Daisy Jones & The Six goes out with a bang
I loved Taylor Jenkins Reid‘s book, Daisy Jones & The Six, so I was very excited about the series adaptation. While it got off to a shaky start, I ended up loving it and I’m kinda sad it’s all over.
This 10-episode series tells the story of a fictional ’70s band. The group, inspired by Fleetwood Mac, is fronted by both Daisy Jones (Riley Keough) and Billy Dunne (Sam Claflin) and then there’s Billy’s brother Graham (Will Harrison) on lead guitar, Eddie Roundtree (Josh Whitehouse) on bass, Karen Sirko (Suki Waterhouse) on keys and Warren Rojas (Sebastian Chacon) on drums. The band becomes incredibly successful and famous thanks to their debut album Aurora – which would end up being their last.
When the first three episodes dropped at the start of the month, I wasn’t totally convinced. While the mockumentary moments were loyal to the book, they didn’t add much and weren’t totally necessary. It didn’t feel anything special and that’s probably because Daisy hadn’t joined the band yet.
But everything changes for the better from episode four onwards. Daisy’s addition to the band makes all the difference and I could watch them performing or recording songs in the studio all day. It was incredible seeing the songs, which are written in the book, being brought to life and Keough and Claflin sounded amazing together.
Although it hits a lot of familiar beats (addiction, infidelity, in-fighting), the story gets more and more dramatic and exciting as it progresses. The mockumentary moments get more relevant and even moving, at the very end. It’s always gripping watching a successful band sabotaging their dream, plus I had read the book a few years ago so I couldn’t really remember how it all went down.
I wasn’t completely sold on Claflin as Billy at first. I read a tweet saying he seemed simultaneously too young and too old for the character and I agree with that so much. But he really comes into his own in the final episode and his performance is heartbreaking. The final look he gives Daisy is etched on my mind.
Keough is perfectly cast as Daisy – she has the star quality, the captivating presence and the magnetic energy that a star should have. But she also channels Daisy’s deep sadness and self-destructive streak. I loved her friendship with disco singer Simone Jackson, played by Nabiyah Be, who also gives a moving performance.
But, the star of the show and the biggest surprise for me was Camila Morrone as Billy’s incredibly understanding and forgiving wife Camila. I know she isn’t perfect herself but she should have walked out years ago. I had never act seen Morrone act before and only knew her for dating Leo DiCaprio so she was a revelation. Her performance in the finale really packs an emotional punch.
I also want to give a shout-out to Warren for being the coolest character and the one removed from the drama. He’s living his best life, dating movie stars and taking drugs. His contributions to the mockumentary cracked me up.
The show does take a while to get going and I was never convinced by Whitehouse as Eddie, but the show is a really solid adaptation of the book and the finale delivered exactly what I wanted.
All episodes streaming now on Prime Video