![]() Sure, he’s a stuck-up 17-year-old boy, but his clothes are a little too big for him, and the outward aloofness he projects is really a means to deal with his fear of opening up to others. It’s not just Lily - the writers and directors take care to make Dash believable and likable as well. It helps that Francis imbues Lily with sparkling charm and just enough sadness underneath that wide-eyed smile to indicate that there’s something more to her than tinsel. Throughout the show, it becomes clear that Lily’s isolation from her peers isn’t strictly their fault - an incident in her past has caused her social anxiety to flare up when she’s in new situations, and she often self-sabotages before she even gets a chance to connect with anyone. It’s her earnestness in an age of internet-driven cynicism that feels out of step, not so much her hobbies or clothing choices. She rambles a lot, and still approaches everything with the optimism of a small child. (Though her handmade clothes are effectively weirder than just slapping her in overalls and calling it a day.) Her unbridled enthusiasm and childish pastimes are actually a bit off-putting. But her weirdness isn’t superficial, based on a few funky outfits. Lily, specifically, could easily be a standard Manic Pixie Dream Girl, weird but in a hot, edgy way. Thankfully, Dash and Lily transcend that “not like other teens” archetype - and the jaded guy / spunky girl rom-com trope - by being fleshed-out characters. It’s not an overwhelming problem, but it is jarring enough to feel dated, stuck in the book’s original publication date of 2010 at best, and doing a major disservice to the show’s leads at worst. (Who amongst us was an actual tolerable human being at age 17?) But the frustrating thing about Dash & Lily is that the writers constantly fault side characters for not knowing about popular children’s books like The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe and From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. It’s one thing to have your romantic leads bond over liking the same books, or to have a 17-year old-character be a bit too big for their britches. ![]() Even as the genre evolved beyond that point, the stereotype persisted. When John Green reached peak popularity in 2015, contemporary young-adult literature was criticized for having characters that were too unrealistically pretentious, intellectual, and fake-deep. Both lead characters sometimes fall into much-maligned pretentious YA novel stereotypes, with the writers reminding us that they’re “different” from (and, it’s implied, better than) their peers because they like to read and they tend to avoid social media. Perhaps the biggest gripe about the series is that it does suffer from being a relic of 2010 young-adult literature that doesn’t entirely translate well 10 years later. ![]() Just try not to think too much about the extra calories. Both Dash and Lily manage to transcend the trappings of stock characters, making the series’ eight half-hour episodes not just a delicious treat, but a show that actually warms you up after the fact. That concept alone feels as cozy as a peppermint mocha (or a caramel brulee latte, if you have good taste), but Dash & Lily isn’t just fluffy holiday fun full of rom-com tropes and young-adult stereotypes. The two end up planting the book for each other in various places in New York City, leading each other on a tinsel-filled scavenger hunt across the Big Apple. After cynical Dash (Austin Abrams) picks up a strange notebook left at iconic New York bookstore The Strand, he follows the instructions penned by its mysterious owner, quirky Lily (Midori Francis). The streaming platform’s latest holiday offering, Dash & Lily, is a TV series rather than a movie, and much like seasonal coffee beverages, it packages a whole lot of syrup.īased on David Levithan and Rachel Cohn’s 2010 young-adult novel Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares, Dash & Lily follows two lonely teenagers in New York during the winter holidays. A Dolly Parton Christmas special, a new Princess Switch movie, and a follow-up to The Christmas Chronicles are just some of the offerings on Netflix’s holiday menu. Throughout November, Netflix is pumping out the holiday specials and movies almost as fast as Starbucks baristas are pumping out sugary-sweet holiday-themed drinks.
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