The Shoemaker Bugle

By Hermaione Sanchez

Christmas time + Quarantine = an even more perfect time to binge-watch holiday romance shows. The endless possibilities might have you going crazy but Netflix can definitely help with that, giving us Dash & Lily. When a movie is too short to touch base on things it should, and a show is dragged way too long, people tend to stay away (for the most part). 

Dash & Lily is an 8-episode rom-com series that takes place during Christmas. Dash (Austin Abrams) is a teenager who hates Christmas; he convinced his divorced parents that he’d be staying with each other during this time, and they were free to travel or whatever they wanted. This left him alone in his dad’s apartment in New York. He spends his time in a bookstore called The Strand, just like our second main character Lily (played by Midori Francis).

Lily is a teenage girl looking for love. She was left alone with her brother, Langston for Christmas while her parents traveled to Fiji, and her grandpa visited his secret girlfriend in Florida.

The show brings its focus to Langston (played by Troy Iwata) at times. He finds himself in a new relationship with Benny and is sort of trying to figure out how serious it is. Although the show mostly focuses on Dash and Lily, Langston learns some lessons and has a meaningful story. 

During one of his times at The Strand, Dash finds a book written by a mysterious girl. It is a series of dares and riddles. He finds a lot of interest in this and realizes whoever must’ve written it must be sadistic and sophisticated. Before returning the book, he writes his own set of dares. Leading to a constant exchange of it, daring each other to get out of their comfort zone. Once one of them completes the dare and writes their dare and entry or riddle, they leave the notebook where they completed the dare, whether it’s with a friend or hidden from the public. Slowly, they start to fall in love. Of course, not everything is perfect. The two teens have their own set of problems that might pull them apart… but that’s for you to find out by watching.

The dramatic irony implemented had me clicking “Watch Next Episode” the second after the previous one was done. The show did change a lot of things from its original source: Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares by David Levithan and Rachel Cohn. But both are still enjoyable and perfect for this time of the year. I loved everything from the casting to the music choices and even the book allusions.

I also especially liked the representation. The series has diversity which is something a lot of people love seeing. Lily’s brother, Langston is part of the LGBTQ+ community and his relationship with Benny is a big part of his story. Lily’s family is Japanese, and the show was not afraid to display her heritage on multiple occasions.

Let’s talk about the cast. Austin Abrams plays Dash in the series. He’s best known for his role in The Walking Dead as Ron Anderson. He also appears in Euphoria, and This Is Us, as well as in films like Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, and Chemical Hearts, with Lili Reinhart. Midori Francis plays Lily. She is best known for her lead role as Lily in the film Good Boys. Her grandfather is played by James Saito. He has been working in the industry since 1970. He’s the original shredder in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990), and is well-known as Dr. Chen in Eli Stone.