A Sporadic Assortment of Thoughts I Had While Watching Daisy Jones & the Six
Not every thought, but the gist—in comparison to the book, which I also loved.
Published November 30, 2024
The Music from the Show
If you're going to listen to one song from the album, Look at Us Now (Honeycomb) probably embodies it the best. I wasn't sure the album was to my taste, but that very well could have been because of considerate odes to the time period. I don't know enough about 70's rock 'n roll, personally. I think I personally loved The River most. For more on what I've been listening to, check out my most recent summary, including some of the Fleetwood Mac inspo.
In case you missed it, I just reviewed the Daisy Jones & the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid—the book, which I read after finishing the limited TV series. Here's where I'll be chatting about the film adaptation. What I loved and what differed!
It took me a while to get around to reading and watching Daisy Jones & the Six. I'd been saving it for a rainy day, and it absolutely delivered for a moody 16+ hour travel day back to the states from my first long-haul Europe trip (which I'll also write about shortly.)
I tend to do very well with limited-series shows in terms of structure. I always feel icky after watching too much TV, so don't make enough of a habit of it. I can't exactly binge for that reason, but I don't have the screen-oriented stamina to keep up with something for the weeks/months/years it takes to finish it. (I actually did well as a kid when a program I liked would be on Thursdays at 8 p.m. for example—a once-weekly routine while finishing up history worksheets after lacrosse practice, or something.) But not in adulthood on the streaming model.
So a short episode arc is personally very satisfying for my style as a viewer, especially when on a plane. (I love the particular freedom of being on a plane and feeling unreachable—one of the only times I wholly relax.)
Anyway, I finally decided to dive in.
About Daisy Jones & the Six
This ten-episode series debuted on Amazon Prime in 2023. It's filmed mockumentary-style (which I later discovered is a holdover from the book, which is formatted as a series of interviews.) I do actually think, in hindsight, that it maybe would have been better if slightly shorter—perhaps in eight episodes? But I enjoyed the whole process. Most episodes are between 45 minutes to an hour in runtime, with an average length of about 50 minutes.
- Episode 1: Come and Get It
- Episode 2: I'll Take You There
- Episode 3: Someone Saved My Life Tonight
- Episode 4: I Saw the Light
- Episode 5: Fire
- Episode 6: Whatever Gets You Thru the Night
- Episode 7: She's Gone
- Episode 8: Looks Like We Made It
- Episode 9: Feels Like the First Time
- Episode 10: Rock 'N Roll Suicide
The setting is Los Angeles in the 70s. The show starts out showing Daisy, raised in isolation by her selfish parents; in her loneliness, she became obsessed with music—and with musicians, which caused some loss of innocence in her teenage years before she was fully ready. She grew up on the Strip, sneaking into shows and befriending the bouncers. She was always around, fending for herself, but had that it factor of stardom and personality.
And then in Philly, there's Billy and his brother, Graham. They start a band—the Dunne Brothers—and recruit some friends. As they get more and more serious about their art, the brothers try not to turn into their deadbeat dad. When it looks like their big shot might be in L.A., Billy's girlfriend Camila tags along, they poach the reluctant effortlessly-cool keyboarder Karen from another band passing through town, and they hit the road.
In L.A., we meet tour manager Rod, the record guy Teddy (who "makes" stars), get more of a feel for the pessimistic/jealous side of Eddie, chill Warren (just happy to be on his houseboat), and see the compassionate Simone, Daisy's friend who bails her out—and definitely experiences some of the darkness of the music industry.
Teddy decides to shove together Daisy and Billy, and the rest is history. They do not get along, or maybe get along a little too well, in a way that threatens the security and trajectory of the biggest band of the 70's.
It's a full cast, but not an overwhelming one. Each interview feels well-paced, and they bounce between perspectives in ways that gives a holistic perspective to each event and pays tribute to the complex, big personalities involved in the band and its success.
Characters & Casting
- Riley Keough as Daisy—not sure I could imagine someone doing a better job.
- Sam Claflin as Billy—damn. He absolutely crushed this role. He looked aged to perfection for it, and I connected his styling with a line in the book that says as much.
- I want to be Suki Waterhouse (Karen) so badly. I am unfortunately 100% straight, but I also might be in love with her? Her vibe is so cool and effortless in the show.
