Bookwild - Why The Daisy Jones & The Six Adaptation Made All the Right Changes SPOILERS

Episode Date: April 20, 2023

This week, Kate does a solo episode WITH SPOILERS about The Daisy Jones & The Six TV adaptation.  She dives way into why she thinks the changes they made in the adaptation amplified the authentic spirit of the book. Get Bookwild MerchCheck Out My Stories Are My Religion SubstackCheck Out Author Social Media PackagesCheck out the Bookwild Community on PatreonCheck out the Imposter Hour Podcast with Liz and GregFollow @imbookwild on InstagramOther Co-hosts On Instagram:Gare Billings @gareindeedreadsSteph Lauer @books.in.badgerlandHalley Sutton @halleysutton25Brian Watson @readingwithbrian 

Hey guys, welcome to the Killing the Tea podcast. This is Gare and Kate. And we are going to be discussing all things, chills, thrills, and kills. Kate and I are going to be talking about our favorite books, TV shows, and movies that are in the thriller or crime fiction genre, as well as some reading habits and other items related to how we met on Bookstagram that will fit in with this podcast. So thank you so much for joining us. And we hope that you have fun and get totally terrified. So this week, I am going to do something a little bit different. Gare has had a really, really busy week at work.

So we baited taking the week off. And then I was like, you know what? I have never done a solo episode. I have always either interviewed someone or had a co-host. So I was like, why not give it a shot this week? It felt like good timing to do it this week. So when I was trying to think of what I could talk about forever for my first episode by myself, I, of course, was thinking of anything Taylor Jenkins read.

As you all know by now, I am quite the fan girl. And it was kind of the first thing that popped into my head as something that I could just keep talking and talking and talking about. So I am going to get into spoilers. So just a big forewarning about that up front. And mainly I'm going to be talking about what I loves about the book, what I love is about the TV. show and what the main differences were that I felt like were the most useful to the story. So I feel like a lot of us when we have a book that we really, really love that gets adapted. The fear is like, how much are they going to change it?

And I think that sometimes is different, whether they go a movie route or a TV show route. So with a movie, you only have so much time. and you're going to probably have to cut some stuff out. But when you have a TV show, you have the opportunity for the story to take kind of as long as you need it to, since it's a limited series. And I was worried about what they would change. And they ended up making quite a few changes. Like, I've looked through a couple different articles and like 20-ish plus changes. whether they were minor or major, and there are some that affected the storyline more,

but the ones that I want to talk about this week are the ones that I feel like were the best choices they could make if they needed to make changes to stay true to like the spirit and the essence of the story. So I ended up being honestly pretty surprised by how many of the, the changes, I felt like did that, where it felt like it didn't destroy the integrity of what the story was saying, and it didn't, like, change any characters so drastically that it didn't still feel like the same story. And it was just amazing, both the book and the TV show. The TV show, though, was so many things.

So, like, the costume design was so amazing for all of the characters. Riley Hio, just absolutely amazing as Daisy. And Sam Claflin really brought something to Billy that I think a lot of people people weren't expecting because kind of the whole time the series was airing. There were, of course, like, TikToks, like the next day every time after an episode would air. And I was seeing so many people talking about, like, I hated Billy in the book and, like, why am I starting to like him in the TV show? I don't think the other interesting thing to me about that was I don't feel like I ever hated him in the book.

And I feel like that's a big part of what I loved about the book in general is one of my favorite things that Taylor does as an author with kind of like her big four that is that are connected. So Evelyn Hugo, Daisy Jones, Carrie Soto, and Malibu Rising. All of them have extremely unique and flawed main characters. There's also an interesting theme of fame, like mega fame, and how you navigate that and how women have navigated it, have had to navigate it differently than men for a really long time.

