A scrooge and a Christmas nut exchange dares through a notebook leading them to numerous famous locations in the Big Apple as each other’s identities stay secretive while their exchange stays strictly between the pages of the red notebook. As the festive dares bring them closer together with a certain distance, will they be lonesome for Christmas or find each other in time for New Years?? If you dare, find out in Netflix’s Dash & Lily. 

“This is a Dash and Lily moment.”

Previous Articles on Dash & Lily 

Go check out the previous Dash & Lily article titled “’So This Is Christmas?”: Dash & Lily *Festive* Review (Ep. 1-4)” which breaks down the first four episodes of Dash & Lily by Val Kohan.

https://talonnews.org/1687/entertainment/so-this-is-christmas-dash-lily-festive-review-ep-1-4/

Go check out the previous Dash & Lily article titled “‘Do You Dare?’: Dash & Lily *Festive* Guide” which breaks down the differences between the Dash & Lily Book of Dares book to the Netflix adaptation as well as mentioning hidden details you may have missed throughout the series.

https://talonnews.org/1694/entertainment/do-you-dare-dash-and-lily-festive-guide/

Dash & Lily From Page to Screen 

Similar to many book to film/series adaptations, there are small details that are changed for the adaptation and Dash & Lily was no different. Some of the major changes were actually for the better and even added more to the story in the streaming series. With Dash & Lily being a book trilogy the first and only season of the Netflix show strictly focused on the first book. 

