There are cliffhangers, and then there\u2019s whatever happened at the end of Colin from Accounts\u2019 second season. We had, by that point, witnessed protagonists Ashley and Gordon\u2019s unconventional love story evolve from bizarre meet-cute \u2013 key stages: boob-flashing, car accident, injured dog \u2013 to soulmate-level relationship. But what starts with an exposed nipple can abruptly go tits up. On a heaving dancefloor at Ash\u2019s best friend\u2019s wedding, Gordon \u2013 drunk and buoyed up by the DJ dropping Slice of Heaven by Dave Dobbyn (the Oceanian equivalent of Come on Eileen, judging by the euphoric reaction) \u2013 decides to ask his girlfriend to marry him. Ash, humiliated by the circumstances, doesn\u2019t respond. Everyone else films it and laughs. Gordon insists the whole thing was a joke and awkwardly boogies on. Then the credits roll.<\/p>\n
If you had somehow managed to wipe this eye-watering faux pas from your mind\u2019s eye, fear not: the Aussie rom-sitcom returns for its third and final series by replaying the agonising proposal in full. It gets worse. We discover the pair split soon after and haven\u2019t seen each other for three years. In fact, they\u2019ve both since found other (extremely attractive) partners: the kind but dim David and the hyper-capable and efficient Chelsea. As Ash later observes, they\u2019ve \u201cupgraded\u201d \u2013 but you know their respective hearts don\u2019t really belong to their nice new beaux.<\/p>\n
Nice new beaux \u2026 Ashley (Harriet Dyer) and David (Thomas Cocquerel) in Colin from Accounts. Photograph: BBC\/\u00a9 2026 CBS Studios Inc., Easy Tiger Productions Pty Ltd, Foxtel Management Pty Ltd, Create NSW\/Lisa Tomasetti<\/p>\n
Colin from Accounts \u2013 which is also the name of the dog the pair maim then adopt at the start of the show \u2013 is the sort of sitcom that runs almost entirely on charm. After all, there is no other way to convince an audience to watch two people fall in love, split up, get back together, split up again, then (I assume \u2013 the final two episodes weren\u2019t available for review) reunite once more aside from cultivating a deep and lasting affection for them. This, however, is a mysterious art. The fact the pair are played by real-life couple and show co-creators Patrick Brammall and Harriet Dyer<\/a> provides a frisson of autobiographical intrigue and obviously helps with the chemistry, but it\u2019s hard to pin down what exactly it is about these characters that is so appealing: they\u2019re both annoying, immature and petty, and far from morally upstanding (once they bump into each other again, it\u2019s not long before they\u2019ve betrayed David and Chelsea). Still, we desperately want them to find love, ideally with each other.<\/p>\n Think of it like Friends if it had just been about Ross and Rachel, with the other characters consigned to supporting eccentrics. Among the roster of weirdos here is Ash\u2019s stunningly awful mother Lynelle and her alarmingly creepy husband Lee, who are now deeply entrenched in the men\u2019s rights movement. Then there\u2019s Gordon\u2019s thoroughly unreconstructed brother Heavy (catnip for Lynelle, then), plus his brewery colleagues \u2013 the furious yet resoundingly cool Chiara and hulking sweetheart Brett \u2013 alongside Ash\u2019s bestie Megan and her wife Rumi. The fact that three of the last four turn out to be sex party people does later serve to make Ash and Gordon seem like relatable nerds in comparison.<\/p>\n You probably wouldn\u2019t describe Colin from Accounts as a hard comedy: its primary objective is to make us invest in its central will-they-won\u2019t-they, and therefore prioritises well-drawn friendships, realistic romantic messiness and amusingly sour banter over non-stop jokes. That said, it can be laugh-out-loud funny when it wants to be. This series seems to have saved all its best material for its third episode, which involves a particularly grim morning for Ashley, now a qualified GP, thanks to an old man who has brought in his stool diary and samples. Blessedly, she is forced to cut his appointment short when she discovers Lynelle has posted a video about her own murder on Facebook (\u201ctake your shit! Get up \u2013 go, mate!\u201d). Later, when Ash and Gordon meet at a fancy restaurant to discuss their adulterous kiss at the latter\u2019s birthday party, a smug waiter pours wine in excessively long, urine-like streams from a traditional Spanish pitcher in what feels like a reprise of classic 1990s sitcom silliness.<\/p>\n Ultimately, though, this is an immensely comforting show: very sweet, very gentle, yet prevented from tipping into saccharine territory by a bass note of blokey and invariably profane Australian humour. The insults are particularly impressive \u2013 it\u2019s difficult to choose a favourite from this series but I think I\u2019ll go with the simple but effective \u201cfucking cockhead\u201d (credit: Lynelle\u2019s ex Bernie discussing her current husband Lee). Cringe comedy \u2013 and what feels like a slightly misjudged subplot about child abduction \u2013 aside, Colin from Accounts has been like a ray of sunshine in the schedules. It\u2019s been a huge hit across the world, and many will mourn its ending. I hope it turns out to be a happy one at least.<\/p>\n Colin from Accounts aired on BBC One and is on iPlayer now in the UK. In Australia, it is on Binge.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There are cliffhangers, and then there\u2019s whatever happened at the end of Colin from Accounts\u2019 second season. 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