The fictional ’70s band come to life
This article contains spoilers for the book and TV adaptation Daisy Jones & the Six.
Daisy Jones & the Six: an electric band from the ‘70s bent on fulfilling their potential as one of the most iconic bands of all time, until addiction, love, and jealousy tear them apart.
Taylor Jenkins Reid’s novel — known to be based on the real-life band Fleetwood Mac — was adapted into a TV show by Reese Witherspoon’s production company, Hello Sunshine. Riley Keough, the granddaughter of rock n’ roll superstar Elvis Presley, and Sam Claflin, known for his roles in other adaptations such as The Hunger Games and Me Before You, tackle the characters of Daisy Jones and Billy Dunne.
The first episodes have been released, and there’s a lot to talk about.
So far, there have been a lot of positive aspects to the adaptation. A whole album has been released to accompany the show (“Regret Me” and “The River” are two of my favourites!) and there are even rumours of a possible tour surrounding the show. The cast is brilliant, with already notable performances from Sam Claflin and Camila Morrone (who plays Billy’s wife, Camila). One of the most captivating parts of the book is the struggle that Billy experiences when he begins to fall in love with Daisy, knowing that he is also in love with Camila and his family. This has been translated into the adaptation seamlessly already with Billy’s quiet and complacent love with Camila executed flawlessly by both Claflin and Morrone.
There are a few things that don’t exactly meet my expectations from the book. Using the interview format in the books made the novel unique and an incredibly easy read; however, the use of the interview format in the show doesn’t really aid the story. The interviews haven’t been used that much, and when they have, it’s hard to believe that the characters have aged twenty years when a lot of them look the same. Graham (Billy’s brother) looks at least ten years older than his brother in the interview despite being the younger of the two. Another aspect of the show that has been lacking compared to the book is Daisy’s character. I’m hoping that her character will come into her own, but in the first episodes released, Daisy feels more timid and shy compared to her eccentric, carefree book counterpart.
