Book to screen adaptations are usually a hit or miss, and concerning Daisy Jones & The Six, written by Taylor Jenkins Reid, the internet is particularly anxious about loyalty to the source material.
Starring Riley Keough as Daisy Jones and Sam Claflin as Billy Dunne, the show tells the story of a 70s band teaming up with Daisy to create one of the biggest albums in rock and roll history. Though the show strays further and further from the source material as it continues on, it seems to work for the most part.
One of the great things the show does is spend time developing the characters’ relationships with each other. In episode five, Camila describes the band as her family, and it feels real – potentially even more so than it was in the book. There’s plenty of time to not only dive into the dynamics, but to dive into those generally overlooked on page. Pairings such as Warren and Eddie or Billy and Karen are at the very least presented to the audience and demonstrates that the characters are all earnestly caring about each other.
In the first three episodes, Daisy Jones’s biggest problem is the pacing. The speed at which the characters speak, and which the scenes change, are almost distractingly bad. There’s absolutely no time to linger on any emotions as all beats seem to be cut out – no doubt due to an attempt to info-dump as fast as they can. However, in episodes later on, this problem disappears entirely – once the show stops trying to build the dynamics and already has them in place, everything flows better. This happens, more or less, around when the characters release “Look At Us Now (Honeycomb)”.
One overall complaint, though, is the odd emphasis on romance the show seems to be pushing. Billy and Daisy not only become more explicitly romantic (even including an extremely out-of-character kiss), but Eddie and Camila are now also romantically intertwined. It’s certainly in an attempt to draw in more of an audience, but the characters lose their loyalty to their original forms. In the book, Eddie and Billy dislike each other due to musical differences, and the idea that it’s all because of Camila strips both of them of important character traits, as well as reducing Camila to an object to be won.
If you’re looking for a loyal book-to-TV adaptation, Daisy Jones is certainly not that show; however, it’s hard to say that it’s entirely unlikable. It seems that the negativity comes from the complaints of book fans who wished for something more. In a perfect world, the Daisy Jones & The Six book and show are entirely removed from each other; enjoyable from two different perspectives. However, it seems as though the fan base may always be divided into show and book fans.