Summary
DMV finally acknowledges how annoying Colette is in Episode 8, another decent, more balanced installment playing to the cast’s strengths.
Just in case you were wondering whether DMV itself is aware of how annoying Colette is, Episode 8 has you covered. A quasi-Christmas special, at least in terms of the last-minute appearance of terrible themed sweaters, “Splash Fountain” has an entire subplot about Colette’s irritatingly desperate demeanour, referring back to multiple mishaps throughout the season. And, enjoyably, it’s Barb, of all people, who gets to deliver these home truths.
The path this subplot takes is fittingly ridiculous. An office disagreement arises about how Barb ought to spend some spare office dough, with Ceci — and basically everyone else in the office — wanting a new coffee machine, and Barb wanting the sweaters. Because Colette doesn’t want Ceci to pressure Barb into getting the coffee machine, she decides to instead befriend Barb and charm her into seeing sense, which immediately morphs into an aggressive parasocial relationship with Barb keeping Colette up all night with cat memes.
Colette’s well-intentioned gesture takes even more of a turn when she ends up trapped in a self-driving car with Barb on their way to a karaoke night that quickly becomes a jolting circuit of the DMV parking lot, since when Barb reveals that she has already ordered the sweaters, Colette lets slip that she has been doing all this “for no reason”, obviously offending Barb. But in a funny, surprising turn, Barb was only playing along with Colette because she thought she was desperately in need of a friend. Her various recent workplace embarrassments don’t exactly speak to someone being even-keel, after all.
Colette is eventually able to escape the driverless car — which has drawn a crowd — by screaming out of the window that Barb bought the sweaters, causing a furious Ceci to stand in the vehicle’s path. Barb and Colette have made amends by this point — they agree they are friends, just not ones who text outside of work — but the damage is already done. The sweaters are here to stay.
Elsewhere in DMV Episode 8, Gregg makes a new friend — the customer service rep he gets talking to when he tries to order a new chair through employee services. This makes Vic jealous, so he attempts to bond with Noa over protein powder, kettlebells, and the titular splash fountain, so-called because it has inconsistent water pressure and is liable to soak anyone who tries to drink from it. As it turns out, Vic and Noa don’t have a great deal in common, but it is quite funny watching them discover this in real time.
But even this has a surprisingly nice payoff. Ceci reveals to Vic that the customer service helpline is AI, and Gregg has somehow fallen for its human-like tendencies (in case it wasn’t obvious, the takeaway from “Splash Fountain” is that pretty much everyone in the office is desperately lonely). Vic fully intends to use this new information to get one over on Gregg, but when he sees how thankful he is to have made what he thinks is a new friend, he can’t bring himself to do it. It turns out that, lonely or not, even Vic has a sensitive side.
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