally appears, Phil tries to stop her. Emphasis on "tries": she firstly stuns him with a heavy slap, and then outright knocks to the floor by hitting with a bag.
