Vrinda Bachchan
In Netflix’s ‘Dash & Lily,’ Dash hates Christmas and all things “festive.” Lily loves the holiday season and all the joys Christmas brings. But they share the same deep love for books and New York City. The two start writing to each other in a red notebook that they alternate possession of, as they complete dares and share their thoughts and feelings, letting in new experiences and falling in love in the most unusual, atypical way. The teen romance series is based on a novel by David Levithan and Rachel Cohn. This article is a summarized recap of episode 8, the finale of season 1, and our review of it. SPOILERS AHEAD!
Dash & Lily Season 1 Episode 8 Recap
Predictably, Dash and Lily are both super bummed after their fight and the resulting split. While Lily packs up her stuff in preparation for the move to Fiji on New Year’s Eve, Dash hangs around the Strand, looking extremely depressed until the bookstore manager (who is Lily’s cousin) gives him the red notebook. There is one last message from Lily to Dash, which tells him that Lily is moving to Fiji at midnight that very night. He also gleans from the message that she no longer believes in Christmas and has lost her Christmas spirit.
Dash goes to a Jonas Brothers concert to track down Boomer and finds all his other friends are there as well. Dash tells his friends that he wants to make things right with Lily before she leaves. With a little help from Nick Jonas, Dash figures out what he needs to do, and the group rushes out to make arrangements. Lily’s family goes to a temple for their annual New Year’s ceremony. There, her grandfather tells her that he won’t allow her to stay with him in New York because she has been such a disappointment in the past week (staying out past curfew and indulging in underage drinking).
Lily owns up to everything she did and stands up for herself in front of the entire family. As Lily is in the cab with her parents, on the way to the airport, her brother sends her the last message that Dash wrote for her in the notebook. In the message, Dash says that they both know each other better than most other couples do and that he has fallen in love with her and wants to make things right. He tells her that he’ll be waiting for her where they began. Reading this, Lily comes to a decision and bolts out of the cab and runs to The Strand.
Dash & Lily Season 1 Episode 8 Ending
Lily finds an empty after-hours bookstore, decorated with Christmas things and baubles that signify important memories of her and Dash’s relationship. When Dash himself shows up, Lily is unable to tell him in words how much she loves him and shows him with a kiss. Just as the young couple realizes that Lily has to leave for Fiji, her phone rings and it’s Grandpa calling her to propose that she stay with him in New York instead of moving with her parents. Lily agrees to stay in New York, much to Dash’s joy and relief, and they have their first date right there in their beloved bookstore.
Elsewhere, we see Langston make up with his boyfriend Benny, and Boomer and Sofia emerging from a movie theatre together, holding hands. The show ends with Dash and Lily kissing as the clock strikes twelve, and the new year commences. Considering that Lily and Dash had been fighting about basically a non-issue, their patching up is almost seamless and goes without a hitch. Everything seems to work out for these two in the end.
As a special bonus, we get to see something possibly starting between Boomer and Sofia. That could be interesting to watch next season. And finally, having Langston and Benny back together is a blast (turns out Langston had broken up with Benny because he thought two weeks was a long time to be away from each other when Benny visits his grandmother). Also, thank heavens that Aunt Lillian was able to knock some sense into Grandpa and make him agree to keep Lily in New York.
Dash & Lily Season 1 Episode 8 Review
‘Dash & Lily’ maintains a fast-paced narrative throughout the season but gives its audience enough time to mull over the finer details of the story. In the end, Dash realizes that it doesn’t matter if Lily kissed Edgar. What matters is his undeniable feelings for her and the fact that Lily losing her faith in the miracle of Christmas is unacceptable to him. The last episode and the show in general, give a nice depth to the supporting characters like Boomer, Sofia, Langston, and even Priya and Edgar (to some extent), making them more 3-dimensional than flat.
But it never takes focus away from the main leads, which is crucial for a show that has a runtime of 23 minutes. The story is fun, sweet, charming, and very engaging, not dragging even in the sadder scenes. Dash and Lily’s romance is believable, and their characters are relatable in a way that most fictional teen characters these days are not. Episode 8 provides a happy, neatly-tied ending with no loose ends (nobody cares about what happened to Edgar). We honestly hope that Netflix makes another season of ‘Dash & Lily’ soon.
Read More: Dash And Lily Episode 6 Recap/Review
