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. 

Dash & Lily is one of those rare perfect series on Netflix. Rotten Tomatoes gives it a whopping 100%. Even though Netflix canceled it after one short season, it is a sweet, festive, whimsical holiday binge with a unique storyline that really gets viewers into the holiday spirit. If you watch it and can’t get enough of Dash and Lily, no need to fret, it was originally a book series by David Levithan and Rachel Cohn. The book trilogy includes the books, Dash & Lily’s Book of Dare, The Twelve Days of Dash & Lily, and Mind the Gap, Dash & Lily. 

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 includes a festive playlist of all songs in the show, all the famous New York locations dared or mentioned in the show, and a review covered by Val Kohan. 

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

Go check out the previous Dash & Lily article titled, “‘Dashing All the Way’: Dash & Lily *Festive* Breakdown” which includes the differences between the food and screen adaptation, all the hidden details you may have missed in the show, and a book guide to all the books mentioned in the series. 

https://talonnews.org/1731/entertainment/dashing-all-the-way-dash-lily-festive-breakdown/

Episode Five: “Sofia & Edgar”

After episode four, “Cinderella”, left fans with a cliffhanger, revealing that Dash’s ex-girlfriend is in the city for the holidays and wants to meet up with Dash. As if that’s not going to strain anything Dash has started with Lily or spark something new with his old flame, Sofia… “Sofia & Edgar” starts off with Dash subtly recapping everything as he is at a mochi class. He explains to a group of Japanese grandmothers, that his ex-girlfriend is back for the holidays, she wants to see Dash but he’s a bit flustered with what to do, since she broke his heart but Lily and the notebook have helped him move on. Everything he’s got past and grew from is all coming back to him in a flash. But for the actual dare, Dash has to figure out how to make mochi without relying on language to help him, he can’t ask for the answer from a “kitchen full of Japanese grannies”. The episode then pans to Lily’s perspective as Dash sends her on a dare as well, which is equally as difficult. Dash sends Lily to an artsy pop up called “Break Room”, which sounds like it would be up Lily’s alley but there’s a twist. Dash is still struggling to perfect the mochi and seeking for a hint in the notebook. Lily advises him that mochi takes extreme patience and focus. He claims he’s completely intent with the task at hand yet he’s still has his mind on his main distraction… Sofia back in the city. Back at Lily’s crafty dare, she’s allowed to create anything in her head, to express herself, to be free. So, Lily being Lily, makes the first thing to come to mind; a muppet. Dash, trying his hardest with the mochi class, seems to be pretty content with his not so perfect mochi ball. As he places his “complete” ball on the tray, one of the grandmothers takes it and chucks it right into the trash. Not so easy is it, Dash?? Try listening to Lily, “Listen to your mochi.” Lily explains that even though Dash might have big loud ideas in his head, sometimes the best answer to anything is when your mind is quiet. In simpler terms, go with the flow. Dash does exactly this as he makes the perfect mochi ball that receives a round of applause from the grannies. He listened to his mochi. Lily, in her glory, wanted a more challenging dare as she says Dash may have misjudged her. “I made a muppet, it’s what I think a friend of mine looks like in real life.” “He looks… rude.” This is where Dash’s nickname of “Snarl” stems from. Lily once again speaks too soon as she says the dare was fun, just not that challenging… the dare isn’t done yet. Now that she has created something, it’s time for her to destroy it. Lily completely misread the dare as if she was taking a craft “break” and not actually physically breaking anything. She’s supposed to release her negative emotions out but when Dash goes back to the Break Room to retrieve the notebook, there is no evidence of Lily’s destruction. “Your friend’s a really talented artist. First muppet we’ve had here.” Lily with her heart of gold could not bring herself to destroy her snarly muppet. As she walks to the dog park after her dare with her muppet in hand, she runs into Edgar… All the emotions come flooding back to her as he continually calls her “weird”. To Lily’s surprise Edgar didn’t just go to the dog park to make fun of her by calling her weird, he actually had the heart to apologize to Lily with how things went down at the punk show. He claims that calling her