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/

Go check out a previous Dash & Lily article titled, “‘Home Alone, Too’: Dash & Lily *Festive* Review (Ep. 5-6)” which breaks down the next two Dash & Lily episodes by Val Kohan. 

https://talonnews.org/3221/entertainment/home-alone-too-dash-lily-festive-review-ep-5-6/

Episode Seven: “Christmas” 

After episode six, “Christmas Eve”, left off with a bit of a cliffhanger. It ended with Dash spending the night in a closed, empty museum with his ex-girlfriend, Sofia. Where Lily just rejected Edgar at a Christmas Eve party and went home earlier than expected after being a bit humiliated at said party. But why does she have to worry?? Tomorrow is Christmas, which means she’ll finally get to learn Notebook Boy’s name… Well, that’s the plan anyway. Dash is supposed to get the red notebook to Mrs. Basil E. to be under the tree by Christmas. But his present to Lily, the red notebook, her boot, and most importantly his name, remains in his bag… which is in the museum he’s in… with another girl. Poor Lily. “It’s Christmas morning!!” She wakes up in regular Lily fashion, way too excited, as she makes her way to the tree. She used to walking out to find her entire family all gathered in matching pajamas in front of a tree piled with lots of presents and just the feeling of Christmas spread through the air. But this year, she finds none of that. The only gift she finds under the tree is a serial-killer book Langston wrapped for their dad. Which is a great gift, but doesn’t help brighten Lily. “At least this year, Notebook Boy, I have the gift of your name to look forward to.” But this also means that Dash didn’t get the notebook to Aunt Lillain so that it would be waiting for Lily which would reveal Dash’s name. Even though she is disappointed, Lily does not give up yet as she makes her way to Aunt Lillian’s to see if perhaps she has the notebook. In high spirits, she even wears her one red boot in hopes if she does find Notebook Boy, he’ll recognize her right away. But when she asks Aunt Lillian, “Did, uh, anyone leave anything for me?? Uh, maybe something red, that’s, uh, shaped like a notebook??” Aunt Lillian tells Lily that she hasn’t seen Notebook Boy since she first met him when he brought her the boot. Aunt Lillian tries to bring Lily back to reality as she asks, “Have you considered what you’ll do if the person in person isn’t the one in your head??” This is a similar conversation Dash and Sofia had back in episode six when Sofia says finding the perfect girl in Dash’s head can fracture the relationship between Lily and him by carrying an idealistic girl in his head. Lily then becomes scattered when she begins to worry that she scared Dash off, “He said he’d bring the notebook here. What if he forgot?? What… what if I said the wrong thing and scared him off and–” She’s cut off when her phone goes off as her caroling group invites her to McSorley’s for some festive drinks!! But Lily is hesitant to go but Aunt Lillian assures her to go be with her friends. “What if the notebook comes??” To which Aunt Lillian makes the snarky reply of, “I’ll dash it right over!! No pun intended.” “What pun??” As Lily gets her buns to McSorley’s, she questions Aunt Lillian’s words, “Dash. Why would ‘dash’ be a pun?? What does that mean?? Is he fast?? Is he a hyphen??” When all of a sudden Lily recalls Notebook Boy’s first clue, “My name is a connector of words.” “A connector of words?? His name is–” But then she recalls the Dash she met last night at the Christmas Eve party, who was with Sofia, and left with Sofia… “Oh no… Oh no.” She frantically Facetimes Boomer, which she only got his number from Two Boots because she told them she was his girlfriend, “in the Army, and wanted to surprise him with a phone call for Christmas.” Which actually worked. “It’s an emergency. It’s about your friend… Dash.” “He told you his name?? Oh, he didn’t tell you. But I just did.” Now that the cats are out of the bag, or the name is out of the book, Lily needs some clarification about last night. “Was your friend at a party with a girl named Sofia??” Boomer says this is against the rules of the notebook and he can’t say anything. Lily then blurts out, “Because if it’s him, he left the party with his ex.” Since Boomer left the party early to go to a holiday double feature with Jeff the Macy’s Elf, he’s completely confused by this. “Please tell me I’m wrong. I want to be wrong.” Boomer, disappointed in Dash, says, “Look, you’re not wrong. I’m… I’m sorry, Lily.” Lily runs into McSorley’s where she finds her caroling group getting drunk as she heartbreakingly tells them, “Notebook Boy has a girlfriend and he’s been keeping it from me.” To the group’s reply, they just tell her to drink up!! But what is a heartbroken Lily supposed to do on Christmas Day but get drunk on peppermint schnapps?? Which hits Lily real hard, real fast. Pure, innocent Lily, not in the right state of mind, drunkenly texts Edgar about wanting him to kiss her at “Mcsorleysss”. He jumps right on the request, which is a bit creepy, but anyway, he brings a piece of holly he mistakenly thinks is mistletoe, and Lily gets her first kiss. Well, a sloppy, drunk kiss in the middle of a bar on Christmas with a guy she barely likes. But that’s romance, right?! Their kiss is interrupted as Dash rushes into McSorley’s, holding the red boot and notebook. Only to find Clue Girl kissing Edgar Thibaud?! Lily was right about one thing, Notebook Boy recognizes her right away from the boot. Too bad he found her with Edgar Thibaud… “Lily??” “It’s you.”

