At the time of writing the show has yet to air the final four episodes
When I hear the words “book to screen adaptation” a shiver runs down my spine. I’ve been burned one too many times with adaptations, and when news came that hit book Daisy Jones & The Six was becoming a miniseries, I got nervous. The book became a personal favourite of mine, so how would I feel about the show? I tried to talk myself down and nurse the wound before it even opened: it will not be as good as the book, so just watch it and have fun! I was still disappointed.
The story is about the rise to fame for the fictional musical group, Daisy Jones & The Six, told through mockumentary interviews, with flashbacks to show the viewers what really happened. Both Daisy and The Six start out as separate entities until a popular producer comes along and puts them together like missing puzzle pieces to create a groovy ?70s rock & roll band. Viewers see Daisy go from party girl to lead singer, and The Six’s formation before they even make it to L.A. The story is full of soulful music, addictions, and the complications of love/sex in a time when all those things were glamorized for the rockstar lifestyle. The end result (spoiler alert) is the break up of the band following one of the biggest performances of their careers.
Right from the beginning it is clear that the show’s creators have sanitized the grit that made the novel such a page turner. I believe that the subdued partying and wildness is meant to make the rockstar lifestyle we see once the band is bigger more of a problem, so it can be used as a way to show their slipping control when getting lost in the scene. This cleanup is most clear in the titular character Daisy Jones (played by Riley Keough). A role such as this could easily be whittled down to a party girl groupie, but Daisy Jones is a bonafide rockstar in her own right. The quote which has become a viral TikTok sound is her talking about who she is as a person with “I am not the muse. I’m the somebody.” Yet, the show depicts a Daisy that is a bit too bright and too clean. Book readers meet Daisy as essentially an “it girl” with underlying vulnerability, but the show puts this softness at the forefront, which personally I feel subtracts from the journey the viewer will go on with the character.
The first three episodes feel incredibly rushed, with creators clearly wanting to focus on the group at the height of their fame instead of the build up to it. While this does make sense, I once again feel as though this takes away from why the split was jarring, as seeing more of the formation made the drama even more wild and sad. Even episodes four through six seem to speed up much of the book’s events, and even alter how some things take place (Karen and Graham for example) to make the show flow more smoothly. Except, I would argue that this isn’t the case, and instead the show so far feels jam-packed with things that don’t serve the plot enough for the audience to care about. I could talk all day about the disappointment of book to screen adaptation, but speaking to the show in its own right Daisy Jones & The Six still feels as though something is off.
Elements I did enjoy were the music (with some lyrics written by talent like Phoebe Bridgers and Marcus Mumford), the directing, and the subtle changes in some characters. Camila and Eddie so far have been my favourites; while not underused in the books, the show gives them more agency. Camila (played by Camila Morrone) is the glue that holds her husband’s band together, and she shines as a standout performance. While Eddie, in the book, is just a straight-up hater of other protagonist Billy Dunne, the show fleshes out exactly why there is such disdain there; and Josh Whitehouse’s portrayal is hilarious. Another aspect I loved was how connected the female characters are. On paper we know these women are supposed to stand together and on screen the sisterhood breathes fire into the show.
All in all I will still watch the last few episodes because it isn’t a bad show — it’s just really, really mediocre. This could’ve been a hit if the creators took risks, but instead the show seems to be reaching for palatable. After watching you can catch me bemoaning along to the band’s lyrics, “We used to be somethin’ to see / Oh, baby, look at us now.”
Eva Davey is a UFV student majoring in English Literature and minoring in Media Communications. She is a fan of poetry, oat milk lattes, and the final girl trope. Currently, her worst enemy is the Good Reads app.
