Look at us now… the fictional band that reached the top of the charts. Graphic by: Liz Fusco | News Editor
Welcome to track two of the “Daisy Jones and the Six review” — You made it!
Once again, if you haven’t watched the Amazon Prime series or read the book and you plan to do so without spoilers, you’re gonna want to skip this article and come back later.
As I said in last week’s article, according to Taylor Jenkins Reid, author of “Daisy Jones and the Six,” adapting a book into a TV show or movie is not about whether or not changes will be made, but rather, if the changes that are bound to be made reflect well against the overall feelings and world created by the book.
In this interview, Reid said that this ideal held true for her — and that when watching the “Daisy Jones and the Six” TV show, she felt the exact feelings that she felt while writing the book, even if every detail wasn’t the same.
This statement by Reid is very important to me and how I perceived the show. But as a super fan of all things Daisy Jones, how did the statement hold up among fans?
The main change I felt took place in the show was Billy and Daisy’s relationship. Their feelings for each other and the development of their love-hate relationship are the same, but the execution was very different.
For example, Billy and Daisy do not kiss in the book and they kiss quite a few times in the show.
In the book, we are constantly getting a look at exactly what was going through Daisy and Billy’s heads, even if it wasn’t reflected in their actions at the time because we are being told the story from an outside perspective 40 years later. However, in the show, I feel as though we are mostly looking at the events while they are happening in the 1970s. Therefore, while Daisy and Billy didn’t need to kiss in the book to understand the tension between them, I think the addition of this in the show was very necessary for viewers to understand this tension.
Another change is at the end of the final episode Billy states that he went to rehab again after the band broke up. This did not happen in the book — rather, Billy takes a sip of alcohol at the bar after the Chicago show but is stopped by a stranger when he asks to see a photo of Billy’s daughters and Billy ultimately remembers why he doesn’t drink: so that he can be a good father.
I believe that the decision to make Billy go to rehab again highlights the idea that his addiction is symbolic of Daisy and his sobriety is symbolic of Camilla.
But let’s not forget, the whole show isn’t just about Billy and Daisy! One of the changes made that I was incredibly happy with was Karen and Graham’s relationship.
Just as heartbreaking as it was in the book when Karen leaves Graham after the Chicago show, we see in the show that it is not because she can “never love him as he loves her,” as he says in the book, but rather because even though she admits to loving him in the show she knows that she won’t make him happy.
Also, their relationship is not kept a secret from their bandmates like it is in the book, and I cannot even express to you how happy this made me.
Not to mention, Eddie and Camila’s relationship. In the book, it is hinted that Camila is also unfaithful to Billy when she “gets lunch” with her first boyfriend from high school, Greg.
In the show, however, this “first love” is Eddie.
I actually loved Eddie, which is shocking because I found him absolutely insufferable with no redeeming qualities in the book, so I was happy that some changes were made to his character and to make him more likable. Don’t get me wrong — he still had flaws, but not enough to make me despise him.
The final change I think added to the story is that the interviews conducted by Billy’s daughter, Julia, took place in 1997, rather than in 2012.
Sure, we could say that this is because the makeup artists couldn’t make Riley Keough look 70, but I like to believe that this change is a nod toward Fleetwood Mac.
Fleetwood Mac’s iconic performance of their song “Silver Springs,” which was a song written by Stevie Nicks about Lindsey Buckingham, took place in 1997.
At the end of the show, it is confirmed to us that Billy contacts and visits Daisy after Camila’s death, per her request for them to “write her a song.” I’d like to believe this is a hint at a Daisy Jones and the Six reunion show like the one Fleetwood Mac had.
Unfortunately, not all of the changes made to the story were as good as these.
In the book, Chuck is drafted into the Vietnam War during the Dunne Brothers’ days and dies in combat. In the show, he becomes a dentist. I think this is stupid. There’s no reason they couldn’t have had Chuck go to war. Nothing happens with him later in the show that would be affected by him being drafted, and so I think this is something they should have kept in the show, especially because Chuck’s death is such a point of character development for Billy.
Similarly, Pete, the bassist of The Six in the book, doesn’t exist in the show. Pete didn’t contribute anything to the drama and didn’t do much talking in the book, but for nothing else, the band is called “Daisy Jones and the Six,” implying there are seven members of the band, and in the show, there are only six. And no, Camila does not count.
One thing I desperately wished they had kept in the TV show was the hotel scene between Daisy and Camila. I realize that Julia wouldn’t have had the realization that she remembered Daisy as she did in the book, but the hotel scene was so influential for everything Daisy was able to do after the band and so moving that I wish it was kept in.
Despite the changes, I think that the TV adaptation of “Daisy Jones and the Six” is a masterpiece. Maybe I’m biased because I am in love with absolutely everything about this story, but I agree with Taylor Jenkins Reid. The magic I felt every time I read the book was certainly felt again when I watched the show.