After its well-deserved success with its first season, Aussie comedy Colin From Accounts offers up another round of heartfelt chuckles.

The series, which can be seen on Foxtel and streamed on Binge  (it’s Binge’s first original comedy) won Most Outstanding Comedy Program at the Logie Awards, with the stars and co-creators Harriet Dyer and Patrick Brammall winning both Most Outstanding Actress and Actor. It also won an AACTA (Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts) award for Best Narrative Comedy.

So, does Season Two live up to the expectations and hype? The short answer is yes. If anything, Dyer and Brammall – who play Ashley and Gordon – along with their supporting cast of relatable characters, have honed the nuances in their performances. The pair’s real-life marriage seems to blend easily with their on-screen chemistry. They share the writing credits, so it would be fascinating to be a fly on the wall when they’re creating the magic together.

For anyone not up on the plot, the titular Colin is an adorable shaggy dog who brought Ash and Gordon together in the first episode of Season One after Ash’s nipple flash on a pedestrian crossing distracted Gordon to the extent that he accidentally ran over poor Colin.

A $12,000 vet bill later (from a vet named Yvette – get it?) and Ash was staying at Gordon’s place to help look after the little critter hooked up to wheels. Of course, love threatened to bloom in all its messy undulations.

Season Two starts where the last one left off – with the pair desperately trying to get Colin back after surrendering him for adoption. The blissfully hazy, opening slow-motion scene of Ash and Gordon playing with Colin in the park is rudely interrupted when they come back to reality while being berated by Colin’s new family for harassing them. As usual, the resolution to this obstacle goes against expectations.

The series delves further into the everyday challenges of living together for the seemingly mismatched 29-year-old medical student (Ashley) and 40-year-old microbrewery owner. The scene is set for some very amusing crises and confrontations as they discover aspects of each other that threaten to be deal breakers.

For instance, in Episode 3 Ash is horrified to find out just how many women Gordon has slept with, but in a hilarious sequence he does some quick math calculations to prove that it’s actually quite a low per-annum amount when you consider how many years he’s been at it.

The same episode has Ash creatively getting revenge on Gordon for objectifying previous girlfriends by giving crude names to beers he’s named after them. What she does in response is indicative of her character’s endearing audacity. She’s an atypical female lead with several idiosyncrasies that pitch her far from the traditionally ditzy-but-lovable rom-com type. Without being intimidating, she manages to elicit sheer panic from Gordon if he senses he’s done something to upset her. Or maybe that’s just his guilty conscience.

It’s not all about the couple, with plenty of drama going on around them – from Ash’s dysfunctional mother (Helen Thomson) and her skin-crawlingly creepy partner (Darren Gilshenan), to her misadventures on duty at the hospital in company with friend, Megan (Emma Harvie). Then there’s Gordon’s employee, Brett (Michael Logo) and business partner, Chiara (Genevieve Hegney), who has put her married life with three kids under threat after falling for Megan.

But, in the end, it’s Ash and Gordon’s sweet, tender, conflict-ridden and often cringeworthy relationship that is the focus. Oh, and their love for Colin.

Above all, this comedy has an endearing, heartwarming element. You actually care about this pair who have gone into debt to pay for life-saving veterinary treatment for a dog they don’t know – a simple but genius set-up guaranteed to have viewers hooked.

Colin From Accounts can be seen on Foxtel and streamed on Binge.

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