Fans of Taylor Jenkins Reid’s Daisy Jones & The Six have been awaiting the television show-version of the beloved book and were fortunately satisfied with Amazon’s adaptation. Sam Claflin, Camila Morrone, Suki Waterhouse, Will Harrison, Riley Keough, and Nabiyah Be were outstanding in their portrayals of members of The Six, Daisy Jones, and Simone Jackson.
For fans of the book, this show brought our favorite characters and their album straight from the pages to life on screen, allowing us to see some of the most exciting and heart-wrenching scenes through the incredible acting, costumes, and soundtrack. One of the most unique aspects of Daisy Jones was the music released alongside the episodes. We got the full Aurora album as well as songs that The Six, Daisy Jones, and Simone Jackson performed on music streaming services, which truly made it feel like the band and artists were real. There are also some exciting rumors that the Daisy Jones & The Six cast will go on tour together like an actual band!
Viewers who haven’t read the book can still follow along perfectly and get pulled into the drama and lives of this fictional band. The final episode was specifically framed in an alternating timeline to build suspense about what leads the band to fall apart after one last performance, and I was even questioning what the ending would be. I would recommend this limited series to anyone looking to binge watch a new show, even if they don’t know anything about the novel. But be prepared for a mix of love and hate and rock and roll.
Viewers applauded Keough and Claflin for their shared dramatic scenes and felt that Waterhouse and Harrison also stood out with their heartbreaking storyline. I didn’t feel that there was a single moment that the actors weren’t immersed in the ‘70s music scene, and the entire supporting cast was a part of making every scene feel as if we were truly watching a tell-all documentary about the story of Daisy Jones and The Six.
Because the series stretched across ten episodes, changes made to the novel expanded on characters and their storylines to both positive and negative degrees. Focusing on Simone Jackson and her relationship with Bernie and their lives in New York was a major change from the book, and I loved getting to see her journey to disco stardom. I thought the character Warren Rojas (Sebastian Chacon) stood out way more in the show and the addition of Eddie (Josh Whitehouse) being in love and having an unnamed affair with Camila made his character much more developed with actual motivation to hate Billy.
One of the most glaring and controversial changes was Daisy and Billy’s relationship; compared to the original, they had closer to a full affair behind Camila’s back. Their relationship in the book was more emotional and not physical, but the show portrayed them as much closer, especially in the last couple of episodes. The ending of the show mostly mimics the book, but with the interviews of band members set 20 years after their last show instead of 50 years. Because of this choice, the ending is more open-ended, and the earlier death of one character hits harder.
I agree with some viewers that the elimination of scenes between Daisy Jones and Camila Dunne was an unfortunate loss, but the show was still able to represent the theme of supportive female friendships that was so important in the novel. The positives greatly outweighed any negative changes I saw, and I look forward to re-watching the series and continuing to listen to Aurora on Spotify.
In related news, a movie based on Reid’s novel One True Loves was theatrically released on April 7th. Additionally, the author confirmed that her book Malibu Rising will be getting a television show, and both The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and Carrie Soto is Back will be transformed for the film screen, all produced under different production companies. Daisy Jones & the Six set a high standard for the Taylor Jenkins Reid universe of famous women, and we’ll see if any of the future adaptations reach the same scope of success.
