A ChucksConnection TV Series Feature
Midori Francis wears red high top Converse “Chuck Taylor” All Stars in the series.
Dash & Lily
Lily loves Christmas and wearing her red high top chucks.
Lily loves Christmas and wearing her red high top chucks.
Being alone at Christmas sucks. There’s no way to sugarcoat it, it just really sucks. Nothing makes you feel more lonely than the warmth of Christmas lights, and for many that is a feeling all too familiar. This is why the Holiday Season is also known as Cuffing Season as people rush into relationships just so they aren’t alone. Some may even start writing messages in a notebook to a random stranger just to feel less alone on Christmas. Dash & Lily is an eight episode American romantic comedy TV series on Netflix, based on the young adult novel series Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan. The series premiered on November 10th, 2020, and stars Austin Abrams, Midori Francis, Dante Brown, Troy Iwata, Keana Marie, Jodi Long, and James Saito.
Lily’s red high top chucks are all we see of her in the first episode.
Dash (Abrams) is a teenager living in New York City who despises Christmas. His father is perpetually out of town so he basically lives alone. He recently broke up with his longtime girlfriend, Sophia (Marie), which leaves him feeling especially alone and closed off. He loves books and spends most of his time at the famous Strand Bookstore. On December 17th, he discovers an unmarked red notebook that has a message written on the front: “Do you dare?” He then follows a series of clues within the notebook to learn the author’s identity. He then leaves it for her to write a reply, with his own set of instructions to give him her name and leave the book with his best friend Boomer (Brown) at Two Boots Pizza. However, she only gives him her name after making him work for it. She challenges him to get her name from the Macy’s Santa. When that goes awry, Dash ends up stealing Santa’s hat and learning that his mystery girl’s name is Lily (Francis).
Lily meets Boomer in secret to discuss the journal.
Lily is a shy, seventeen-year-old girl of mixed European and Japanese ancestry who wears bright red chucks and loves Christmas. However, she has never experienced romantic love. However, she doesn’t care about that because she always has her loving family. That is until her parents suddenly leave her for a trip to Fiji and her grandfather (Saito) leaves for a trip to see his girlfriend in Florida. Her brother, Langston (Iwata), stays in the city but he is fully involved with his new boyfriend. So Lily resigns to spend this Christmas alone. That is until Langston decides to push her to find someone, using her love of books as an answer. He tells her she should leave her notebook at The Strand to maybe find the one she never knew existed. This leads both her and Dash down a path of romance and destiny.
Lily and her great-aunt have a conversation about Dash.
This show is endlessly charming and endearing. The concept of the journal makes for a fun yet suspenseful premise that creates a rewarding journey across the eight episodes. Austin Abrams does a stellar job at riding the line between being charmingly sardonic and warm as Dash. That role could go terribly wrong in a lot of people’s hands and Dash would have been totally unlikable. However, he makes Dash a likable loner that you want to see find love. Midori Francis is so effortlessly loveable as Lily, bringing warmth and joy to every scene. However, she also brings a bit of sadness and darkness that plays well later in the season when she shows how deep her pain goes. This show is just a perfect rom-com marathon for the Christmas season and an easy watch to knock out in a night.
Lily loses one of her prized boots and replaces it with her trusty chucks.
 |
 | |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Purchase chucks, shoelaces, and books about chucks. |
|||
 |
 |
 |
 |
High Tops |
Low Tops |
Shoelaces Page |
Books |