Daisy Jones & The Six (Miniseries) Episodes 1, 2 & 3: Nostalgia is a powerful weapon. American author Taylor Jenkins Reid was aware of that when her fifth novel, The Seven Husbands Of Evelyn Hugo, became a bestseller years ago. In the story, a fictional Old Hollywood star at age 79 gives a final interview while recalling memories hidden for decades. Jenkin’s next venture followed a similar path. Using a documentary structure, the novel Daisy Jones & The Six traces the eponymous band’s trajectory through the memory of their members. That creative choice aimed to make the experience as authentic as possible to the reader, considering the musicians were fictional, and their songs could not go further than the lyrics.
However, in 2019, Reese Witherspoon and her production company Hello Sunshine decided to adapt Taylor’s work into a series. Since it became available on Amazon Prime four years later, the musical experience gained a new outlook with the touch of actors such as Riley Keough and Sam Claflin, who had undergone extensive vocal training to record Aurora, an album mentioned in the book. Besides that, the production embodies the seventies atmosphere throughout all the episodes, from the costume design to the cinematography in earth tones, evoking a time of open-air music festivals, freedom, and excess. It is not by chance that the audience feels as melancholic as the characters, but while they relive an old passion, we can only dream of one that never came.
Daisy Jones & The Six Episodes 1, 2 & 3 Recap:
Episode 1 – Come and Get It
In the opening shot, Daisy Jones & The Six get ready to give interviews for a documentary. An inscription on the screen explains they peaked at the end of the 70s and split during their most successful tour. The reasons for that occurrence remained unknown until the present recording, which aims to discover what happened. Vocalist Daisy Jones begins the group’s retrospective by telling the journalist about her relationship with music. When she was a little girl in 1961, she discovered a vinyl collection in the house and started singing along with them, even though her parents always suppressed such actions. Hopefully, teenage Daisy was still interested in that world seven years later. Entering the Whisky A Go-Go, a well-known nightclub in Los Angeles, for the first time mesmerized her perception forever, so from that moment on, she would either live for rock and roll or die trying.Â
Frontman Billy Dunne went through a similar experience on the opposite side of the country. According to him, there were two options for kids in Pittsburgh: the mill or the war, though he never identified with any of them. What Billy did not expect, however, was receiving a wake-up call after assisting his young brother. In order to help him get through a breakup, Billy suggested Graham played some music, so he invited some friends and formed a garage band. At first, the older sibling was always making pointers, but by the third day of practice, he officially joined the guys, stealing any attention they could ever receive.Â
Meanwhile, Jones was at the edge of fifteen. Wandering from one nightclub to another, her life boiled down to attending concerts and sneaking backstage whenever she had a chance. Unfortunately, one night that dynamic resulted in a traumatic event. After making eye contact with a vocalist on stage, Daisy went to his hotel room expecting a private party. As the space was actually empty, the man closed the door behind them without saying a word, implying he planned to coerce her into a sexual act. To get rid of the ensuing impotence, Jones turned to several drugs, and yet she was out of control most of the time; her creativity peaked to the point of filling an entire journal with lyrics. Â
During the same period, in 1970, the boys were doing proms, birthdays, and graduation parties with the so-called Dunne Brothers band. During one of these occasions, it was Billy’s turn to undergo a transformation. While singing on stage, he sought his father, who had abandoned the family, dancing with a young woman. The vocalist left the stage immediately, though after discussing the situation with his partners, he decided to go back and confront him. The ensuing argument ended with the older Dunne smashing his acoustic guitar before the old man, whereas Graham punched him in the face. As the group was the only thing left, Billy reaffirmed his bond with them by underlining they would stick together to be the best in the world.Â
At that point, the frontman met his future girlfriend, the Argentinian Camila Alvarez, in a laundry. A leap in time indicates their lives intertwined as fast as the band started to take off because rehearsals became frequent, and she loved to record their every move with an amateur camera. At the moment their relationship became serious, a known dilemma came to the surface. Although playing live was great entertainment, the money from the gigs was not enough to pay the bills nor guarantee its members a stable path in the future. With this in mind, their bassist left the group to get into college, so Graham took over his place as they reached the next level by opening for a local group.Â
Young Daisy was still insecure about her abilities as an artist. Hopefully, Simone Jackson, then backing vocal for singer Penny Richardson, was in the right place at the right time to change such perspective. Since they first met at a party, both shared a sense of injustice towards each other’s position in the entertainment world, and that encouraged them to pursue their goals over the years. From one side, Jones was a fan of Simone’s work and thought she deserved better than to be in the shadow of demanding musicians. From the other, Jackson had seen the girl on the streets but believed her love for music could lead her to the stage where she truly belonged.Â
In the meantime, the boys were one step ahead in their ambition. On their debut as an opening act, they met keyboardist Karen Sirko and Rod Reyes, a tour manager who gave them some advice, such as witting their material and moving to California. While they all got excited about the idea, Billy was the only one torn between having a traditional family and being a rockstar. As he chose the second, it was up to Camila to leave her family to follow him on the road. In the City Of Angels, Jones discovered that her then-boyfriend hit the charts with one of her songs. Instead of intimidating her, the occurrence proved Daisy could be a performer. Hence, to push herself into it, Daisy walked into a bar and played an original composition on the piano.
