On the 4th Day of Christmas Movies, we’re breaking all the rules. That’s right. Because Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares isn’t a Christmas movie. It’s a Christmas TV show. Or rather, it’s a Christmas mini-series on Netflix. But I feel like this still counts. Plus, I’ve actually read the young adult novel that this show is based on. Not that I have a lot of insight into the show based on what I read because I can’t really remember the book that well. All I know is it was a delightful YA holiday story. Will the mini-series be the same?
Let’s run it through the Christmas-o-meter and see!
The countdown to Christmas is on. Dash and Lily are two teenagers living in New York who have never met. Dash ends up finding a notebook on a shelf in The Strand with “Do You Dare?” written on the cover. Inside the book is a dare from Lily (well we don’t know it’s Lily yet, but they will). So begins the story of two lonely teens making a real connection with one another through a notebook before ever meeting in person. All in the days leading up to Christmas. The show (and the book) go back and forth between the two characters’ perspectives, so sometimes we see the same event twice from two different perspectives, which honestly is one of my favorite TV things. But enough about what this show is about. How does it fare as a Christmas movie?
Romance: 10/10. Okay, I’ll stop being coy. Cards on the table. This premise really worked for me. I love the idea of writing to a person and getting to know them on a deep level before ever seeing their face. I loved the mystery and intrigue of it. Yes, we knew who both Dash and Lily were, but we got to watch them try to figure it out. At one point, they even end up at the same Christmas party, but of course they don’t recognize one another. But they have a moment where they connect and laugh together anyway because THEY’RE JUST MEANT TO BE!
Of course, it’s a common trope in Christmas movies for one of the romantic leads to be cynical and down on Christmas. And the other lead is optimistic and loves Christmas and ultimately pulls the cynical lead into their cyclone of joy. This isn’t new. But lately, it does seem like the “cynical” character is always the woman, one who is usually too involved in her career to stop and enjoy the more domestic (holidays and family) side of life. So it’s nice that this is taking the trope in a new direction.
Here, Dash is our cynical character. Lily is usually really excited about Christmas, but this year her parents are abandoning her for Christmas to go to Fiji. So as optimistic and cheerful and quirky as she is, she’s also having her doubts about the holiday and about her family. And while Lily does have a little bit of manic pixie dream girl about her, the story is evenly divided between Dash and Lily. This means that we get to see Lily’s flaws and her own struggles. So she’s quirky and sweet and loves caroling and hanging out with adults because the kids at school just don’t “get her.” But she also feels like a real person. And I loved that she spent her free time caroling with grown-ups rather than going to parties.
All of this is to say Dash and Lily feel like fully realized characters on their own. So it makes you root for them to get together. I don’t really know what else you could want from a Christmas romance.
Morality: 10/10. The moral of this story is pretty clear, and I think it’s a really great one for a young adult story. Both of these teenagers have hit this point in their lives where they’re sort of in a rut. They’ve both decided what kind of people they are, what they like and don’t like, and what they will and won’t do. The problem with that? It’s not serving them. Neither of them have what they really want. They’re both lonely and they both feel misunderstood. And a big part of why is because they’re afraid to grow and try new things. I say this is an important message for young adult readers, but truly this is a good message for anyone at any age. I think we all need to be pushed out of our comfort zone every now and then and try new things. And sometimes when we’re not happy with our lives, we need to accept that a complete reset or reexamination of who we are and what we think we want is in order.
I can’t really think of a better moral than that, friends.
Music: 9/10. I don’t have a lot to say about the music, which is why it’s getting a 9 instead of a 10. But this did have a lot of Christmas music in it. And Lily likes to go caroling for fun. And even Dash gets in on the Christmas singing as early as episode 1. As I mentioned in previous reviews, movies get bonus points if the people in the movie are actually singing and acknowledging Christmas songs. And this show has a ton of that in it.
Honorable mention goes to the Jonas Brothers concert and the cameo from Nick Jonas. I know Nick Jonas is a producer on this show, and I’m not even a big Jo-Bros fan or anything, but I found this extra music connection to be really delightful. And yes, also funny that they would all end up at a Jonas Brothers concert. Of all places.
Christmas Spirit: 10/10. This show is dripping with Christmas spirit. Many of the dares are Christmas-themed, Dash and Lily talk about Christmas a lot in their notebook, and obviously Christmas is a super big deal to Lily. She even gets drunk on Christmas cocktails for her first ever time getting drunk, excited to find that Peppermint Schnapps tastes like a candy cane. It’s Christmas mixed with the right amount of humor to keep it from being too too sickly sweet.
Warmth: 10/10. Y’all, I was trying so hard to be more critical of this show, but what can I say? It melted my cold heart. This movie was so warm. And not just because of the relationship between Dash and Lily. Dash has such a nice friendship with his BFF Boomer. Lily has a really fun rapport with her brother Langston.
Little aside: I DIED when Langston broke up with his boyfriend because his boyfriend was going to visit his grandmother for two weeks and Langston “couldn’t do long distance.”
There’s also sweet family relationships. Dash starts to have a better relationship with his dad. Lily with her grandfather and great-aunt.
Surprisingly? We also get a really nice, healthy relationship with an ex-girlfriend. When Dash’s ex-girlfriend Sofia comes back to town, it’s clear at first that she wants to get back together with Dash. But when she sees that Dash has a connection with Lily, she totally gets it and supports him. And they are able to remain friends. It was really nice to see Sofia not become an antagonist in any way. In fact, Lily has nothing but nice things to say about Sofia as well. In other words, Sofia is chill as hell.
There are plenty of other warm fuzzy moments in this show. This is just the tip of the very warm iceberg.
I think we know where this is going, but let’s go ahead and total this up.
49/50 = 98%/A+. Is this this highest score ever? Maybe. Did Dash & Lily have an unfair advantage because it was a show and had more time to develop its story and its characters? Also maybe? But it’s only 8 episodes at 30 minutes each, so it’s not like it’s that much longer. What I’m saying is you have time to watch this before Christmas, and you totally should!
Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares is now streaming on Netflix. So go ask your cousin for their Netflix password so you can watch this one.