- I don't normally have strong opinions on casting but really liked it!
Vibes, Vibes, Vibes—but I Was Expecting to Like the Songs More.
Fundamentally, I was watching Daisy Jones & the Six for the mellow thrill of '60s and '70s Los Angeles. I wanted that sunny, desperate, atmospheric love letter to a place and time, and it absolutely delivered. I wanted every outfit from this show. The coats! The furs! The cutoffs and the boots! I aspire to dress like and embody this aesthetic exactly.
I loved the vibe!! These smoky, chaotic backstages with musicians and drugs. (By the way, the show deals very heavily with substances—it's part of the plot so not excessive, but I'd definitely be aware of its prevalence if you're struggling with sobriety). The faded diner moments when they counted out their paying-their-dues rent cash. The lazy midcentury backhouse they all crammed in together—and how they decked out the spot for weddings and parties. It all felt cozy but larger-than-life. Warm, but explosive when it needed to be.
I loved the hunger of the music scene and how passionate everyone was about the various elements of making a band big — the glamour, the drawbacks, the various egos they stroked and images they cultivated. They radiated joy in the pursuit which is what I need from a depiction of passionate, ambitious characters, no matter their flaws. That flow-state desire.
Overall, I think Daisy Jones & the Six did such a phenomenal job displaying a balanced portrait. The visuals, music, and artistic/creative choices were absolutely divine and so delicious.
My one flaw, show-wise, is that I did lose interest in the pacing at times, which is why I felt like it could have been better compressed. That being said, I understood why the show lost some of that tension from the book.
The Conflict Was More Subtle in the TV Show, So It Got a Little More Lost.
Although the conflict was more subdued in the book itself and there were less built-in conflict moments (like Billy and Daisy kissing), I think the tension and overall narrative arc was clearer in the book itself because you could tell whose worldviews were going to explode in proximity to each other. I had a newfound appreciation for how the TV show executed these interpersonal conflicts after reading the book, because I could see which aspects would be tricky to adapt.
I'm not sure how patient I would have been re: chronology and lag if I hadn't been watching it all in a row on the plane, but genuinely looked forward to clicking "next" on each episode. The emotions were big, and the aesthetics were bigger—which is my kind of show. Again, the tension is all social and existential and relational, so you do have to have an appreciation for character-driven rather than plot-driven narratives—although the pitfalls of fame are always invigorating to explore.
Random Other Observations from the Show
- Sam Claflin played Billy at his lowest—at his darkest, most rock-bottom substance-wise—so beautifully. And his depiction of recovery was so fascinating and multifaceted.
- I wrote about this in my book review, but the beauty of this story is that nobody is wrong in their interpretation of events, or in how those interpretations color the separate identity of the resulting art. They're just...different, or self-absorbed.
- The show did an amazing job packing a whole lot of passing moments/observations into the adaptation, which I didn't realize until I read the book. The sheer number of references is truly impressive.
- I love Camila's stubbornness and resonate with it a whole lot. She is a lover, as am I.
- I need Daisy's outfit from the finale. And from everything else.
- They are all drunk and/or high all the time. Very Hemingway.
- The show did a gorgeous job depicting Daisy's struggle, which is that people love the aesthetic of her—her vibe, her strength, her impulsiveness—until they get close to her, and then they decide she's too much or too intense. She's talented, and they all want her or want to be here—but they don't care about her. (With the exception of Simone.) In the book, she has such a beautiful conversation about this with Camila. She makes an incredible star, but is a lot for reality, so she comes down to Earth hard, frequently.
- There were so many incredible lines and musings in the book that I wish would have made it to the show. But I had a great time watching the show and an even better time reading the book.
- I loved seeing the ways Daisy & Billy were similar and it reminds me a lot of a book I just read on mimetic desire—in that we actually struggle more with conflict with those similar to us, because we're made uncomfortable by the fact that they serve as mirrors to our own bad behavior and flaws.
- I loved the ending!!!
- God, I love watching people be talented.
My Verdict
I loved my order, which was getting the primer and introduction to the story via the show, and then deepening the background of each character and storyline via the book.
Upon finally reading the book, I also appreciated the choices that the show made in making certain tensions visible. Overall, well done.