But she really lets her characters be, have some like very distinct and acute flaws in a way that doesn't make you dislike them. And I feel like it's not even just her main characters. It's all the care. It's most of the characters. in the book. Everyone except Mick Riva in all of the books. That is the one character that I think we can all

agree if you've read all of them. We're not here from McRiva. Everyone else though and like especially since I'm talking about Daisy Jones in the 6th this on Talombo cast of people you really understand most of their

points of view. And I think that was what was so compelling and addictive about the book itself is that it's told so the other interesting thing about the book if you haven't read it which I don't think you'd be listening if you hadn't but it's told like a script from the documentary that's um or the book that's being written is what it is in the book um and so it's written like you're reading script. So it's like Billy and then it's what he has to say. And then Eddie and then it's what he has to say. Daisy, it's what she has to say. And it took me a little bit at the very beginning. I couldn't tell if I was

going to be able to get immersed in a story that was told that way. And somehow it's one of the most immersive stories I've read, which I think is like such a huge like credit to Taylor's writing ability that she could write a story that way and you still feel like you're totally invested in this story as the people tell it.

The other really cool part about structuring the story that way is when you find out and this is a major spoiler so stop listening if you want to go read it. when you find out that it is Billy and Camilla's daughter who's in the book, she's writing a book, and the TV show, she's making a documentary.

When you find that out, all of a sudden, everything that everyone has said is at least Billy and Daisy and maybe others, but at least the things that Billy and Daisy have said could be considered comprehensive. and maybe not entirely true because they're talking to Camilla's daughter, Billy and Camilla's daughter. And so it brings into question, were we hearing everything that actually happened? So they kind of like the plot device or point of view device of never being in any character's head, and only hearing about it in terms of, like, them recounting their experience for a book, it means that they could all be unreliable narrators because you're not having, like, a narrative experience in any of their heads.

Which brings me, actually, to one of the differences in the book. from, well, one of the general, it's a very general difference. It's not even just one difference. But something they did with the TV show is you were definitely hearing the confessions. They still have the confessional set up. However, then you do, like, merge into the scenes that, like, actually happened. and I remember, I can't remember who it was, but I remember seeing early on

when the first, I think, three episodes aired together. Someone pointed out how, because we were seeing those scenes, we were probably seeing what, quote, unquote, actually happened and not just hearing the biased documentary, or not documentary. Well, yeah, in the TV show would be the documentary. not just hearing what they were willing to say.

And so making that choice, which I can't imagine that you could have made, you wouldn't make Daisy Jones and the Six into a TV show and keep it in like a documentary narrative form. You want to see all of those things that were happening. Because even when you read the book, you are doing that. even though what you're reading is them explaining what happened, your brain is like going back to that time. You're not just imagining someone sitting and telling you the story the whole time. So I feel like they had to do that.

And it was so the right choice, but that also introduced is that idea that like maybe with this TV show we're getting a little more of what actually happened. which I would love to know how they made that decision about what to like say actually happened, but deciding to film the show that way and then tell the story that way. Also, in my opinion, opened the door for them to be able to make a lot of the changes that they did make. and I think that's kind of why they still felt true to the story is it feels like someone read the book and was also contemplating what happens that these characters didn't talk about. There are some things that are just obviously like blatant changes. But I feel like some of the things that are just like included in the actual scenes in the 70s themselves. could so much have reflected stuff that was maybe between the lines of what everyone else

was saying in their, um, in their, not confessionals, but in their interviews. So in that frame of mind that they chose to include these scenes and the interviews or confessionals, kind of whatever you think of them as normally really like allowed them to make, you know, inclusions that felt like they were things that actually happened in the story. So here are a couple of my favorites and why I feel like it was almost like getting the complete story of Daisy Jones and the Six. So from the get-go, time is different. In the book, they are being interviewed 50 years after the band broke up.

and in the TV show it's only been 20 years and it's for a documentary and not a book as I mentioned but I think some of that was to bridge the gap of wanting to be able to use the same actors I think that helps connect you to the story even more is that like Riley Kigo can be Daisy 20 years in the future or not in the 90s or the 70s um so I thought that was a good idea. I do think overall it was the decision too that allows them

to have the different ending. So I think if you wanted to have a little bit more resolution to the story having the characters young enough

to still kind of reconcile with each other like billing Daisy do at the And I think changing the time structure also helps with that. So I was not bothered by that change. And I think because they did change the end trajectory of the story, I think it also helped with that. The other thing that is probably the most exciting change for any of us who loved Billy and Daisy, even though we loved Camilla as well, was that they do kiss multiple times.