a “freak” at the Hanukkah show was actually a compliment. Lily is about to bring up her traumatizing past with Edgar and the whole friendship bracelet disaster but changes her mind at the last minute. He even invites Lily to a slam poetry night as he calls her “the real deal”, jealous of her that she is free enough to express herself any way she wants. The most surprising reveal is when Edgar shows Lily that he somehow still has one of her friendship bracelets. When Dash is lazily lounging at his dad’s apartment, hiding away from his classmates during break, his dad and his new girlfriend unexpectedly return for the holidays well only momentarily. Ruining his getaway plans, his dad not only eats his perfectly made mochi but Dash has to sit through an agonizing dinner with his father and new girlfriend. Dash is about to write all of his pent up feelings about the annual dinner with his father he’s forced to sit through every year in the notebook but once he gets up to the part where the only thing that could defuse the tension at these dinners was his ex-girlfriend, Sofia. Ge just rips the page, and begins to write how he wants to meet Lily and thinks about her all the time. Yet again, finds this to be too straight forward for the notebook and rips it out. Instead, he does the least reasonable thing by calling up his ex-girlfriend to see if she’s free for dinner. When Lily gets home from her dare, she stumbles upon her brother, Langston, and his boyfriend, Benny, mid-break-up. Benny is apparently going to Puerto Rico but Langston can’t see himself going through a long distance relationship. In a fit of rage, Langston accidentally slips up by telling Lily the truth, her parents aren’t in Fiji for their second honeymoon, which was the excuse they told Lily in episode two… Her dad is actually up for a job there, meaning there is a good chance Lily might have to move to Fiji. Completely agitated at his father, Dash is about to desert the dinner but Sofia shows up just in time to save the day. Going back to Lily’s crisis with being burdened by the news that she might have to move to Fiji, she calls Two Boots Pizza to check on the notebook. “Because I’m very upset and I need a place to write down my feelings… No, I don’t want to order a pizza.” She goes on an aggressive walk, stumbling upon a group of built snowmen. Unlike anything she’s ever done, instead of looking for the rainbow after a rainstorm, she stands there and screams. Completely destroying the family of snowmen in a fit of rage, releasing all of her negative emotions as Dash instructed during her Break Room session. She hostilely goes to the slam poetry event Edgar mentioned, runs up to the stage and lets it all out. In the heat of the moment during her long winded rant, she confronts Edgar, who is sitting in the audience about the trauma and emotional damage he left her. “Because of you, I stayed home every time I had the chance to go out and make friends. I don’t go to parties. I run away from clubs. You kept me from wanting to go out and put myself out there and stop me from doing all the things that I wanted to do for so long.” Edgar admits he was just a kid then, he was too oblivious to notice he had any affect on Lily let alone how drastic it was. He feels terrible and the way he wants to make it up to her is by inviting her to a Christmas Eve party. Dumbfoundedly, she agrees. After Dash’s somewhat civil dinner with his dad, he makes amends with him all thanks to Lily because he listened to his mochi. At an all time high, Sofia pops that bubble for Dash as she tells him that she’s moving back to the city. Hinting that she wants to be friends with him again. Going back to the same old habits that broke Dash last time they were together, Sofia suggests hanging out with their old friends. This forces Dash to shut down, build up his walls that Lily was finally making progress with breaking down. As Lily narrates, “It’s hard to break old habits. To open yourself up to something new. But if you can do it, Notebook Boy, then I promise to try.” “Sofia & Edgar” shows the parallels between Dash and Lily as they are both resorting back to their past versions of themselves, the ones they were before the notebook. At the very end of the episode it is revealed that Dash knows Edgar, or as he knows him as “Thibaud”. Thibaud then asks Dash if he’ll be going to Priya’s Christmas Eve party?? Back in their old ways, Sofia cunningly convinces Dash to go, “as friends”. Edgar even says he’s “bringing a girl”. If you haven’t already caught, Dash and Lily will be attending the same Christmas Eve party even though they don’t actually know each other, only through the notebook do they. 

