Gleb is infuriated by Bykov hiring his ex-lover as one of his subordinates (while making Gleb's mother pregnant), and plans to warn Kisegach about it. But he changes his plan, and decides to just blackmail Bykov — only for Bykov to use this against him, by suggesting to just fulfill one his wish in exchange for Gleb keeping that information hidden... and then giving Gleb countless humiliating tasks which he can avoid only by using his wish. Gleb, fearing to waste such a useful tool, refuses each time, and continues enduring this abuse. Meanwhile, Phil struggles with Russian riddles, and in irritation calls them "illogical" and "stupid" — which enrages Bykov, who takes it as attack on his culture, and forces him to solve three of his own. Phil passes the first one with Gleb's help, but the second one — which requires him to solve a riddle and bring Bykov the thing which was questioned — is much harder, and takes him a whole day, until he finally finds something fitting; it's not what Bykov wanted, but since it technically fulfils the condition, he lets it pass. But then comes the third riddle — much, much harder...
Semyon keeps two big bags of his stuff right in the hallway of their (small) apartment for two weeks already: he wants to be ready to move to Olga, but unfortunately she didn't invite him yet. Phil suggests to just ask her directly, but Semyon, in attempt to look more delicate, accidentally gives her an idea to invite her mother instead. In order to "delicately" give Olga idea that she needs man's help in her house, he rides to her house (he has the spare keys) in order to cause some sabotage and then suggest to help with dealing with it. He damages all her lightbulbs to the point it's no longer possible to light them on, but instead of calling him, Olga goes to buy new ones — in the middle of the night, which makes her unable to sleep well that night. Semyon then tries to break her toilet, again in vain. And then he decides to just cut electricity in Olga's apartment... but gets busted during the act by a neighbour, who, thinking that he's a thief, calls the police — and Olga. When Olga learns why he did this, she explains that the reason why she didn't call him back is because she feels that it's too early. She also takes away his keys, just in case.
After being humiliating so much, Gleb just gives up and uses his wish (at this point, nothing he can wish for would compensate for all the suffering, so no point to bother) to help Phil... only for Bykov to refuse. Angry Gleb rushes to Kisegach and tells her about Bykov and Rita... and learns that she's aware — and rather irritated by being reminded about this. Bykov tells Phil that he actually solved the third riddle without even knowing about it: he brought Gleb, who actually matches the last riddle. Bykov leaves Phil with the last rebus, which Phil mistakes for a hidden congratulation... not knowing that it's (poorly-hidden) insult instead. Soon, he goes into argument with Lobanov about Semyon's prior screwups with Olga, only for them to be interrupted by Olga calling — she wants Semyon to stay with her tonight, because she no longer wants to be alone.
This episode provides examples of:
- Blackmail Backfire: Initially, Gleb planned to just tell his mother about Bykov's past relationship with Rita right away, but then he decides to blackmail him instead. Bykov plays along to see how much fun he can milk out of Gleb's delusion, by giving him the right for exactly one wish, and then forcing him to do unpleasant tasks, each time offering the possibility to avoid them if Gleb uses this wish — and each time Gleb refuses, fearing to waste so valuable possibility on something minor. In the end, Gleb decides to just spend his last wish to help Phil (at this point, he suffered to much, no wish can compensate for that, so why bother)... but Bykov refuses, stating that wishes and riddles can't be mixed with. Gleb then rushes to Kisegach... and finds out that she's aware about Bykov and Rita, too — and isn't pleased by being reminded about it.
- Culture Clash: This time, Phil struggles with Russian riddles, even the stock children riddles. As summarised by Semyon (with Phil unsuccessfully trying to save his grace) when Phil struggles with "same colour, in both winter or summer" riddle:Semyon: Saw a kid in metro today; he was told a riddle by his mother, which completely hanged his brain. Kid had hanged, and Phil had hanged; kid is four, Phil is twenty six.
Phil: The riddle was just illogical! Too many possible answers! Why "spruce"? Why not "pine", or "fir", or "sun"? "Sky", "sofa", "human", "tongue", "blood", "eye"? Too many answers! Why "spruce", of all things?! - Engineered Heroics: Semyon's plan relies on it, but fails utterly every time he tries.
- At first, he tries to sabotage all lightbulbs in Olga's house (he has spare keys), then offer his help with fixing everything, so she would consider to invite him back, instead of her mother. Plan backfires, because Olga fixes the problem by herself (this also results in her having little time to sleep, and thus being in a bad mood), without ever considering to call Semyon.
- He tries again, this time by breaking her toilet (so she certainly would be incapable to fix it by herself), but she refuses to call him again, to his irritation — because she was helped by her neighbour's son... who now may start hitting on Olga if Lobanov fails to impress her somehow.
- He tries to just sabotage electricity in her apartment... and gets busted by neighbour during process, who calls police and Olga. Ultimately, Olga gets angry, and just takes away his keys.
- Exact Words: How Phil "solves" Bykov's second riddle (which works on wordplay): it had "cognac" as a correct answer, but due to specific wording, "arsenic" fits too. Bykov, impressed with his determination, considers it to be a win anyway, and explains what he really meant.
- Failure Is the Only Option: Everything Semyon tries to make Olga invite him, fails miserably. She ultimately does invite him, but on her own initiative after all his schemes have already failed.