In the TV show, the first time they kiss is when, is it called, please? Now I can't remember what the song title is. I think it is. When he wants her to sing from a certain, like, frame. of mind. In the book, he just kind of like agitates her and agitates her and then like tells her like commit to singing this. Like sing the way you sing in what is the line? I don't think I haven't highlighted or I would look it up. But he has a line that is something about like seeing the way you sing when you're alone in the car and the windows are down and the music is loud. And so she goes in and

sings that way. In the TV show, they have their first, most likely, kissed out in the parking lot when he's trying to help get her to that point. And then she goes back in and kills it. We also have that extremely romantic moment in kind of like a sunroom near the end. I don't even, They don't even kiss then, but they're talking around the subject that they wish it could be something, but that they're only going to ever have writing music together, not the relationship they both kind of secretly want. That moment didn't happen. They didn't kiss. They might as well have.

That was one of the sweetest, I think, scenes of that movie or of the show. and then of course we have Camilla walking in at the end which is heartbreaking because back to my point about my girl Taylor Jenkins read she makes you care about all the characters and I think particularly what's so impressive about Daisy Jones as a book and a TV show is that the women are not competitive with each other they're very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very supportive of each other. And even as a reader, you don't, you aren't necessarily pulling against Daisy for being the other woman. You're not like angry at her or like thinking she's terrible. And on the flip side, you very much adore Camilla in the book and the TV show. and Karen. Karen's amazing too. They didn't change too much about hers.

And I love the way that they really kept most of her plot line, like important plot beats. But Daisy and Camilla, again, book and TV show, you love both of them. You understand the way that Daisy loves Billy. and you understand the way that Camilla loves Billy, and you understand the way Billy loves both of them. And normally that stresses me out so much. Like love triangles are not for me for some reason. Like give me an axe murderer before love triangles normally.

But it works in this story so well, like just so well. and you just you don't really stand in judgment of any of the characters for it i mean now there are people who really hate billy and i get that but for sure with daisy and camilla you care about them pretty deeply i remember when i got to the end of um when i got to the end of the book that amazing beautiful ending where I keep thinking that I need to keep this in chronological order, but I'm just, like, assuming if you're listening, you've at least read the book or watch the TV show or both.

And so you know, like, the plot lines. So I'm going out of order based off just, like, what hits my head. Hopefully that's not too confusing. But the literal, I think this is the last page of the book, yeah. The literal last page of the book. Julia, we get an excerpt of an email from Camilla to Julia and, well, to all of her daughters. And she says, hi girls, I need your help. After I'm gone, give your dad some time. And then please tell him to call Daisy Jones. Her number is in my date book in the second drawer of my nightstand.

Tell your father, I said at the very least, the two of them owe me a song. and that is the last page of that book I was crying like a baby just such a powerful ending and I remember when I got to the end thinking this could have been called

Camilla Dunn in the Six like the secret of this book is that Camilla is the like, I don't want to say maternal, but I kind of mean maternal backbone of the whole story. In the sense that she helps Karen make decisions that Karen wants to make. She loves Billy even knowing what's going on or what went on like in his first tour in the book and the TV show. she is a big reason that daisy did acclimate into the group especially in the tv show um she is a huge part of

the reason that billy was able to be sober and in the book she's the reason that daisy is she she has the conversation with daisy um on that last night um here's what she says in the book I'll pull it up actually. Okay, so here's what Camilla says to her. The night, the band, the day of the night, the band goes on to have their last performance. Camilla looked at me for a moment and then she said something that changed my life. She said, don't count yourself out this early Daisy. You're all sorts of things you don't even know yet.