Episode 2 – I’ll take you there
As soon as the Dunne Brothers arrived in Los Angeles, Rod Reyes booked one gig for them at Filthy Nasty, a small bar on Sunset Strip. Thrilled with the opportunity, Graham came up with the idea of inviting Karen Sirko to join the group, so they all moved to a cheap house in Laurel Canyon. However, what was supposed to be a one-night concert lasted nine months. In the hope that someone would approach them, they performed for free, but the visibility was still restricted to local customers. Finally, the members concluded they needed a new start, so the group was renamed The Six in order to merge simplicity and style.Â
Not that far away, Daisy Jones was then living with Simone Jackson and performing acoustic songs at one of the hottest nightclubs in town, the Troubadour. One night, the experienced singer introduced her to Teddy Price, a producer who was struggling to find subsequent success for his record label. Even though he seemed interested in helping, he committed the mistake of saying Jones needed to be shaped. Rather than feeling flattered, as most would have done, she took that as an offense to her creative freedom and declined the offer, walking away without further arguing. Â
Ironically, the Dunn brothers bumped into Price at a grocery store, and Billy begged him for an audition. The group then impressed the label man with a ballad, so he put them on trial for months. When they got a record deal, there were other things to be worried about. Camila got pregnant with Billy and married shortly before the band hit the road. Sadly, the vocalist’s experience on their first tour was marked by alcohol, drugs, and adultery due to his insecurity about becoming a father.
Once Alvarez figured out what was going on, Dunne’s miserable state worsened to the point of affecting his performance on stage. The damage, however, only became apparent on the night his daughter was born. As he felt incapable of seeing her in that state, he decided to leave the wildness behind and go to rehab. On another spectrum, there was still hope for Daisy. Dissatisfied with her rejection the other day, Price asked her to reconsider his last proposal. In the end, the producer’s insistence made her feel valued and inspired to write more. The moment Jones found the perfect song, she recorded it in a home session with Simone and left it at Teddy’s house.Â
Episode 3 – Someone Saved My Life Tonight
In 1974, the world was upside down. After Billy’s incident, the label fired The Six members, canceling their upcoming tour. When their vocalist returned a few months later, he decided it was time to prioritize the family, which implied quitting the group. On the other hand, the others were still interested in keeping the dream alive and picking up the music’s trajectory where it had left off. In the following weeks, they struggled to find a replacement for Billy until bassist Eddie Roundtree decided to take his place.Â
At that time, Daisy Jones had gotten positive feedback from Price about her demo. She started to work on other compositions to put an album together, whereas Simone Jackson was engaging with another producer to record her solo work. Back to the band, Billy suggested to Camila moving back to Pittsburgh, so they could be closer to their respective families and start a quiet routine together. In response, his wife refused to give up on the life she had built in Los Angeles. So in the following months, they find a way to reconnect with one another and their old friends beyond learning how to be the best parents to their baby Julia.Â
Daisy Jones & The Six Episode 3 Ending, Explained:
Inspired by this phase, Dunne wrote a new song and presented it to the boys and Teddy. Although he agreed to give them another shot, the record label no longer saw potential in The Six since they had wasted an opportunity before. Without telling them about that, the producer booked a studio and invited Daisy, who was having trouble finishing her songs, to refresh Billy’s vocals. At first, the recording session sounded like a nightmare.
While the frontman disagreed with the girl’s changes in his lyrics, Jones was more interested in pushing the boundaries and being true to what she considered to be the song’s real meaning. It was up to Price to make them go along by revealing to Billy the actual circumstances and what he had done for the band. When they finally agreed to try and record Honeycomb, it proved revealing. They could make a good thing bad, but the stars only shine for those who could make it extraordinary.
