3 out of 5

Created by: Patrick Brammall and Harriet Dyer

covers seasons 1 and 2

Going into this fresh, this cringe-humored romcom from creators / writers / real life couple Patrick Brammall and Harriet Dyer pushes past its somewhat recycled, antagonistic tone – relationships are horrible and great; men and women sure are different sometimes – to land on a clever meetcute setup that gives its leads (also played by Brammall and Dyer) opportunity to expand their characters and the general odd couple concept to some interesting, binge-ably funny places.

At the same time, there’s a clear desire to keep things grounded in sitcom stylings, which is a good impulse, but leads to the majority of stories being some variation of miscommunications that make this relationship between adults (albeit a decade apart) seem like a high school one. Blend this with some inevitably forced conflicts, and the “cringe” can be external – wishing the show could grow up a little.

Ashley (Dyer) and Gordon (Brammall) are both recently singled, and both running late to work. Out their respective doors and on their respective ways, him driving and her walking, they cross path: as He pauses for Her in a crosswalk, an amusing impulsive exchange leads to Gordon nudging his car forward… and hitting a dog.

They both take the dog to a vet and come to understand he’ll now need massive assistance to live his doggy life, or will need to be put to sleep. Happenstances lead to an agreed coownership of the dog who will be named Colin, and further happenstances have the two living in Gordon’s apartment, each continually puzzled by, frustrated with, or maybe attracted to the other. You can create several episodes worth of material from there.

And besides the somewhat flippant suggestion that doing so may be “easy” – though again, a lot of the bickerings are pretty templated – both Brammall and Dyer bring a lot to this by being comfortable with being… human, and writing / portraying their characters with the gracefully patient understanding that sometimes people are shitty, and we don’t automatically become unshitty after 30 minutes. Episodes always resolve, but the relationship of our couple lives and breathes more realistically, and relatably (even if told through some overblown examples), which is really the enduring backbone of the series, alongside some great comedic timing from the entire cast.

To clarify, I don’t mean to pitch the hijinks as unfunny, more that the chemistry and performative comedy of Brammall and Dyer is so addictive that I wanted perhaps a bit broader outlet for it.

Then again, I watched two seasons of the show straight, so obviously they’re doing something right.