That really stuck with me, that who I was wasn't entirely already determined. that there was still hope for me that a woman like Camilla Dunn thought I was Camilla Dunn thought I was worth saving and so she has a conversation with her Camilla has a conversation with Daisy that day basically telling her like go get your shit together

like go to rehab and like encouraging her to understand that she can be more than she thinks she is because Daisy's gotten to a point where she completely believes that like she's never going to have it together. She's never going to feel secure in a relationship. She wouldn't be a good mom. That's something that gets brought up in the book. And Camilla kind of is like, who are you to think you know that you can't be different? And that is what shifts everything for Daisy in the book. And the TV show, it doesn't happen that way.

and another change that they make with Camilla is they make her a more prominent part of the band even from the very beginning. So she goes out to California with them. She's an even bigger part of why Daisy ends up in the band in the TV show than she is in the books. She's the photographer. She just like she is much more a part of the band. and I remember in those first few episodes being like, wow, she really has a larger role. And even at the time before I knew how they were going to finish it, I remember thinking this is a nod to how important Camilla is. It was kind of fun watching. It was fun for me watching the show knowing what happened in the book.

because even before I knew how they wanted to finish the TV show, there were like these moments where it was like, oh, I think they changed this to highlight that. And so her role being bigger in the band, I think really served the purpose of the big payoff that we have at the end of the show. And then a couple of like, I don't know, a couple weeks into the show being out, I read an interview with the writers of the show who talked about part of the reason that they didn't include

what character they removed a band member and I can't remember the names right now Chuck Williams they combine Chuck Williams and Pete Loving into one character so that and they said part of the decision

with that because there were a lot of people that were like, hey, there aren't six people in the band now. And they said part of the decision they made there was wanting to show how Camilla was actually a part of the six. Which I think overall would be confusing because I don't think like actual fans. I think actual fans like if this band were a real band, which they are right, would be like the six, but you're five. but in a literary sense and in a not always logical world in a vibes sense, I love that decision. I love a decision so much to have Camilla be considered part of the six because she was in the book and in the TV show.

And I'm glad that they gave that nod to her because it does end up making it so much more heart-wrenching that she was seeing everything up close. One of the things that's like very prominent about Camilla in the book, and they definitely translated it into the TV show as well, is that Camilla does not care about having a super perfect life. So at one point she says about Billy. I wish Billy didn't love anyone else, but do you know what? I decided a long time ago. I decided I don't need perfect love and I don't need a perfect husband and a perfect husband and all of that. I want mine. I want my love, my husband, my kids, my life. I'm not perfect. I'll never be perfect. I don't expect anything to be perfect. But things don't have to be perfect to be strong. So if you're waiting around hoping that something's going to crack, I have to tell you that it's not going to be me talking about her marriage. And that attitude, we hear that line much later in the book, but that attitude sums up so much of the kind of strength that Camilla embodies. So it's like a very, like, eyes open. Like, I see things for what they are. And I'm someone who's willing to just be like, yeah, things aren't perfect, but they are mine.

And it's a very interesting and I feel like, like, unique is what I'm thinking, but I feel like there's another word for it too. It is, it's a really fascinating way to show that even women could feel that way. I think there's like, it made her more complex that that's what good love. could feel like for her. And so like it is a like possessive thing where she's like, yeah, it's not perfect, but it's mine. But it's also not in that she's not like pretending anything is different than it is or trying to force it to be anything. And in the book, there is mentioned to the fact that Camilla even has a high school or old high school colleague slash friend that she um goes to dinner with sometimes and it kind of alludes in the book

that it's like it's a thing that does make her feel special to still be wanted and it's like almost a chapter that kind of feels like it is um showing the way that she understands billy as a human in a way that she's kind of saying it feels like it's exploring that like she knows what it's like to get off on the attention from someone else and it's kind of phrased where like if he gets to have that she can have that too right and at the time he's not even in the book he hasn't done anything with daisy that we know of but she does hook up with someone i mean they don't say it but it is said at the same time. One of the things that they changed for that in the TV show was that she sleeps with Eddie. And I really thought that was a brilliant idea of theirs because in the book,