• That is one of the first changes made; the title of the series from the book title. The Netflix series starring Austin Abrams and Midori Francis is just titled Dash & Lily which is based on Rachel Cohn and David Levithan’s novel, Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares, that was released back in 2010.  
• In both the novel and the show, Dash finds the red notebook between copies of Franny and Zooey at The Strand. However, the first message/clue was changed. In the book, Lily asks Dash, “Are you going to be playing for the pure thrill of unreluctant desire?” Where in the show it’s much more simple and festive asking, “Are you going to be lonely on Christmas?” Also, in the book, Dash doesn’t sing “River” in The Strand, which is a very cringy scene. In the show, Dash must sing the Joni Mitchell song to receive part of the clue mentioned above. 
• In the books, Dash mentions that he is sixteen years old, meaning he is a junior in high school, where Lily is the same age. In the show, they are just a bit older with Dash and Lily being seventeen years old and in their senior year.
• Dates are important in Dash & Lily. The first episode, “Dash”, makes it clear that it takes place on December 17th which is strictly told in Dash’s perspective hence the title of his name. The story continues into episode two, “Lily”, which is from Lily’s perspective which takes place on December 18th. The book starts off a couple days later on December 21st.
• Lily’s caroling group has different members in the book than the show but it is still included. In the book Lily gathers members for her group by hanging up flyers. Not including Lily herself or even her cousin Mark, who was seen in the Netflix series as he works at The Strand, and a few other members are in her caroling group. Where in the show, Lily posts a call for carolers on social media. It is assumed that the origin of Lily’s caroling group was changed to be made more modern as the book did release a decade before the Netflix series. Inside pointed out, “Her cousin is not part of the caroling group, and of the other five members, only Aryn and Roberta keep their distinct characteristics from the book.”
• In the show, it is briefly mentioned that Lily’s least favorite Christmas movie and the one she thinks is the most depressing is Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer. Lily tells this to Boomer after she leaves the notebook near the DVD at Two Boots Pizza. In the book, Dash actually asks Lily to see the movie she absolutely hates as a dare and she later sees it again with Edgar. 
• This is a bit of a stretch but as much as Lily loves baking and how it is mentioned a lot in the show, she is never actually shown baking where in the books it is frequently mentioned that Lily is baking. She bakes an entire batch of cookies in which she leaves for Dash with the notebook where Boomer and him eat all of them. The only time anyone is actually shown cooking through the show is when Dash attends a Japanese cooking class where he makes mochi. “Listen to your mochi.” 
• On the show, Lily says she makes her own clothes because Mrs. Basil E told her clothes are the best way to express your personality. Lily tells Benny she makes her own clothes but this isn’t a part of the book at all. Aside from knitting Christmas sweaters for her family, this is not mentioned at all in any of the books in the trilogy. Her sense of style however is quite unique, in the book one of her outfits is described as “wearing candy-cane stockings and a line-green skirt with a reindeer on it.” 
• In the show, Lily’s red boot has a longer backstory. On the show, the boot leads Dash and Boomer to a costume rental store where they  try to get as much information out of the woman who owns it. Dash notices the worker wearing a Phantom and the Opera sweatshirt and tells her,  “Look, you… you don’t know me, but I’m like the Phantom.” “His name is Erik.” Finally, Dash learns that the boots were used in the original production of the Music Man but were loaned but never returned. Where in the book, the boots always belonged to Mrs. Basil E and Lily found them in a dress up clothes trunk and designed them to be her own. 
• On the show, Dash buys two tickets for Pixar’s Collation (fictionalized Pixar movie strictly made-up for Dash & Lily) for Lily and him to see. Dash later watches Collation on Christmas but seems to be the only person in the theater who went alone with an empty seat next to him for Lily. In the book, Dash sees Collation before Christmas with Boomer who was thrilled about the film. The fictionalized film, Collation, is a Pixar movie about office supplies who fall in love. 
• Lily sends Dash to more touristy attractions in the book than the show. In the book, Lily sends Dash to Madame Tussauds Wax Museum rather than to Macy’s as seen in the show. 
• In the book, Dash’s dream is to own an unabridged Oxford English Dictionary which is a massive set of twenty volumes. This is one of Dash’s nightly routines as he flips through the dictionary to learn a new word. 
• In the book Lily is given a cruel nickname with a gruesome backstory. She is called “Shrilly” by her classmates instead of “weird” by Edgar. 
• In the show, Lily makes “Snarl”, a puppet of what she thinks “Notebook Boy” looks like, snarly is the best way to describe it. In the book, Dash sends Lily to FAO Schwartz to make the puppet. 
• When Grandpa goes to visit Mabel in Florida, Lily has to take care of his cat, Grunt, while he’s gone. On the show, they completely left out this element of the story. 
• In the book, neither of Dash’s parents communicate with him outside of texts and calls where in the show Dash actually goes out to dinner with Sofia, his father and his father’s new girlfriend(s). 
• Lily’s nightmare sequence only occurs on the show. Lily gets freaked out so much from one of Dash’s dare that she has a nightmare because she thinks she will embarrass herself and Dash will see that she isn’t the girl in his head or the girl in the notebook. The masked man Lily pictures as Dash in this dream sequence says, “You don’t belong. Nobody wants to know you in real life.” This nightmare is supposed to be a nod to Alice in Wonderland. 
• In the show, Lily runs into Edgar at the Challah Back Boys’ Hanukkah concert. In the book, Lily doesn’t see Edgar until they see each other at the dog park (which also happens in the show). 
• Priya’s Christmas Eve party is quite different compared to the book and the show. In the book, Priya’s parents are home during the party so there is no alcohol served. The party is held on Christmas Eve in the show (mentioned above as “Priya’s Christmas Party”), but in the book the party is held the day after Christmas (December 26th). Lily and Edgar attend the party together but in the book they leave early to see Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer, which is Lily’s least favorite holiday movie. 
• In the book, Sofia does not spend as much time with Dash as she does in the show. She also doesn’t try to get back together with him. She does, however, in both the book and the show tells Dash that he may not be falling for the actual Lily rather than the girl in his head. 
• When Lily gets drunk with her caroling group she passes out before she can kiss Edgar in the book. Where in Netflix’s show, Lily drunkenly kissed Edgar which Dash heartbreakingly witnesses. 
• Similar to Sofia and Edgar, Boomer has a smaller role in the book but is one of the key highlights of the show on Netflix. 
• Towards the end of the first book, Dash and Lily’s Book of Dares, Lily saves a baby’s life and ends up in police custody with Dash after a wild mishap in the park because one of the dogs, Lily is walking. 
• Dash & Lily ends with Lily meeting Dash at The Strand where Dash has decorated the entire place with little references of some of their dares exchanged. In the book, their New Year’s Eve actually goes on longer than this. Lily brings Dash down into the basement to show him the Oxford English Dictionary (which is Dash’s dream to own) but accidentally gets locked in the store. 