- Humiliation Conga: Gleb suffers one during this episode. When his attempt to blackmail Bykov goes wrong, Bykov offers to fulfil one his wish if Gleb would not inform Kisegach about Rita's past relationship with Bykov... only to then flood Gleb with humiliating tasks, tempting him with wasting his wish on avoiding them. Gleb adamantly refuses, but in the end tells Phil that at this point, he doesn't know just what he may ask for to at least no longer thinking that Bykov had won.
- Impossible Task: Bykov, infuriated by Phil insulting Russian riddles, gives him three of his own, fully expecting him to fail due to his lack of savviness and abstract thinking. Phil passes them — one genuinely, one due to exact wording, and one by accident:
- First riddle is a test of savviness: "You must go to work — neither on foot nor riding, neither clothed nor naked, neither bald nor hairy". He succeeds with Gleb's help, who brings him on a gurney (fulfilling the first condition), naked, but covered by sheet (fulfilling the second condition). How he dealt with the third condition? By shaving his... crotch. Bykov tells him to immediately cover it once he learns about it.
- Second riddle (which Bykov created with Kupitman's help; Kupitman's version had same answer, but was simpler to solve) works on wordplay (thus testing Phil's abstract thinking): "Bring me two animals, in one piece, but they must be as one; neither alive nor dead, neither grilled nor boiled, but must weight half of kilogram and we must be able to consume them". He means cognac (kon-yak", from "kon" — horse, and "yak"), but Phil, after much struggling, decides that Bykov meant arsenic ("mysh-yak", from words "mysh" — "mouse", and "yak"). Bykov congratulates Phil on (technically) winning, and explains to him what he did wrong.
- Third one is "bring me neither long nor short, neither fat nor slim, neither smart nor dumb, neither son nor daughter". As it turns out in the end, Phil accidentally solved it by himself: he brought Gleb, who matches all conditions; he's average in all regards, matching first three conditions, while fourth one... Gleb is obviously not a "daughter", while "son"... can he still be called "son" after he "betrayed" Bykov by ratting him out to Kisegach?
- Like an Old Married Couple: The officer who was called by Olga's neighbour when Semyon was busted sabotaging power believes that Semyon is indeed Olga's ex-husband when he sees them arguing and quickly switching to shouting on each other, clearly indicating that it's not the first time them doing something like this.
- Mix-and-Match Critters: Bykov's second riddle is based on wordplay, with the correct answer being "cognac" (from "kon" — "horse"; and "yak"). Phil instead comes with rather weird results:
- Phil's attempts to find solution results in his mind producing rather bizarre hybrids before he finds any actually exiting words. In order, he tries several meaningless ones (cow-deer, boar-mink, giraffe-beaver, cockerel-hippopotamus, crocodile-hare, and hare-bull), then comes to the musk ox (its Russian name sounds like "sheep-bull"), which he immediately rejects when realises that it obviously weights much more than half of kilogram (and it seems dubious that they can "consume" it), and proceeds back to meaningless ones (rat-cat, cat-roach, snake-hedgehog). After this, he again comes with a meaningful word — "utkonos" ("platypus"; its Russian name literally means "duck-nosed"), which he immediately ignores and proceeds to "duck-pig". Scene cuts to evening, with him still thinking out loud about ideas like "spider-cat", with countless notes with other variants lying near him. Gleb tells him to either shut up or ask for help. Phil ignores him and then asks his opinion on the word "cat-mouse".
- Phil never solves the riddle properly, but his answer — arsenic (from "mysh" — "mouse; and "yak") technically fits the riddle, so Bykov counts it as success after all.
- Never My Fault: Lobanov tells Phil that it was rather harsh from Olga to never invite him back. Phil points out that he just ruined half of her apartment in attempt to "persuade" her into inviting him — why would she invite him, especially now, when she's aware that he was behind this?
- Out of Focus: Varya doesn't appear in this episode.
- Overly Long Gag: Phil's attempts to solve Bykov's riddle; he tries rather long list of (mostly senseless) combinations. Cut to the evening in the apartment, where he still tries to solve it, with countless notes with possible variants lying near him. Irritated Gleb tells him to shut up: he tries to sleep.
- Queer People Are Funny: When Phil struggles with popular Russian riddle ("same colour, in both winter or summer"), Lobanov suggests that the right answer is Phil's parents,note with actual answer being "spruce".
- Patriotic Fervor: Bykov already dislikes USA (and by proxy, Phil, for being half-American and arriving from there), so when Phil says that Russian riddles are "dumb", Bykov forces him to solve his own riddles or be punished.
- Sarcasm-Blind: Subverted. Phil misses Semyon's sarcastic reaction to his suggestion to (just ask Olga directly) not because he's blind to sarcasm, but because he didn't expect it from Semyon. Or, at least it's what he tells him. Semyon still tries his advice, though.
- Stealth Insult: In the end Bykov presents Phil with a rebus — the word "podebil". Phil takes it as mangled "pobedil" ([you'd] won), but there's also the word "debil" (moron), which Phil misses.
- Throw the Dog a Bone: When it seems that Semyon once again failed utterly in his attempts to restore relationship with Olga, she suddenly invites him for real, because she no longer wants to be alone.