Eddie has a lot of problems with Billy, but it comes off a little bit more just like a generally confrontational person, like someone who's just like not happy with what anyone's going to say if he doesn't say it. To be fair, Billy also like pre-Daisie, no one challenged him and he was a pretty authoritarian force. So I'm not knocking him for disliking him. But I am saying in the book it's displayed a little bit more of like a little more ego-dry. jealousy that he's not the front man. But there's not too many other reasons given in the book. Whereas in the TV show from the get-go, first or second episode, they have him referencing

how he was in love with Camilla at some point, and then Billy ended up with her. So I think those two changes together were so smart because it brought Eddie a little bit more to life in what he disliked about Billy. And it also then gave a really, really, I don't know, serendipitous opportunity to then have Camilla sleep with someone in the band instead of a really vague reference to high school colleague she gets dinner with every now and then. So I really, really loved the decision not only to have Camilla asleep with someone who was in the band, but to kind of pair that up with Eddie needing a bigger reason to dislike Billy. Marrying the girl he loves, probably a pretty good reason to keep disliking someone. And so then it made it very natural that they kind of like accidentally hook up one night. And for the sake of drama and turning something into a 10 episode series, why not kind of like raise the stakes more with drama that is like within the band's community?

So I loved that. I loved all of that. That's kind of like as a group that was like everything I loved about. Camilla in the book and the TV shows and the changes that they made with Camilla. The other thing that happens with Camilla in the TV show that doesn't happen in the book is she's the one who photographs the Aurora album cover. And I remember at first because if in the book there's like, it's like a close-up of them. and it felt really iconic in the book the way the cover came about and I remember when we got to the scene

and could see that Camilla was the one taking the album cover. I remember being like, I hope this is still cool, but I trust them. And so then in the TV show we end up seeing is that she not only does the album cover capture Daisy and Billy saying some pretty angry shit to each other and like facing off kind of with each other. Camilla's the one who snaps the picture. And when that happened, I was like, okay, I get it. I get why it needed to be this. Camilla saw everything. And the other things I've kind of been talking about, some of the point of Camilla is like, yes, I see things. And it's not that she ignores them sometimes. It's just sometimes she decides what matters to her to get worked

up about and what doesn't matter. And so there's a moment where she is catching like the moment she catches is Billy and Daisy really coming to a head and like a lot of that simmering sexual tension that they have as well as like the immense attraction. to each other is really starting to become a problem and they're fighting about it. And then Camilla takes a picture of it. And that is the cover. And I just feel like it was such a beautiful, I almost feel like it's not even a metaphor. It almost feels like a literal embodiment of how Camilla is present and did see everything and is aware of everything. I just thought that was such a powerful choice that they made.

And I was immediately like, oh, yeah, we don't need that other cover. Like, this is amazing. It added depth to her character. Because I think the other things, sometimes when you've read the book already, you kind of already know that. And I feel like that was such a beautiful way for the format of TV to convey that kind of stuff to people. I also saw that the opening credits are, it's like a film strip. And so, and then if you look at them closely, you'll see that some of them are like shots that we see Camilla taking during the show.

So even like the beginning of the show, the credits, is this nod to the fact that Camilla is observing at all from the beginning. Such an amazing thing that they include.

And so it really brings up the idea of like of how everyone can have different definitions of love

so Camilla does very deeply love Billy and she really deeply loves Daisy and for her what they have works and it makes you sad but it makes you sad too because like you care about her

and you're like how difficult would that be to be married to someone who you can even tell in some ways that they're not stepping out on you because they're trying to be loyal and good and all of the things that they weren't at the beginning of your marriage and but also knowing that like they're only not with that person

because they're with you and that they would be with that person if it weren't for you like such a difficult spot to be in but for her she feels like it works. All of the changes in the TV show with Camilla lead to the night in the TV show that they are performing their last performance. They don't know it yet.

And before that, Camilla pretty much calls Billy out that day because she saw them with their foreheads touch together, like I mentioned earlier. and was like you are together and he's just telling her like we're not and they aren't and she just doesn't believe him and he is a mess about it and is just begging her to come to the show still and she basically like storms out then also has like a conversation with Daisy where Daisy's like there isn't anything though and she's just like still kind of not believe in which i understand um and so she leaves even though billy asked her to come to the concert um and then we don't see her

much and then we see her later watching oh my god the show that daisy and billy are putting on that night. I don't think I have ever watched something where they aren't even touching, they aren't even kissing. And it was like the sexiest thing I've ever seen on TV. I don't know how Riley and Sam created that chemistry. But that final episode, that final performance was absolutely insane. And I'll cover that a little bit more. But to finish Camilla, Camilla's kind of through line here, is she does end up coming to the concert.

