Dash and Lily Review

Do You Dare…? Netflix have released their newest Christmas mini series ‘Dash and Lily’ and, if you’re looking for adorably cute, sugar sweet TV to watch, this series is a must. As always our review will probably have more than a few spoilers; so, with that in mind lets get into it, shall we?

So information first as always: Dash and Lily was created by Joe Tracz and based on the YA novel Dash and Lily’s Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan. In the opening episode, one thing that caught my eye was that one of the executive producers is Nick Jonas and, yes, I mean that Nick Jonas. The series premiered on Netflix on November 10 and stars Austin Abrams and Midori Francis as our title characters. At 8 episodes long and each episode coming in at roughly 25 minutes you can binge watch the entire series in about 4 hours if you’re dedicated enough. It was generally received well by critics with the charm of our two leads being a focal point of the holiday rom-com series.

Dash and Lily is a series set in New York City around Christmas and, initially, we’re introduced to our male lead Dash who is less than enthusiastic about the holiday. Dash is a snarky teenager who is more than a little jaded about love since his break up and while he explores his favourite book store he finds a red notebook filled with clues to be found around the aforementioned book store. Gradually, Dash and Lily get to know one another through the notebook, sharing all their secrets and desires with one another and daring each other to try new things like listening to your mochi. The notebook gets passed back and forth between the two at some of the most iconic spots in New York city and the real question is ‘will Dash and Lily be lonely at Christmas?’

Dash and Lily are the epitome of polar opposites. Lily is ever the optimist while Dash hates Christmas and seems to want to be left alone (I can relate to wanting to be left alone sometimes). We meet Dash after he has lied to both his parents, who are divorced, saying that he would be staying with the other parent for Christmas; so Dash is alone for the holidays. Meanwhile, Lily, who has been surrounded by Christmas traditions all her life, is having a very different Christmas than what she’s used to. Her grandfather is going to Florida and her parents are going to Fiji while Lily is more used to spending the holiday surrounded by family. This time Lily is left at home with her brother Langton who comes up with the idea of putting the notebook out into the world to be found so that never-been-kissed Lily can finally find love. Finding the notebook starts a game of pass the notebook through out the landmarks of New York that encourages both teenagers to try new things and draws them closer to one another as Christmas draws nearer. It means that there is cheese covered pie and a muppet created but things come to a head at Christmas when Dash, who found Lily’s missing boot, finds Lily wearing the matching boot and kissing someone else.

Naturally, Dash and Lily will make the most cynical of people roll their eyes at the cutesy-ness of it all but it is a heart warming story and you do end up really rooting for Dash and Lily. The pair go from strangers to friends, friends to confidants and then to a couple and the series doesn’t drag out the story but leaves enough time for the characters to grow while the plot moves along. The lead actors are wonderful and apparently were really dedicated to their roles and even shared their own notebook during filming which was filled with their own secret. Rather than being annoying and insufferable, Dash is more awkward than anything else and his awkwardness is part of his charm. This series is probably the one to watch this Christmas. Lily is overly optimistic but, through the series, we see the cracks showing and we know that she finds it as hard as anyone else to stay chipper, cheerful and hopeful all the time. Even if some of it is predictable, Dash and Lily makes even the most stereotypical moment seem new and unique.

If you fancy watching Dash and Lily, it’s on Netflix right now and well worth a watch.