Easter Eggs and Hidden Details You May Have Missed in Dash & Lily 

• Throughout the entirety of Dash & Lily, several posters for Pixar’s Collation can be seen appear on the side of buildings and even on the subway. Collation is a fictionalized Pixar movie strictly made-up for Dash & Lily, which is an animated film about office supplies who fall in love. 
• In episode three, “Hanukkah”, there is a sequence of Lily’s nightmare. Lily gets freaked out so much from one of Dash’s dare that she has a nightmare because she thinks she will embarrass herself and Dash will see that she isn’t the girl in his head or the girl in the notebook. The masked man Lily pictures as Dash in this dream sequence says, “You don’t belong. Nobody wants to know you in real life.” This nightmare is supposed to be a nod to Alice in Wonderland. All the people in the nightmare have neon clothing and makeup on that pop in a black light lit room. One of the guests in particular is dressed as the Cheshire Cat. Inside pointed out that in the background of this sequence, a cover song titled, “White Rabbit”, is being played. This song and lyrics are based on Alice in Wonderland.
• For one of Dash’s dares, Lily sends him to ask Santa for her name at Macy’s SantaLand. There Boomer and Dash are stopped by a very power hungry elf, Jeff, who Boomer later befriends. If viewers pay close attention Michael Cyril Creighton, the actor of Jeff the Macy’s Elf appears on other episodes of Dash & Lily as well and not just as stubborn Macy’s elf. He is also the drag queen or “Door Queen” who lets Lily into the Challah Back Boys’ Hanukkah concert in episode three. After Jeff lets Lily into the part, he tells her, “head down the rabbit hole” (which is yet another Alice in Wonderland nod). 
• Throughout all of Dash & Lily very festive shots of famous New York City locations. One shot in particular shows the two marble lions that are outside of the New York Public Library are wearing Christmas wreaths. 
• As mentioned above, Lily’s sense of style is quite unique including her numerous  hairstyles throughout the series. Viewers can see several creative hairpin looks in which Lily uses colored pins to create little patterns and shapes in her hair. The most notable ones are the festive snowflakes. 
• During one of Lily’s dares, she makes a puppet named “Snarl” of what she thinks “Notebook Boy” looks like. Though Dash isn’t a muppet, both the puppet of Dash and the real Dash wear blue coats. 
• Edgar still wears the bracelet Lily gave everyone in middle school even though in the flashback we see him throw it on the ground. Is this a plot hole? Or did Edgar have a change in heart and pick it back up? 
• Dash & Lily ends with Lily meeting Dash at The Strand where Dash has decorated the entire place with little references of some of their dares exchanged. The tree Dash set up is full of little nodes to important details throughout the series like a slice of pizza for Two Boots, a salt-covered pretzel Dash dared Lily to eat from Lot’s Wife, a Santa hat like the one Dash stole from Macy’s and a made a complete ruckus in SantaLand, a menorah for the Challah Back Boys’ Hanukkah concert, and a single red boot like the ones Lily wear. Finally, Dash & Lily ends with a single shot of an ornament of a red notebook with the words, “Do You Dare…?” on the cover.

Dash & Lily’s Book Guide 

Dash & Lily not only started out as a book trilogy (Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares, The Twelve of Dash & Lily, and Mind the Gap, Dash & Lily) written by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan but throughout the series there are plenty of literary references which some include must-read books. Here’s the complete book guide from Dash & Lily or at least all the books mentioned in the series… 

The Story of a Shipwrecked Sailor (by Gabriel GarcÍa Márquez); Dash finds this book misshelved in The Strand and corrects the name and category, French pianism (by Charles Timbrell); this book is the first clue of Lily’s scavenger hunt in The Strand where she says includes “heavy reading”, Fat Hoochie Prom Queen (by Nico Medina); the second clue in Lily’s scavenger hunt at The Strand which Dash says is YA and obviously pink, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (by C. S. Lewis); the third book in Lily’s scavenger hunt when she says it “isn’t a Christmas story but Santa does show up to hand out weapons”, which is a nod to Father Christmas giving Edmund a dagger, Franny and Zooey (by J. D. Salinger); this may be the most important novel mentioned in Dash & Lily since it is where Lily decides to hide the red notebook between Salinger’s books at The Strand, Seymour: An Introduction (also by J.D. Salinger); one of Lily’s book recommendations but doesn’t enjoy it as much since it’s “so stream of consciousness”, The New York Stories of Edith Wharton (by Edith Wharton); Lily can be spotted reading this while on the subway, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (by Lewis Carroll); Lily advises Dash to leave the red notebook by the Alice in Wonderland statue in Central Park since Alice is the “patron saints of weird girls”, The Phantom of the Opera (by Gaston Leroux); Dash compares himself to The Phantom or Erik because it’s as if he wears a mask and doesn’t let people get to know him, Cyrano de Bergerac (by Edmond Rostand); Dash asked Boomer to be his Cyrano to talk to Lily on his behalf, From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler (by E. L. Konigsburg); Lily refers to her great aunt whose real name is Lillian as Mrs. Basil E, Harry Potter series (by J. K. Rowling); Harry Potter is mentioned quite a lot throughout the series like when Dash tells Boomer not to mention Sofia and comparing her to Voldemort as well as Dash comparing his peacoat to Hagrid’s magical jacket, and finally Brave New World (by Aldous Huxley); in which Dash quotes Brave New World to Lily at Priya’s Christmas Eve party saying, “If one’s different, one is bound to be lonely.”

Look Out For, “’Home Alone, Too’: Dash & Lily *Festive* Review (Ep. 5-6)” Coming Soon!!