‘Dash & Lily’ Proves Why We Need More Holiday Rom-Com TV Shows

Happy birthday, Dash & Lily! It’s been five years since we first watched the titular couple gallivant around New York City, communicating anonymously via notebook. The cynical, anti-holiday Dash (Austin Abrams) is the complete opposite of Lily (Midori Francis), but an unlikely romance develops as they push each other out of their comfort zones.

If its 100% Rotten Tomatoes score wasn’t enough to convince you that Dash & Lily is worth your time, I can assure you that it’s one of the best additions to the holiday rom-com genre that I’ve seen in years. (And I’ve watched a lot of them.) In fact, I’d even say it’s a classic in the making. It has everything you could want in a holiday rom-com: It’s cheesy, but not too cheesy. Its main characters are likable (even the curmudgeonly Dash) and well-developed. Not to mention, New York is its own character, sparkling with festive cheer.

That being said, Dash & Lily does stand apart in one major way from other genre additions: The story stretched out over eight glorious episodes. I love a quick hour-and-a-half holiday rom-com, be it Love Actually or The Holiday, as much as the next person. However, sometimes I want to revel in holiday spirit a bit longer, which is where Dash & Lily comes in. Barring a couple exceptions, Dash & Lily is one-of-a-kind. It’s definitely the best of its kind. It’s also proof that we need more holiday rom-coms in the TV format.

Over the past couple of years, rom-com TV shows have become more and more frequent because of the success they’ve found on streaming. Netflix, which made Dash & Lily, has been leading the way with shows like Nobody Wants This and Too Much — but scant few have a holiday angle. Off the top of my head, I can count such shows on hand, across all networks: With Love, Home for Christmas, and The Holiday Shift. In my humble opinion, it’s time that these kinds of shows become just as commonplace as their non-festive counterparts.

Why, you may ask? Well, beyond the obvious bonus of indulging in the holiday spirit for eight (or more) hours, I’ve actually found it more fun to rewatch something like Dash & Lily versus a holiday movie. There’s more opportunity to pick up on things that you didn’t before, and compared to a movie, it’s much harder to remember every single beat, allowing for more opportunities to be surprised. Since it came out in 2020, I’ve watched Dash & Lily twice, and the show lost none of the magic that it had the during my first viewing.

Most importantly, holiday rom-com shows give the main relationship much more time to develop. Don’t get us wrong: If a holiday movie is well-done, it can make us believe in a connection between two characters. But with a show, there’s more room to breathe, and it isn’t trying to cram in all of the rom-com tropes and beats that we need to fall in love with a couple. The holidays are for leisure, and a show has the ability to reflect through its pace. Dash & Lily, for one, takes its time. The couple doesn’t even meet until Episode 6 (out of eight)!

If I can’t get a Dash & Lily Season 2 — Netflix, please reconsider its cancellation — I’ll settle for more holiday rom-com shows in general. In my ideal world, I’d get a new one to devour every year. Until that day comes, however, I’ll happily keep coming back to Dash & Lily.

Dash & Lily, Season 1, Streaming Now, Netflix