Colin From Accounts review: the final season is a charmer

It’s been three years since Gordon (Patrick Brammall) made a dick of himself by publicly proposing to Ashley (Harriet Dyer). How are they doing? Pretty well… unless by ‘they’ you mean their relationship together, because that no longer exists.

Colin From Accounts has never shied away from the fact that its two leads may not be made for each other. The first season saw the slightly sad sack Gordon and the occasionally abrasive Ashley brought together by the dog they accidentally maimed. It was a bit of a bumpy ride, and the second season started with them firmly together, only to have things gradually start to fray.

At least they always had Colin (the dog) with a wheeled harness strapped to his rear end. Now Gordon has custody of Colin, Ashley is a GP, they broke up after his failed proposal and haven’t even spoken in six months. Both of them have moved on.

Moving on up

There have been a few other changes to the status quo. Ashley has a freeloading boyfriend, David (Thomas Cocquerel), who is trying to get an inner city trout farm up because he doesn’t want to work for ‘big fish’. After a string of extremely poor financial decisions after Ashley dumped him, Gordon had to sell his brewery and now works for new ‘brewery daddy’ Jared (Broden Kelly).

Still alongside him at the brewery are his exasperating team of Chiara (Genevieve Hegney), who now has ADHD so she can’t do the boring jobs, and Brett (Michael Logo), who’s more than willing to slap the bejesus out of Colin if he so much as thinks of calling Ashley. Which he won’t, obviously, because he has a new partner, Chelsea (Nikki Shields).

The stage is set for that most traditional of third acts: the reconciliation.

Or moving closer together?

Both David and Chelsea are clearly stop-gaps at best. David is allergic to dogs; Chelsea is a lawyer who can be a bit much, and this is the final season of Colin From Accounts so a happy ending is on the cards.

Being predictable is hardly a flaw in a rom-com, and no doubt there’ll be a few twists along the way. The back half of the season has been kept under wraps: they probably won’t kill off the dog, but this has always been a series willing to take a turn for the serious… so maybe don’t put money on Colin happily rolling off into the sunset just yet.

The reconciliation plot does mean some of the edge of previous seasons is missing. Once upon a time, the bumpy nature of Gordon and Ashley’s relationship meant that there was always the sense that things could fall apart. No matter how funny things were in the moment, any argument could be their last.

Now that the worst has happened, the energy is all focused on them getting back together. It’s a more settled, less volatile vibe.

Watch the trailer

From cringe to charm and back again

One thing that hasn’t changed is this series’ love of awkward conversations. The opening chat between Gordon and Ashley – he’s gone to the local medical clinic to get a checkup for insurance purposes, not realising she now works there – is a classic even by Colin From Accounts standards. It’s the verbal equivalent of stabbing the broken ends of a snapped stick back together trying to make them fit (having an intern in the room doesn’t help).

Having Gordon and Ashley apart does mean this season occasionally lacks another of the show’s strengths: the obvious chemistry between real-life married couple and series co-writers Dyer and Brammall. Even when they’re playing up the awkwardness there’s an ease between them that gives their interactions a real spark. The series is strong enough to work without them constantly together, but the early episodes do suffer a little without those moments.

The road to reunite them is bound to be a bumpy one, even if David does prove he’s on the way out by showing up to his first meeting with Colin basically wearing everything but a biohazard suit. What’s important is that it’s bound to be full of awkward moments. Gordon’s birthday party in episode two is pretty much wall-to-wall packed with them, and that’s before people start making increasingly inappropriate speeches.

It’s the balance between the broad comedy and the subtle chemistry between Gordon and Ashley that has made Colin From Accounts work. The balance here is a little different, at least at first. But everything that’s made this a hit worldwide is still going strong. No matter how things end up, it’ll be going out on a high.

The first two episodes of Colin From Accounts Season 3 are now available on Binge and Foxtel, with new episodes dropping Mondays.

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