Colin From Accounts became a bit of a sleeper cult hit last year because it started out with a nipple reveal causing an accident and went from there. It also featured a very cute dog and the real-life couple dynamics between the show’s creators, Patrick Brammall and Harriet Dyer. The Aussie dramedy is now back for a second season.
Opening Shot: Billy Preston’s “Nothin’ From Nothin'” plays as we see Colin the dog (played by Zak) looking at his owners, Gordon (Patrick Brammall) and Ashley (Harriet Dyer).
The Gist: Actually, they’re his former owners; they gave him away and then immediately regretted it, but it was too late to get him back. He’s with another family now and his name is now Peppy. But Gordon and Ashley can’t let the shaggy, wheelchair-aided pup go; they stand at the fringes of a dog park watching him and tossing him treats until his current family threatens to call the cops.
The couple, now living together, aren’t defeated, though; they’re looking to have Yvette the vet (Annie Maynard) certify that the two of them put in five figures’ worth of money to get Colin fixed up after Gordon hit him on the day they met. More than that, though, they’re trying to figure out what their relationship is going to be like without Colin as a part of it.
Not wanting to contemplate that possibility, they take another tack and call Matt (Bert LaBonté), Colin’s original owner; they offer him money if he signs a letter saying he sold the dog to them — even though he didn’t. Ash takes the liberty of throwing in a year’s worth of free beer from Gordon’s brewery to sweeten the deal.
At the brewery, Brett (Michael Logo) is dismayed by the fact that his family paid for a Cameo of Kevin Bacon and had the actor’s message be about moving out of the house. And Chiara (Genevieve Hegney) is sexting pictures of her chest to Ashley’s co-worker and friend Megan (Emma Harvie).
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Colin From Accounts feels like it lives in the same world as Wolf Like Me. At least they both take place in Australia.
Our Take: The second season of Colin From Accounts feels more settled than the first, because Ashley and Gordon are more settled as a couple. It feels like a lot of time has passed, but in the show’s timeframe it’s only been a few weeks. But Ash and Gordon are already getting on like a couple who have been together for awhile.
Of course, their dynamic is helped by Brammall and Dyer’s real-life relationship (they’re married to each other), and that will continue to keep things funny. But we can also see each of them exploring their own lives and reactions to things as a way to fortify their relationships with each other. As it is, Yvette the vet has given Gordon news that he finds hard to wrap his mind around, so if there are any cracks in Gordon and Ash’s relationship — and there are many — they’ll get exploited this season.
One of the other things that a second season can do is take time and explore the world around the main characters, so we’re sure to be seeing more from Brett, and more of Chiara trying to date Megan while keeping her marriage intact. We’ll likely see more from Ashley’s stableish mom Lynelle (Helen Thomson) and some of the nuttiness that surrounds her.
Of course, without Zak as Colin, the whole thing falls apart — the show is named after him, after all. It’s not a bad ploy by Brammall and Dyer, who created the show; put a cute dog on wheels on screen and no matte what they do, the show will be extremely watchable.
Sex and Skin: Nothing in the first episode, which is a surprise because last season’s first episode gave us a nipple reveal within the first three minutes.
Parting Shot: Gordon tries to wrap his head around the news Yvette the vet just gave him, mainly because of timing but also because he didn’t think it was possible due to the fact that he had testicular cancer.
Sleeper Star: This will always go to Zak the dog as long as this series runs.
Most Pilot-y Line: For some reason, Matt’s kid is waving an ax at the laundry drying on the backyard clothesline, but he thinks Gordon and Ashley are, in his words, “dickheads.”
Our Call: STREAM IT. We’re not sure how much more juice there is left to squeeze from the lemon that is Ashley and Gordon’s odd relationship, but Colin From Accounts tries its best to do just that, while expanding what we know about the world around them.
Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.