But we need some explanation on Dash’s end!? That’s when we rewind… back to December 24th to follow Dash’s story. The last time we saw him he was “busy” with Sofia in the Morgan Library, which made it seem that he forgot all about Lily. But we learn the complete opposite of what you’d think actually happened. Dash stops the whole thing with Sofia before it gets too far, he tells her, “I’m kissing you, but thinking about her.” This is where they start to get honest with one another, they don’t actually want to start this (their relationship or whatever it was you’d like to call) again. Dash found someone else who actually gets him for who he is, where Sofia just wanted something familiar. But they do actually spend the night at the museum together just not in the way everyone thought. They immediately fall asleep instead of, well you know… Once it’s sunrise, they realize they slept way too long and Dash completely forgot to get the notebook to Lily… He messed up!! Sofia tells Dash that Lily “deserves more than a notebook at Christmas.” At this exact moment, Dash gets a notification from the Manhattan Mommies app that Boomer put on his phone to try and find the red boot. Boomer claimed Manhattan mommies can find anything you’re looking for… He was right!! Someone spotted a single red boot at McSorley’s. The cynic Dash is, can’t actually believe that everything is turning out perfectly!! It’s Christmas magic!! On his way to McSorley’s he stops quickly at the movie theater to buy two tickets to Pixar’s Collation. He even tells the worker ringing him up, “I’m taking this girl. We’ve been writing to each other, but we never met. I dind’t know how to find her, but then this morning actually, I saw this post on this mommy app. See?? That’s her. That’s her boot.” But then some grump standing in line behind him says, “Who cares??” This perfectly shows Dash’s growth from the first time we saw him. Dash used to be the Grinch who hated Christmas or anything remotely connected to the holidays but Lily helped his heart grow three sizes. “Sir, this information showing up exactly when I needed it, it’s… This is fate!! This is the magic of Christmas!!” He then goes on cheerfully to say, “Merry Christmas, you beautiful, angry New Yorker.” Once again, this shows a before and after of Dash and how much Lily brightened his life. He even goes on to hug a Salvation Army Santa Claus, shouting, “I believe!!”, in the streets of New York. Once he’s filled with the Christmas spirit and love from Lily, nothing can stop him now!! Except for finding the red boot attached to the foot of the girl he met last night who is, well, kissing Edgar. That’s exactly where we left off last time, Dash and Lily finally interacting and actually knowing who each other is. Lily asks, “How did you know where I am?? I don’t even know where I am.” Dash has the realization that he actually met Lily last night, she’s the girl from the party. “And you’re Dash. ‘Connector of words.’” Lily makes this subtle dig at what Dash once wrote to her in the notebook. Dash trying to process everything begins to get a bit judgy, “You’re with him [Edgar]. Of course you are. How long’s this been going on for??” Lily, drunkenly finds the courage to say, “As if you didn’t kiss Sofia??” Edgar, trying to get into the loop, asks, “Wait, you two know each other??” Dash heartbreakingly says, “Thought I did.” Dash starts to catch on to Lily’s abnormal behavior, “You’ve been drinking??” “So much.” Edgar says he’d take her home, but Lily can’t go home drunk. Dash knows exactly where to take her. Edgar tries to be the good guy by saying he’d take her home, but Dash being the true hero, insists, “No, I’ll take her myself.” The cab ride there is excruciating. They’re both so mad at each other for not being honest with one another through the notebook and who the other one has been kissing. Dash is extremely judgmental the entire time, making comments about how of all the guys in the city, it had to be Edgar Thibaud?? Like what can she possibly see in a guy like Edgar?? “He’s easy to be with. He’s fun.” Dash gets defensive with Lily, “Oh, so you mean he’s not depressing… like me??” Lily says she knows nothing about Dash, oh except for the fact that he lied to her about Sofia. “Because you spent the night with a girl who’s obnoxiously, perfectly and stupidly amazing and unfairly gorgeous… You left the party wearing those clothes. I’m not stupid.” Dash tries to clear up all of this but, once again, it just comes out defensive and judgmental. Lily asks him why he never brought up Sofia in the notebook?? There is a long pause, until the silence is broken when Lily tries to clear up any misunderstandings about Edgar. She tells Dash she’s not actually with Edgar, she just kissed him which didn’t even mean anything to her. Dash, being quite harsh, says, “Oh, so you’re kissing a lot of meaningless guys then, huh??” This is where the truth begins to come out, that even though Lily shared her first kiss drunk with Edgar, she wanted it to be with Dash but, guess what, he wasn’t there and neither was the notebook. “I’m sorry I was late. What, do you have that little faith in me??” The truth just keeps tumbling out when Lily reveals that the notebook wasn’t even her idea. “I hate that stupid notebook. It wasn’t even my idea. It was my brother’s. He wrote those first clues at The Strand.” As she begins to cry, she also lets slip, “You’re nothing like Boomer said.” “You met Boomer??” “He said you’d be nicer.” Everything everyone kept trying to warn them about came true; they aren’t the people they imagined in their heads. While heading to Aunt Lillian’s, Dash writes one last thing in the notebook before handing it over to Aunt Lillian for good. He says that it was never going to be as easy as it was in the notebook. To which Aunt Lillian replies, “Well… you don’t want to give up just when the game’s gotten interesting.” Dash sulks, “I guess I don’t want to play a game anymore.” Dash goes to yell at Boomer by basically just taking his pent up anger out on him and then just spends the rest of Christmas all alone at his dads apartment. These two can’t get any more sadder, can they?? Lily’s angry grandfather picks her up from Aunt Lillian’s house when things get progressively worse… Once she gets home with a major headache as well as a heartache, guess who’s there?? Her entire family surprised her in matching pajamas as a Christmas surprise, plus her parents are back from Fiji. Lily’s first reaction is to throw up in her red boot. I guess the peppermint schnapps played into that too but Lily’s life is just crumbling all around her. Even though Lily’s parents don’t yell her about the hangover, because it’s Christmas and that can wait, they break the sudden news to her about Fiji… They’ll be moving there on New Year’s Eve. The only acceptable response to that would be to scream into your pillow, as Lily does. To make matters worse, Lily picks up the red notebook to read Dash’s final entry to “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” by Cat Power. “Dear Lily, we set ourselves up for this disappointment… I was never going to be the guy in your head and you were never going to be the girl in mine. The fantasy was never going to live up to the reality. There’s no such thing as a Christmas miracle and it’s not your fault, it’s mine for believing. Thanks for playing the game with me. It was fun for a while, but the thing about playing a game is that someone has to lose. And I guess we both lost this time.” 