Daisy did have a conversation with her where it was like, he's always going to choose you. She does come to the concert. And Daisy and Billy have like, they look like they're having sex on stage, essentially. And Camilla is weeping. Camilla Morone's performance. My God. And it hurts so much. It hurts so much seeing her cry that way. And you're pulling for Daisy and Billy. That decision to have her come back like that to see it. And then they turn it into him kind of winning back her.

trust. Um, just, it's such a heartbreaking inclusion. But I also feel like it was good because we don't see her too upset about it. She feels like she has this like, I'm okay about it, armor. And we don't see that until the end. And it just, it guts you. It's so sad. You feel so bad for her. Meanwhile, Billy and Daisy. So I think I didn't even totally finish my part about how they actually kiss. I think for TV, it helped to raise the stakes in a 10-episode series. I think it also at least correlates with the fact that we're seeing the actual scenes versus interviews about it. I feel like those are related where it's kind of like they probably kissed a couple times even in the book, even though we weren't reading about a bunch of it.

So we have those moments, but there's really just the one in the parking lot and then there is the moment in the sunroom. Then things start really getting intense for Daisy because she knows she loves them and she also knows she's never going to be able to be with him. So we have Daisy going off and getting married. The enhancements to her and Simone's relationship. I remember the episode where Simone does come to Greece for her. The fight that they have where like she's even like, you're in love with me, aren't you? So mean. Made it even more beautiful when Simone was actually the one to kind of help her sort through her big feelings at the end.

But Daisy goes off, gets married, starts using pretty heavily to distract herself from being in a band with Billy, essentially. And I do think she feels bad for Camilla. So her drug use starts to amp up, especially because in the book, it's definitely explicitly explained that the man that she does marry kind of is just. just like after the fact that she has money and access to drugs. So that kind of fuels the fire that she already had and she's using even more. And she does end up having an overdose in the book, but Billy is not the one who finds her. In the TV show, I can't even remember what he's going in there to tell her about. I think he's angry and thinks he's going to go confront her about something.

And then bust in there, or well, tries to go in there. And the husband, Nikki, is trying to keep him out of the room. And he's like, why are you trying to keep me out of the room? Basically, he bursts through the door and then does find her in the shower with, like, I'm assuming the implication is like cold water on her face to hopefully like wake her up a little bit. and he notices that Nikki is packing things. So it intensifies that scene a lot where the gist of her overdosing in the book is about her kind of finally losing control and especially losing control because

she even went out and married someone just to be able to say she was married essentially. And so in the book, what it really is showing is like how close to rock bottom she got. Well, it probably was rock bottom, paired with the fact that the man she married did not care about her at all. And so in the TV show with it that with him basically showing us that he thought she was going to die. And so he was just packing his stuff to leave really drives the point home that she did not marry a good dude in case you couldn't tell already. While also getting to show how much Billy actually, Billy actually cares about her. That scene where he is trying, is like begging her to wake up in the shower. I am so impressed by Sam Claflin.

There's not even a joke, it's just a fact about him being like the adaptation king. He's been in so many book adaptations. He's been in the Hunger Games. I can't think of it. There's a sad romance and I feel like it starts with you. Me before you. He's in that. I can't remember what the other thing is, but he's in so many adaptations.

And now Daisy Jones and the Six, I had never heard of him. I didn't watch The Hunger Games until this year, which also like, wow, I would have loved those books when they came out. I still would love them. But anyway, I didn't know he was even in those. So there's kind of this joke about him being an adaptation king as an actor. and I can see why people love him because if you were on TikTok at all while Daisy Jones was airing, so many people were capturing scenes where he, his face acting, which like, I mean, I kind of generally knew face acting was a thing. I had never paid attention to it so much.

And so then there would be all these TikToks like the next day about like little scenes where like he goes from like looking scared to like looking like he's in love with her to like looking angry at her. And his face acting apparently is just amazing. So their billion days are on like the shower floor. She's not waking up. And like the pain he rotates through. was just stunning. And then she wakes up, of course, at the very end of the episode. And she's like, it's you.

