Recap: DMV "There Is No I In DMV"

 

When Barb sees that the North Hollywood branch is successful, she tries to find out what's in their secret sauce. Here's a recap and review of DMV, "There Is No I in DMV."

After seeing the North Hollywood branch's sleek new commercial, Barb becomes determined to motivate her team to be equally successful. Unfortunately, the team isn't exactly enthusiastic. So, with Noa, Colette, Gregg, and Vic in tow, Barb leads a field trip to North Hollywood, where they meet the branch boss, Beau. Beau, hilariously played by Randall Park, is quickly revealed to be strangely creepy, low on self-esteem, and to rudely call the birthplace of E.T. "pilot hole city." Not cool, dude!

Colette tries to show her rebellious side to Gregg and Vic by cutting in line, but she's promptly hauled away by security. Undeterred, she later gets Gregg and Vic behind the scenes, attempting to prove that the North Hollywood branch has a soft-serve ice cream machine (which it doesn't).

When the team returns to their home branch, Barb is upset to find that they have seemingly stolen the copy machine that hadn't even arrived yet. They quickly realize their actual machine has been delivered, so they return the stolen one, using teamwork to sneak it back. They are promptly caught by the flustered NoHo boss, Beau.

This is the moment Noa steps in. Angry at how complicated the process works at the North Hollywood branch, he calls it "the devil's merry-go-round." He was forced to bounce back and forth, endlessly cycling between windows 5 and 8 because no one could solve his problem in under five minutes.

Barb realizes that Beau is a cheat who only pretends to run a high-functioning DMV. She is disappointed, but she leaves with her staff praising her and cheering, "You're our boss!" She finally earns the authentic respect of her team, realizing their honest, if chaotic, approach is better than Beau's fake perfection.

"There Is No I In DMV" was another hilarious half-hour of comedy that finally gave Barb a moment of genuine honor, making her feel respected by her staff when they realized the branch they idealized wasn't actually successful. The episode expertly pokes fun at Beau, who mirrors Barb's quirks (like calling Sacramento "Sac-Town"), making the rivalry even funnier.

Noa's frustrated reaction to the North Hollywood process was particularly hilarious, especially his rhythmic "5-8, 5-8, 5-8" bit. The writing was solid with good character development, and Randall Park did what he does best in this kind of guest appearance. Overall, I give this episode an 8/10.

What did you think of this week's episode? What do you think is a more egregious sin: Beau cheating to look successful, or calling the home of E.T. "pilot hole city"? Leave a comment.

You can catch DMV Monday at 8/7c on CBS and streaming the next day on Paramount+.