During this narration, it shows how disappointed and depressed Dash and Lily are. While Lily’s entire family is celebrating in festivities, she’s just sitting there as if Christmas means nothing to her. And Dash on the other hand, he goes to see Collation, in a packed theater full of smiling happy couples. But all alone, with an empty seat beside him, the one for Lily. 

“So I’m writing to say, ‘Game over.’ I don’t think we should see each other again. I don’t want us to. It’s better if we both move on. Goodbye, Lily. Merry Christmas.” 

Rating: Though critics (IMDB) gave this episode 7.7, overall I would give it an 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 Eight: “New Year’s Eve” 

Dash & Lily started out with laying out our two main characters; Lily, loving Christmas more than life, where Dash was completely opposed to the idea of this season of the year. As the series progressed Lily learned to grow out of her comfort zone and Dash learned to see the silver linings that actually had him enjoying Christmas time. But with everything good there must come the bad… Because as magical as the holidays may be, reality comes back to reel you in at some point. Everything should be going as planned for Dash and Lily, right?! The magic of Christmas should bring them together?? But as Dash proclaimed at the beginning of this festive journey, it is the most detestable time of the year… Because, wow, things can not be going more downhill for Dash and Lily at the moment. As the (New Year’s Eve) clock is ticking down, Dash does not have much time to reach a decision about Lily and everything they have gone through together, separately, but connected by the red notebook. Butttt, there is one little detail Dash is still unaware about, something that can change everything. Lily is set to move to Fiji tonight. Can Dash beat the clock with the power of love or will time strike them out?? It’s New Year’s Eve, Dash is moping around The Strand (specifically staring deeply into the shelves that hold Franny and Zooey), for what?? “Uh, what I’m looking for isn’t here.” Possibly hoping to find the red notebook. When suddenly, the moody librarian, who also happens to be Lily’s cousin, Mark (talk about convenience), drops the notebook off to him. “You never saw me.” Lily once again is starting up this exchange after Dash’s farewell letter. She writes, “Dear Dash… I can say that now, because I finally know your name. A week ago, that seemed so important. It’s funny how things change. I used to think we’d meet and have this great romance. I believed New York was magic. But now it’s New Year’s Eve and at midnight tonight, I’m getting on a plane to Fiji. I’m moving. Moving on.” During this narration, Lily is shown throwing her Snarly muppet into a “Don’t Keep” box. She continues to say, “You said we’d never work out, and you were right. I know that now. But at least for one last Christmas… it was nice to believe.” Lily really dropped that bombshell about moving to Fiji (a minute detail she left out of the notebook before) with only 9 HOURS TIL MIDNIGHT!! Dash also draws out from this message that Lily has lost her Christmas spirit. Was that Dash’s fault?? “If she stopped believing, that’s on me. I need to do something. I need to fix it.” To try and make this all better again, Dash goes to a Jonas Brothers concert to track down Boomer (yes, there is a very out of place Jonas Brothers cameo but what do you expect when Nick Jonas is the executive producer). “You make every day feel like it’s Christmas.” Because if he’s going to pull this off, he won’t just need the magic of Christmas but the help of his friend. Or should we say friends, as Dash soon finds all his other friends at the concert as well. Once Dash gets to Boomer, Boomer finally puts him in his place, “I know you pride yourself on being a loner, but there’s a line between being a loner and being a dick.” Boomer suddenly