Rating: Though critics (IMDB) gave this episode 7.5, overall I would give it a 8 out of 10. Please note I do not agree with the scores on IMDB and do not base my personal out view of the show on critics’ scores. 

Episode Six: “Christmas Eve” 

Not completely lying to Lily, Dash sneakily mentions his old friend with a complicated history is back in town in the notebook. Some may call Sofia toxic, which is best shown at the opening of episode six, while she is forcefully making Dash throw away his favorite pea coat. Even though it’s old and ripped, Dash being the bookworm he is, compares it to Hagrid’s magical jacket from Harry Potter claiming it is magical itself. As his friend, Sofia is trying to style Dash for the Christmas Eve party, he drops that he has sorta met someone. Trying to explain his “unique” relationship or game he has going on with Lily to Sofia, he lets her tag along on his next dare. Lily sends them to Four & Twenty Blackbirds- Pie Shop that puts cheese on pie. Sofia brings Dash back to reality when she says she’s happy that he’s finally found the perfect girl in his head. By carrying around his idealistic girl in his head can fracture the relationship between Lily and him. Even though the notebook game is a great idea, will “Clue Girl” ever measure up to the real Lily?? Sofia makes the perfect point that, “when you put girls on pedestals, they fall.” As he writes his message in the notebook about his previous dare, he tells Lily that in the spirit of reciprocity for giving him a Christmas break that doesn’t totally suck. So his Christmas gift to her will be his name, all she knows about it now is the one hint he gave her earlier, that it’s a “connector of words”. The plan is, Dash will give the notebook to Mrs. Basil E. so it will be under the tree by Christmas morning, simple as that. Old habits die hard, right?! Well, that’s the case for Dash and Lily. Preparing for the Christmas Eve party, Lily is talking to her snarly muppet as if he’s the real Notebook Boy to try and find any excuse to get out of her date with Edgar. Where for Dash, he’s getting into his old toxic habits with Sofia, letting her dress him and even speak for him. But luckily for both of them, Dash and Lily have people in their lives to point out these toxic habits. For Lily she has Langston, who tells her how much he loves that “Notebook Boy” reasonably pushes Lily out of her comfort zone. For Dash, he has Boomer, who always sets him straight. A great example of this is when Lily becomes paranoid when Dash starts writing about an “old friend” which Boomer reassures her that his ex isn’t in town or even in the picture. But when Boomer goes to Priya’s party to drop off the notebook, to his surprise, he finds Dash is there with Sofia… At first, Boomer is confused and mostly mad that Dash never told him Sofia is back in town, let alone going to parties with her. But as Vulture points out, “mostly since he is the one person who knows both Dash and Lily, he really wants this to work out. Dash is reverting back to ‘following her around like some mute, zombie Ken doll.’” Boomer warns Dash before going to a holiday double feature with Jeff the Macy’s Elf, “Beware of Sofia and don’t blow up a good thing with Lily.” Obviously how everything plays out, Boomer leaves the party just in time to see Dash with Sofia but to completely miss Lily with Edgar. If Lily were to see Boomer there she would have figured out that “Notebook Boy” was there and eventually find out it’s Dash. Although Edgar seemed to be ecstatic about Lily’s homemade tree sweater, that lights up and everything. The second they arrive at Priya’s party, Lily realizes she is severely underdressed and the only one in holiday attire. This once again leads to Lily feeling out of place, her exact fear. While getting the feel of the party scene, Dash is right there in the bedroom over with all the coats, reading her most recent message in the notebook. Taking into consideration her own advice, she’s bolder than ever, telling “Notebook Boy” that maybe the notebook exchanges aren’t enough anymore, she wants to meet. Maybe they can go see the new Pixar movie, Collation, together. Though she doesn’t know it, Lily gets exactly what she wants; to meet up with Dash. Dash tells the group of friends his opinionated thoughts about Home Alone 2 and Lily seems to be the only one laughing. Their eyes meet for the first time and sparks fly. Somehow, the two of them find themselves alone at the food table together. Dash compliments Lily’s homemade tree sweater. She knows it’s ridiculous but he eases her anxiety by pointing out his stupid fancy pants. “Your pants are beautiful on the inside… metaphorically speaking.” Though this is an awkward response from Lily, the conversation only stays like this for a couple seconds before they start to joke around since Lily doesn’t know anyone at the party, she must be a burglar. Dash says he will only show Lily where they keep the jewels only if she willing to takes him as a hostage if it means he gets to leave the party. Dash points out that no one is really comfortable at parties except for someone like Edgar. Lily then points out that girls like Sofia, the cool girls, make Lily feel like she’s on a different planet. Dash then quotes Brave New World, and of course Lily knows the reference. He says they can be “alone together” and introduces himself as Dash. Lily is about to tell him her name but before she can respond, they are interrupted by their dates. They start up a game of truth or dare, since Dash seems to love dares. Sofia’s first dare for him is to leave the party with her and to time travel. Together they leave the party right when Priya forces Lily to play. “Truth.” Priya asks Lily where the craziest places she’s ever hooked up with someone. It’s abundantly clear that Lily has never kissed someone, let alone hookup, so she stays quiet. After that embarrassment, Lily tries to sneak out but Edgar catches and tries to stop her. Edgar brings up the truth or dare game saying he can’t believe she’s never kissed anyone because she’s so beautiful. He’s about to fix that problem but Lily’s phone buzzes to interrupt. Lily has to get home, Edgar said he would offer to pay for an Uber for her but his dad has him “on a tight budge”. Edgar is an idiot and because of it, their moment to kiss is completely gone. So, we know that Lily won’t fall for Edgar by now…. But what about Dash and Sofia who just went off to go back in time?? Sofia whisked Dash away to The Morgan Library and Museum after hours. Since her dad is on the board they’re allowed to be there, alone. Though Dash is there just as friends with Sofia, he’s thinking about From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler and starts to have his mind of Lily. At that moment, Sofia starts to tell Dash that she wants to be much more than friends. Since Dash has changed so much thanks to the notebook and Lily, he deflects her offer and reassures her they are not good together because whenever he’s with her, he can never really be himself. But they somehow end up kissing in the empty museum, so he’s probably not thinking about Lily anymore, is he?? Lily’s Christmas present from him was the red notebook, her boot, and most importantly finally learning Dash’s name. All of this is supposed to get to Aunt Lillian to be under the tree by Christmas. But all this remains in Dash’s bag that had fallen to the floor as Sofia and him get a bit too comfortable in the museum. The camera pans away as they get hot and heavy on a piece of museum furniture. Right before the credits begin to role, “Home Alone, Too” by The Staves begins to play, which is a nice call back from the beginning of the episodes when Dash says he prefers Home Alone 2: Lost in New York even though it is inaccurate and impossible to travel all over New York by foot. This is one of the first eye catching moments between Dash and Lily. “Are you watching Home Alone, too?”

Rating: Though critics (IMDB) gave this episode 7.8, overall I would give it a 8.5 out of 10. Please note I do not agree with the scores on IMDB and do not base my personal out view of the show on critics’ scores. 

Look Out For, “‘Last Christmas’: Dash & Lily *Festive* Review (Ep. 7- 8)” Coming Soon!!