DMV's second episode, "Stay in Your Lane," turns up the heat not only figuratively but also literally. This installment is significantly more chaotic than the premiere, with the stakes escalating to a point where one might wonder if multiple episodes had been condensed into one. Fortunately, Tim Meadows is on hand to ground the proceedings with his understated and laidback delivery, a welcome anchor in a half-hour that includes two full-on breakdowns.
The hook is that the DMV office is unbearably hot, and until the state approves a visit from an authority figure to fix the air conditioning, it's going to stay that way, sending both staff and customers into a sweaty frenzy. Molly Kearney's Barb, still reeling from her hangover, provides a few amusing moments as she tries to cool herself down, but the heat ends up being less of a specific problem and more of a catalyst for several other developments.
Case in point: The sweltering temperature increases the likelihood of a staff meltdown, with a new hire's third Wednesday often being the deadline for either an exaggerated mental breakdown or a commitment to stay at the DMV for the rest of their life. Carl serves as the case study for what happens when the responsibilities of working at the DMV and dealing with the public – framed like animals banging on the windows of a zoo enclosure or zombies encircling a mall – become too much to bear. But the bigger concern, at least for Colette, is that Noa is on his third Wednesday, and she can't risk the possibility of him quitting.
DMV's Episode 2 is titled "Stay in Your Lane" specifically in reference to Colette, who apparently has a pathological inability to get out of her own – and everyone else's – way. This causes her to go to increasingly ridiculous lengths to make Noa comfortable, including messing with the A/C and causing a blackout, turning up the fan behind him, which blows his documents all over the office, and inviting him on a driving exam ride-along that inadvertently reintroduces him to a beautiful surfer woman named Mary he had some kind of recent, possibly romantic encounter with.
Jessica Camacho plays Mary in her first recurring guest role of the season. While it's unclear whether there was anything romantic going on between her and Noa at all, Colette certainly thinks so, and a sitcom like this can easily wring a few episodes out of that assumption alone.
All in all, it works well enough, with some very funny lines and deliveries from Tim Meadows and his character's marriage-related antics. But it's hard not to notice that DMV works much better with Meadows' delivery and demeanor. Colette's frantic, overblown outbursts can be entertaining, but they're not the right choice for a baseline, and I do worry that the show might lean on them too much as it goes on.
