‘Daisy Jones & The Six’ Review: Rock, Regret And Rage
While the show is not a 100% accurate retelling of the book, it has the major beats down, and amplifies voices and characters that felt like understudies in the book.
(Sebastian Chacon, Suki Waterhouse, Riley Keough, Sam Claflin, Camila Morrone and Josh Whitehouse | Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic via Getty Images)
Cocaine, cigarette smoke and vinyl, the quintessential smells of the 70s. This is all compounded in the modern-day retelling of the story of Icarus known as “Daisy Jones & The Six.”
This story, just like its characters, is about a starlit harmony of colors and sound as the members of the band create their magnum opus of an album known as “Aurora.” But these northern lights give way to the seedy lights of big cities, temptation and abuse.
Our story begins as we see the origins of how Daisy gets her start in music as it is an escape from her difficult childhood and neglectful parents and past lovers who saw her as a disposable muse. Luckily, as an LA native being accessible to music venues, she reinvents herself, and journeys through a wonderland of rock music that inspired her to find her voice. Meanwhile co-lead singer and guitarist Billy Dunne gets thrust into a band due to his little brother Graham who wants to impress girls. Unbeknownst to them, these paths and choices snowball into a fiery passion that thrusts both of these people into a crossroads and then a collision course to fame and fortune in the heart of the Sunset Strip.
Based on Taylor Jenkins Reid’s novel of the same name, we follow these musicians in the city of fallen angels as they make their mark on music history before burning out quicker than a double sided candle, but burning brighter than any other band since. Daisy Jones is a character with infectious tenacity and a voracious appetite for her passions to mean something while Billy Dunne expresses his love and loss in a way that can seem like he is pulling his punches. Both of these characters are twin souls that bring out both the best and soon the worst of each other. This drama, which is the crux of the show, is extremely compelling and melodic.
While the show is not a 100% accurate retelling of the book, it has the major beats down, and amplifies voices and characters that felt like understudies in the book such as Simone and Teddy Price. I adored the changes done to Teddy Price, changing him from a posh British person to a more suave and smooth Black producer in the style of Quincy Jones and Barry Gordy. Simone, played by Nabiyah Be, was also expanded upon and given more depth as not only just being Daisy’s friend, but her own character and having relationships that were not in the source material, reflecting the ever changing social scape of the 1970s.
New episodes of “Daisy Jones & The Six” will be released every Friday through March 24.