Rating: 9/10
As a massive fan of the book, I was hopeful going into the show “Daisy Jones and The Six.”
I trusted Amazon Prime to deliver an accurate book adaptation after it pleasantly surprised with the production of “The Summer I Turned Pretty,” which was also a book adaptation by Amazon Prime.
The budget for “Daisy Jones and The Six” was immaculate, and the songs from the book coming to life were a dream come true. Listening to the whole “Aurora” album after falling in love with it on the page is a surreal experience.
I noticed slight differences from the book while watching the show, even though it’s been a few years since I read it. These creative liberties were not necessarily bad, but I did question the purpose behind some of the decisions.
The main difference from the book was that the show turned Daisy and Billy’s purely emotional connection into a more physical one. Readers were always led to believe that every member of the band was an unreliable narrator, so it wasn’t the biggest shock to see that Daisy and Billy had acted on their unspoken feelings.
I was not a huge Camila Dunne fan in the book, because I was admittedly more focused on the serotonin I got from Daisy and Billy’s dynamic. However, I was able to connect with her in the show the way I was never able to in the book.
She seemed more realistic than the doting wife I remembered. Camila was played by Camila Morrone, who delivered some of the most impressive acting performances out of anyone in the show.
Sam Claflin as Billy Dunne and Riley Keough as Daisy Jones were also showstoppers. You can tell how much they cared about their characters and wanted to do them justice.
I was worried about how the show would handle Billy’s rehab storyline, but when it showed Billy breaking down in Teddy’s car, I could feel Billy’s guilt. Claflin’s performance truly captured the weight of Billy’s remorse in that moment.
I also enjoyed Karen and Graham’s storyline, but I was annoyed by how the show decided to unite the two. In the book, Karen tells Graham that he has a shot with her, and he sprints to her hotel room, but in the show, another girl is collateral damage.
I didn’t see the purpose beyond a plot device for Karen’s jealousy, as it added unnecessary cheating and made Karen and Graham’s relationship feel shallow.
The final episode, which explains the band’s breakup, was one of my favorite episodes of television ever. The show decided to open with the band’s last performance, and then go back in time to chronologically tell the audience why it fell apart. It was incredibly well done.
There were hurt feelings and egos everywhere; the only member who survived unscathed was the effortlessly cool drummer, Warren Rojas. He had to deal with the fallout of the band breaking up because his bandmates couldn’t be professional, but at least he got to marry a movie star.
All in all, this was one of the best book adaptations I’ve ever seen. The writing, the acting and the set design all fell perfectly into place.
If only it had found a way to include the line “And baby, when you think of me, I hope it ruins rock ‘n roll.”
Rev Rank: Is ‘Daisy Jones and The Six’ better than the book or does Amazon make a good thing bad?
By Molly Terrell | @keenryanti
March 28, 2023
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