Sex, drugs, and rock and roll, a combination as alluring to fictional characters as it is to their real life counterparts. The music industry, no matter the era seems to invite all sorts of foolishness and some people fall prey to its whims and changes. One such (fictional) band is chronicled in Daisy Jones & The Six, the new show premiering on Amazon tomorrow. Adapted from the best selling book, the show tells the story of the eponymous band who rose to meteoric heights before disbanding after playing a sold out show in Chicago. The show uses documentary style interviews in the present day from the band members to shed light on how the group came to be and what happened.
The ultimate question you need to ask yourself before watching Daisy Jones & The Six is: Do you want to watch a 10 episode Behind the Music style show of a band you don’t know or have any familiarity with? If you aren’t at least a little bit in the yes camp you will likely struggle with this show as the framing device of the present day talking heads grates on the nerves. Nevermind the fact that the actors who play Daisy and Billy don’t look nearly different enough in the time periods, but the constant interruptions of the drama playing out undercuts many of the narrative’s strong moments.
The crux of the issue is that there’s not much there there in Daisy Jones & The Six. We hit many major requisite moments and beats for a story about a band in the 70s but it never quite feels like there’s much to say or glean from it.
Take for instance, the “love” between Daisy and Billy. On one side you’ve got Billy, front man of this band who nearly blew up his entire life in a single episode before getting his act together thanks to a kick in the ass from his wife (the shining star of the series Camila Morrone). Meanwhile in Los Angeles, Daisy Jones has been given all of the advantages but missed one major ingredient to a good life, love. From a messy mom who withholds love to an ex-boyfriend who steals a song, Daisy is propelled into music via a righteous need to belong and make an impact.
The two are brought together and instantly we as the audience are supposed to see these as two broken souls who are destined to have this great love except…they don’t. Daisy treats him terribly and Billy responds in kind, and I for one never bought the dramatic pull they were supposed to have outside of knowing that I was supposed to buy it. Sam Claflin and Riley Keough are both very good in their roles, but even their performances could not get me to believe that these two would move past their animosity in writing songs, let alone fall in love.
There is juicy drama to be had here, but it felt as if the show had only scratched the surface of what was available, a near travesty considering this show is 10 episodes long. One minute you’re watching a band form and the next one of the members has suddenly has a massive drinking problem that hadn’t even been hinted at in the episode prior. There’s some severe whiplash as the story moves through its paces and mixes in the interview footage.
Speaking of moving through, it’s unfortunate that two characters who give the story some much needed groundedness are the two whose stories never jump off. To say Teddy Price and Simone Jackson, played well by Tom Wright and Nabiyah Be, get the short end of the stick might be an insult to short ends of sticks. What we were given are the scraps of Black friends and mentors past. Simone’s character in particular reeks of the worst Black friend tropes. It’s almost a crime punishable by jail time to have the character leave for four episodes and then only return when Daisy needs her. Despite us seeing her life (again late in the series) she doesn’t much register other than being there to propel Daisy forward.
The only storyline that manages to maintain power throughout the whole show is the relationship between Billy and Camila, thanks in large part to the very good performance of the aforementioned Morrone. It’s quite funny that admits all the foolery, the central tenet of family and fidelity is what kept me intrigued the most. Claflin and Morrone are both very good in their scenes together and I found myself wanting to see how they would react to every test.
Daisy Jones & The Six by and large just manages to toe the line of what is expected from a story like this. Even the music doesn’t manage to elevate beyond what you think you should be hearing (of the band’s recorded songs, only like 2 have real staying power). It’s unfortunate because the world the characters inhabit felt so big and interesting, but in the focus on the basic drama, the show misses big opportunities.