Is The Daisy Jones And The Six Show Better Than The Book?
Daisy Jones and the Six is a magnetic and high-energy new Prime Video series based on the popular book by Taylor Jenkins Reid. Full of complicated, toxic, and layered characters, it follows the rise and fall of a legendary 70s rock band. While the show is fun, I did feel like something was missing, so I ordered the book to dive further into this world. Since reading it, there are definitely some changes made that felt unnecessary, some that did make sense, and some that I think changed characters for the better… and some for the worse.
There’s no doubt that Daisy Jones and Billy Dunne, played by Riley Keough and Sam Claflin, are the main focus of the show. The chemistry between the two is insane, I’ve never seen two people singing into the same mic be so intimate. While I enjoyed Camila Morrone’s portrayal of Camila Dunne, once you understand who she is in the book, it feels like they take some of that strength away from her. As the season goes on, they fall into the cliche jealousy path that you would expect in a love triangle like this one, but that refreshingly wasn’t in the book. Camila was truly the heart of the book, but they diminish some of that to focus on Daisy and Billy and their toxic relationship.
Following the first three episodes, Daisy and Billy’s relationship takes a much more toxic turn in my opinion. They take things a bit too far at times, whereas I respected some of the restraint in the book. However, they do a good job of keeping Billy as this person that you root for despite everything he’s done in the past and that’s why it’s so easy for you to root for him with Daisy and with Camila. What they represent for him is so fascinating as well. Camila represents the light, the future, stability, sobriety, family, who he could be if he tries to be the best version of himself, while Daisy represents the dark, broken, the drugs, toxicity, the easy way out if you just give into your demons.
Simone Jackson, played by Nabiyah Be, was a character that they did a great job expanding on in the show. Instead of just constantly supporting Daisy as her best friend, we get to see her own story as a Black queer disco pioneer. They work to set up an interesting new story with Eddie Roundtree, played by Josh Whitehouse, even having him take on roles of other characters in the book. It was meant to flesh out his bitterness of Billy being the leader of the band, but he was forgettable in the role. Fans will be satisfied with Karen Sirko (Suki Waterhouse) and Graham Dunne’s (Will Harrison) story, meanwhile Sebastian Chacon is the perfect fit as funny drummer Warren Rojas. The reality thought is that we really get to see the other band members have big moments in the first three episodes and the finale, but the rest of the time it’s the Daisy and Billy show.
There were some other moments they expanded upon in the show, like Billy confronting his deadbeat dad or Daisy getting back at the men who try to use her as their muse, that felt very satisfying. Another highlight is a scene where Daisy and the Six almost cross paths at the diner she works at before they’re a real band which was so fun to see. When it comes to the removal of Pete and the altered storyline for Chuck from the book, it makes sense since neither of them had a big impact in the story. In fact, Pete only had one real line in the book. Meanwhile, there were some unnecessary changes that felt like they changed some of the characters motivations. In the book, Billy and Camila meet after he sees his father who left their family. What is the significance behind changing it to meeting at a random laundromat? He also didn’t propose to Camila just because she was pregnant like in the show. In some ways changing that story made it feel like he wasn’t really with Camila because he loved her but because of this sense of duty and family, which I don’t think is true. Teddy does go listen to the band at their show and didn’t have to be chased down at the grocery store. They also make Daisy much more of an amateur in the show, whereas she had already had a problematic manager, a record deal, and a cover album out before hopping on “Honeycomb.”
When it comes to what was missing for me, one of the biggest issue was the authenticity around making it in the music industry. It seems like the Six and Daisy got discovered pretty easily. Then Daisy wants to write, she hops on this song, records for the first time ever, and it’s a success. The book felt a bit more gritty and realistic with the hustle to make it.
When it comes down to it, the first three episodes were a little slow because you’re really just waiting for Daisy and the Six to meet up, but the finale is one of the best episodes dropping this year. The cast is great, the album is awesome, and the live performances are top tier. Things really just get messy with the storytelling and how toxic things gets. Sometimes they skip over things and make you use context clues to assume what’s going on versus just showing the full story. It gets confusing and feels like they’re cutting corners.
All in all, the show definitely has potential to be really big, but, at the same time, is missing the heart and grit and restraint of the book in favor of giving a more toxic, formulaic, and overdone story.
Daisy Jones and the Six is streaming on Prime Video, with new episodes dropping on Fridays.
