EDITORIAL

Youthful, heartbreaking, and hopeful, Daisy Jones & the Six was a rollercoaster of a show. Adapted from the #1 National Bestselling novel by Taylor Jenkins Reid, Daisy Jones & the Six follows characters who were engulfed in the rock-and-roll lifestyle, reflecting on their memories from “The Six,” a rock band. The story is written in an interview format and takes place many years after the band’s prime. It documents every mistake a young rockstar could make, highlighting the fun, serious, and ugly moments alike. The story also touches on the possibilities of living another, more simple life–giving up on one’s dreams for “reality:” college, marriage, a family. 

The show follows The Six: Billy Dunne (lead singer and guitarist), his brother Graham (guitarist), Karen (keyboardist), Eddie Roundtree (bassist), Warren (drummer), and of course, Daisy Jones (lead female singer). 

The central conflict of the story centers around Billy and Daisy, two talented musicians who battle over their vision for the songs. The two are wildly different, yet similar. Billy is a recovering alcoholic, as well as a married man with a kid, acting as the classic middle-aged man yearning to move on from his adolescent mistakes and change for the betterment of his wife and family. On the other hand, Daisy is a lonely, deeply unsatisfied girl who relentlessly forges her own path and pushes the buttons of those around her. Contrasting her name, which represents purity and innocence, Daisy serves as a temptation to Billy, representing all the freedoms Billy believes he truly yearns for. What if Billy didn’t have to be confined to a lifetime of putting on diapers and singing boring love songs about his wife? What would life be like if he didn’t have to keep fighting to be the man his family wanted him to be? What if he could just accept himself for who he is and hurl himself into the pleasure of naïve youth? Daisy symbolizes the carefree life Billy led before realizing the consequences of his actions. 

The thing that sets this rock-and-roll story apart from others is that the voice of reason and logic, and what one should do is the same voice as doing what one’s heart desires. The sixth member of The Six is not a rockstar; it is Billy’s wife, Camila. In the show, Camila leaves her family and follows the band around the country, symbolizing the stereotypical lovesick girl who follows the boy as he pursues his dreams. However, Camila doesn’t just have Billy’s child and wait around the whole season. Unlike the book, in the show, Camila leaves the comfort of her home to develop her own career as a photographer. Despite being Billy’s wife, she sometimes prioritizes the band’s success over her own feelings. This is shown when Camila encourages Billy to keep making music and brings him and Daisy together, despite the dangers they invite to the couple’s relationship. 

Daisy Jones & the Six is a story about creating a new life in the ‘70s, whether that be by taking a chance on a career in the arts, settling down with a family, or both. It’s a story about opportunities being seized or left for chance, loss, forgiveness, and life continuing through it all. 

*** Spoiler ending

So, in the end, Billy does the unexpected from a typical young adult story: he denies his heart’s wishes and leaves Daisy and the band behind, fully submitting himself to his domestic duties. To quote Billy Dunne from the novel Daisy Jones & the Six, “Passion is…it’s fire. And fire is great, man. But we’re made of water. Water is how we keep living. Water is what we need to survive. My family was my water. I picked water. I’ll pick water every time. And I wanted Daisy to find her water. Because I couldn’t be it.”