To say there are many new holiday romantic comedies made for television every year is the kind of understatement nearly like a joke. One of the reasons they tend to be formulaic is that to tell a love story in roughly an hour and a half without challenging an audience's settled expectations, there are only so many ways to go with the rhythm. Perhaps that's why Netflix has better luck with Dash＆Lily, an eight-episode limited series that's got the charm that a lot of holiday films lack.
Our story begins when a lonely Lily leaves an interesting note in a book on the shelf at The Strand, hoping a stranger will start an adventure with her. Dash finds it and reads it, and he accepts its challenge. Thus begins a correspondence in which they each write in the book and then leave it somewhere for the other, so that they never meet in person, but they get to send each other to their favorite places, sometimes to complete dares before the book can be found. Now, you do not want to think too carefully about this——the idea that Lily's original clue would be found by an age—appropriate straight boy who likes mysteries and looks like he was born to be in adaptations almost as much as she does is the height of magic, so just stay relaxed and go with it.
These eight episodes, each around 25 minutes, never drag; they fly by joyfully. The ending, as is often the case with love stories, sort of lands with a cloud of glitter, a little messy but worth cheering for. It's as lovely and comfortable as you could want, just about perfect for a weekend with a blanket over you.