forgives him when Dash points out that he came to a Jonas Brothers concert for him (Dash must really have something against the Jo Bros). Dash tells Boomer, Priya, The Challah Back Boys, and even Sofia, that he wants to set things right with Lily before she leaves because he can not stop thinking about her. With a little help from Nick Jonas, Dash finally realizes what he has to do that sets Operation: Cinderella in full swing. As Sofia tells Dash, “When you went to Lily before, you were trying to be Prince Charming. If you really care about her-” This is when Nick Jonas chimes in to tell Dash, “You need to go to her as you. Your friends are right. If you want this girl to give you a second chance, you gotta get real.” 6 HOURS TIL MIDNIGHT!! When Lily and her family go to their temple for their annual family New Year’s, her grandfather gets very real with Lily telling her that he won’t let her stay in New York with him because she has become a great disappointment to him. Between staying out past curfew, drinking, and all for a boy… But for once Lily does something unlike anything she’s done before, stand up for herself. She owns up to everything she’s done but tells her grandfather that she made all those mistakes herself. “All of those mistakes, I made myself.” 4 HOURS TIL MIDNIGHT!! Lily and her parents hop into a taxi to head to the airport, Langston sees the red notebook but hides it from Lily, to shield her away from any more heartache. 3 HOURS TIL MIDNIGHT!! Dash is waiting for her within the shelves of the library. But right before Langston is about to put the notebook away forever, he decides to read the newest message. He’s so moved by it, he sends Lily the message from Dash. “Dear Lily, I’m not the guy in your head and you’re not the girl in mine. But that doesn’t make us strangers.” He goes on to call her smart and brave and what they shared is real. “The girl I met on the page is the girl I see when I look at you. That’s the girl I’ve been falling in love with.” He says he’ll be waiting for her where they began. Right as Lily is done reading the message, she bolts out of the cab and runs to The Strand. She runs to Dash. While she’s making her way to him, they show a cute montage of their story; Lily placing the notebook in The Strand, Dash completely destroying SantaLand at Macy’s just to find out her name, his first dare to cringely start singing at The Strand, Lily seeing Dash’s message at the Hanukah concert, the single red boot, them meeting face to face at Priya’s party without even knowing it, and most importantly locking eyes in the first episode as Lily sang carols with her group. Once Lily gets to The Strand the doors are locked, she starts to freak out thinking she’s too late. When a familiar voice behind her says, “This looks like a job for a Christmas elf.” Jeff the Macy’s Elf shows up in her rescue with the keys. Lily finds the bookstore decorated with Christmas things that signify the most important memories of her and Dash’s festive relationship. With foods and decorations from their past dares, Dash emerges from the shelves. Lily is so stunned that she can’t find the words to tell him how much she loves him. So, instead she just kisses him. Just as Dash and Lily finally get everything right, they remember one tiny important thing… Fiji. This is when her phone rings and it’s Grandpa to ask if she’ll stay in New York with him instead of going to Fiji. Of course she agrees. Together they get lost in the stacks of books as the clock strikes midnight, sharing a New Year’s kiss. “Happy New Year, Dash.” “Happy New Year, Lily.” Christmas magic brought this show to a very happy ending!! “Should auld acquaintance be forgot. And days of auld lang syne.”

Rating: Though critics (IMDB) gave this episode 8.1, overall I would give it an 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. 

All episodes of Dash & Lily are now streaming on Netflix!!