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Daisy Jones & The Six
Genre: Drama
Release date: March 3, 2023
Run time: 10 episodes
Rotten Tomatoes score: 69% / Audience score: 81%
Emilee’s rating: ★★★★☆
Daisy Jones & The Six is an Amazon Prime series based upon the novel of the same name by Taylor Jenkins Reid. The story is about an iconic 1970s rock band consisting of the lead singers Billy and Daisy, guitarist Graham, keyboardist Karen, bassist Eddie and drummer Warren that called it quits after their first and only successful album. It is in a documentary style with the members recounting the story of the band 20 years after they split.
Spoiler warning
One of my favorite parts about the series is the acting and singing. I think both are absolutely incredibly done and I’m glad I finally get to hear the music after reading the book. However, I gave the book 5 stars and the series 4 stars, but only because it’s not fully accurate to the book. The author is a producer of the show so, for the most part, many of the changes that were made didn’t make a huge difference, which is why it’s still a great series. My theory is that some of these changes could have very well still happened, just not have been mentioned in the book. One of these changes that could’ve happened but have not been shown is that Simone, Daisy’s closest friend, has a girlfriend. In the book, not much of Simone’s personal life is shown which is why this may have not been mentioned.
Some of these differences didn't bother me and actually made the storyline better. For example, Camila, Billy’s wife, has a much more significant role in the series than in the book. In the book I felt that she was just “Camila the mom” or “Camila, Billy’s wife.” In the show, more of her perspective is shown and she is even a photographer. Another change I actually enjoyed was seeing more of Karen and Graham’s relationship. They even have a whole scene with just them, which is not something seen in the book as most of the scenes have either Billy or Daisy in them.
Many of the changes were major and drastically changed the storyline, though. One of my least favorite changes they made was that Eddie has feelings for Camila and Camila even cheats on Billy with Eddie. This goes against Camila’s entire character as she constantly shames Billy for cheating in the book. This also changes the entire reason why Eddie despises Billy. In the book, Eddie hates that Billy puts himself in charge of the band while in the series he hates that Billy is dating the woman he wants. Although, he does occasionally mention Billy’s tendency to boss people around regarding the music. In the show they also completely skip over Billy’s addiction in their first tour as The Six. All they show is Camila catching him cheating while in the book the first tour is a major part of the story. I think this generally glosses over how serious Billy’s addiction was which is a major part of his character.
Of course, there are changes that bothered me but did not affect the plot much. One of those being the album cover photo. In the show, the cover photo is taken by Camila while Billy and Daisy are arguing in secret. In the book, Daisy shows up to the photoshoot wearing a see-through shirt, annoying the rest of the band. The album photo is taken by a professional photographer who eventually kicks everyone out of the photo to make it just Billy and Daisy from the neck down. In the show, the photo actually shows their faces. I think this is a key part of the story because it represents how the band was mostly about Billy and Daisy, not the other members. However, this is shown in other ways and the photo is still of just the two of them so it does not need to be included but it still annoys me.
Despite these differences though, the show was still overall incredibly done and I enjoyed watching it. My favorite parts are the scenes where Billy and Daisy argue, the music, the acting, and the amount of screen time Camila gets.
