How 1 Missing Daisy Jones & The Six Character Hurts The Show

Warning! SPOILERS about Daisy Jones & The Six episodes 4 to 6 and the Daisy Jones & The Six book ahead.Amazon’s Daisy Jones & The Six episodes 4 to 6 didn’t include one character central to the band’s creation, fundamentally changing how Daisy Jones & The Six formed compared to the novel. Billy’s initially appalling behavior toward Daisy was just as much present in the Amazon rock drama as in Taylor Jenkins Reid’s novel of the same name, but the book eventually had the two lead singers meaningfully connect before becoming all part of one band. Instead, the absence of an unpleasant character from the miniseries wholly modified how the band came to be, making their union much less spontaneous.

Like in Reid’s book, Billy needed to be pushed to include Daisy in the band in Daisy Jones & The Six episode 4. However, the circumstances that led to his decision were influenced more by Camila and the Six’s wishes than by external influences, like in the Daisy Jones & The Six book. Daisy Jones & The Six episodes 4 and 5 detailed Billy’s difficulties in working with Daisy, but they also candidly showed the obvious similarities between the two, especially considering their histories. Still, Billy’s realization that he needed to include Daisy didn’t come from connecting with her, but from the pragmatic perspective that Daisy made the Six better.

Related: Daisy Jones & The Six’s Simone Changes Are More Important Than You Think

Daisy’s Producer Boyfriend Made Her Debut Solo At First In The Book

Unlike Daisy Jones & The Six’s beautiful working relationship between Daisy and Teddy, Daisy’s rapport with her label was conflictual in Reid’s book. Indeed, Daisy only accepted Hank Allen’s offer to manage her because of his persistence and his being the “less smarmy,” which forced her to sing other people’s songs instead of focusing on writing her own. Hank Allen never existed as a character in Amazon’s Daisy Jones & The Six, as the show had Teddy better Daisy’s songwriting from the beginning. However, Allen’s terrible management of Daisy deeply impacted her career as a solo artist and her need to eventually rely on the Six’s help once Hank enacted his revenge.

Hank never listened to Daisy’s wishes as an artist, instead focusing on what the label wanted, and he effectively enabled Daisy’s substance abuse and used it to control her, making her rely on the drugs he gave her. In the book, Hank violently reacting to Daisy firing him and breaking up with him prompted Billy’s first genuine show of concern toward Daisy, letting Daisy finally see him for who he was. The absence of this genuine moment between Daisy and Billy made Daisy Jones & The Six’s creation in the show only a way for the band to be successful, rather than something inspired by a spontaneous connection.

Daisy Jones & The Six’s Creation Is Less Spontaneous In The Series

Besides Daisy Jones & The Six’s band changes, the Amazon miniseries also dramatically changed the way Daisy joined the band because it never had Allen nor Daisy’s solo career. Indeed, Daisy firing Hank prompted him to leave her without a band hours before one of her shows opening for the Six in the Numbers Tour. The Six filling in for Daisy’s band to help her out effectively led to the first proper Daisy Jones & The Six concert, which eventually brought to Rolling Stone’s Jonah Berg observing them on that tour and writing the incendiary article titled “The six that should be seven” that forced the creation of Daisy Jones & The Six in the book.

While Daisy Jones & The Six’s creation in the book could be described just as forced as the Amazon rock drama Daisy Jones & The Six one, the support Billy offered Daisy and how the Six jumped in to help her out provided some spontaneity to them becoming a band officially. Even if Berg’s article was the final push for the Six to accept their label’s requests to permanently include Daisy, there was still a genuine connection between them before working on Aurora. By pursuing the band’s creation only to be successful, Daisy Jones & The Six effectively eliminated the genuine and spontaneous connection between Daisy and the others.

More: Daisy Jones & The Six vs Fleetwood Mac: Inspiration & Differences