The Big Picture

Colin from Accounts centers around Gordon and Ashley, two flawed and funny characters who navigate life together, showing the complexities of human relationships. The series strikes a perfect balance between self-deprecating humor and vulnerability, creating relatable moments that feel authentic and not gratuitous. While Gordon and Ashley are the stars, supporting character Lynelle also shines, providing both laughs and moments of insecurity and fear, adding depth to the show.

Even though most people would agree that comedy is extremely hard to pull off, not enough discussion is given to how a myriad of details has to come off just right for a scene or gag to work. While many great comedies often put an expansive cast on-screen to escalate jokes, the Australian series Colin from Accounts goes in another direction, focusing its attention on just two characters most of the time – and it totally works.

The series centers around Gordon (Patrick Brammall) and Ashley (Harriet Dyer), a duo who meet under unusual circumstances. While crossing the street, Ashley decides to randomly flash a nipple at Gordon, who gets distracted and hits a dog with his car – and the dog becomes paraplegic. It’s not exactly a “funny, haha” type of situation, but it perfectly demonstrates the kind of humor Colin from Accounts is going for. Even when you’re not exactly sure what you should be laughing at, you laugh anyway.

Image via Paramount+ Colin from Accounts Ashley and Gordon, two single-ish, complex humans who are brought together by a car accident and an injured dog. Flawed, funny people choosing each other and being brave enough to show their true selves and navigate life together. Release Date November 9, 2023 Cast Harriet Dyer Main Genre Romantic Comedy Genres Comedy Seasons 1 Distributor Paramount+
As soon as you realize that Colin from Accounts will stick to those two figures throughout its thirty-minute episodes, you can’t help but feel that the series may end up overstaying its welcome. That’s why it’s a pleasant surprise that Brammall and Dyer are perfectly capable of not just carrying the episodes, being funny at the correct beats but also elevating their story arcs in unexpected ways.

‘Colin from Accounts’ Does Self-Deprecating Humor the Right Way

It’s not uncommon for comedies to go a little overboard when depicting their characters’ lack of social skills, simply because it’s easier to get a laugh from audiences with it. In Colin from Accounts, however, that aspect has a little twist because it comes with those same characters revealing their vulnerabilities and conveying that universally relatable oh-god-why-did-I-say-that feeling that makes those moments not feel gratuitous.

Ashley is the best example of this. With barely anything figured out in life, she goes through her days just existing. However, as much as it’s initially played for laughs, the more the series progresses, the more we come to understand where that lack of direction comes from, what goes on inside her head, and, most importantly, what her background is and why it matters. If you immediately thought about depression and anxiety, that’s certainly the overall route that the story takes.

Of course, not every comedy series or movie needs to delve into its characters’ psyche to have substance, but it’s always nice to witness that kind of construction, especially when you don’t see it coming. More often than not, Colin from Accounts hits you with curveballs. A character may have a nervous breakdown out of nowhere, and another might reveal they’re a cancer survivor. All of those layers make the series feel incredibly realistic. It’s like you’re sitting down to watch the perfect dramatization of millennial angst.

Though Ashley and Gordon are the indisputable stars – along with the always adorable Colin the doggie – there’s also plenty of room for the occasional supporting character to shine. The one who stands out the most is, without a doubt, Helen Thomson (Elvis), who plays Ashley’s mother Lynelle. It’s difficult to steal scenes with such strong characters in the lead, but she does it every time, especially in “The Good Room,” the best episode of the season by far. Throughout it, Thomson is capable of making us laugh at the fact that Lynelle is abysmally self-absorbed, but we can also see that there’s a layer of insecurity and fear of abandonment that, of course, the character will never admit it’s there.

‘Colin from Accounts’ Forces Millennials to Take a Good Look in the Mirror
Image from Binge

At its core, Colin from Accounts is the kind of comedy that makes us take a look at ourselves. How did you get to this point in your life? What did you do wrong? How much is actually your fault? It’s important to watch this kind of story because it makes us realize that a lot of the emotions and aggressive things we say to ourselves happen inside the heads of other people as well. And most importantly, they’re often not true.

By the end of Season 1, you hardly think that Ashley and Gordon are losers. They are, like the vast majority of us, trying to keep up with their own expectations and the pressure of living in the modern world. And that’s okay. It’s also okay to laugh at ourselves, regret decisions, and not dwell on them too much, as well as hold our parents accountable for the bad decisions they made while raising us – even though our impulses might tell us to do otherwise.

All in all, Colin from Accounts is the perfect blend of comedy and drama. It serves as yet another example of why these types of shows deserve an awards category of their own. It shows that, with the right set of actors, you don’t need to go overboard with physical comedy or over-the-top situations, and that life can be funny and tragic in its own way.

Rating: A

Colin from Accounts premieres November 9 on Paramount+ in the U.S.

Watch on Paramount+