I was really grateful that they made that change. I felt like that change. I just feel like it served so many purposes in showing the emotional state where their hearts are of the characters in that moment. So it's completely sure that she married a douchebag. It's also complete, we're also completely sure that Billy even knows that he loves her, even if he's not like talking about it and acknowledging it. There's all, they're also playing at the part of their, I would say that this is the type of relationship where people would call it a twin flame type relationship.

which also I saw a meme this morning that was like what what the twin flame looks like when you take the mask off of it and it was like someone like had a mask up to their face and then that like moved it and underneath it said trauma bond instead of twin flame and that does tend to coincide I feel like you hear twin flame and you're like oh people that just like have fiery feeling and like everything's extreme and that is what is going on between billy and daisy there's the quote in the book where he talks about like everything that made daisy burn made me burn so they have a very like shared understanding of the world that like that camilla's never going to have with billy

and part of that is drug use and drinking too much um and billy isn't still at a point in his life where he's sober. Um, and obviously she is not. And so I feel like there's also something to him finding her and the fact that they both are addicts, because she even talks to him a little bit sometimes about what it would be like to stop using. Um, and there's actually that scene in one of the, one of the tour van. after that where she just doesn't want to be on the other bus where they are partying.

So I think it really sets up and amplifies the fact that these are two sometimes, Billy's mostly in control now, but two people who are really drawn to being completely out of control and how one is handling it different than the other. So shortly after that happens, though, shortly after that happens is when camilla confronts billy because she feels like she knows that they've been together and is just completely sure of it and she's just ready to be done with it and is saying she's going to leave him and another thing that the book very much touches on is that to billy camilla is the only reason not the only reason

but she is a main reason that he isn't using drugs anymore and that he's sober. So there's a part of him that even feels so connected to Camilla because of kind of like a savior complex he's given her, but also because early in their marriage, like he was cheating and doing drugs and getting too drunk. and he's kind of turned this into I have to be a good man from now on so that I don't go back to that and kind of credits her with being the reason he got his life together

and the reason that he continues to have his life together. So again, this differs from the book so this is the TV show. In the TV show, she's confronting him Like, what's cool about the booking and the TV shows, both of them have that final day. The final day of them, the day before their final performance is, like, everyone's stuff is, like, coming to a head and clashing. So even though there are changes in the TV show about that day, the nature, the purpose of that day was for everyone's baggage to just, like, blow up in their face. and then that be the reason the band couldn't be together after that performance.

And so in the book, we have kind of like I talked about, we have Camilla confronting Daisy about her addiction, her relationship with her husband, how the band's not helping her, kind of like inspiring her with that quote about like, you don't even know who you could be. You could be more than this. So we have that in the book. We have Graham and Karen. The pregnancy and how Karen decides to deal with it is also comes to a head. And then Eddie is just getting angrier and angry and angry at Billy. And so we have all of these things like coming together to just blow up. And then the TV show, we have Camilla confronting Billy and threatening to leave. And now all of a sudden he's left with like, Like, well, Camilla was the reason I was doing this. I was being a good guy for my family. I wasn't using drugs for my family.

And now I don't have my family. She just left. She's not even showing up. And he starts drinking. So he has a massive relapse in the TV show. In the book, I've loved the pacing of the book. You like keep thinking he's about to. And then you're kind of switching between.

interviews and who's talking so then like you're away from him and you're like oh my god is he about to drink that drink and in the book he drinks like half of it less than half of it and is like no and walks away the tv show he is wasted by the time they need to go out on stage and i can't remember if he did like coke too i think you might have because i feel like i remember reading that there was like a design from the makeup artist that like his nose looked powdery. So I think he did both. The point is he is at least like so wasted that he's a little stumbling when they're about to go on. And she kind of said, I can't even remember what it is, but Daisy says something to him before they're about to go on and he kisses her again really passionately this time

and steps back and she says, you've been drinking and kind of tilts her head to the side. And then they go out to perform. And it's just like the hottest performance ever of two actors that are like barely even touching each other the whole time. Go Riley and Sam like good Lord. That's one of those scenes where like if you were married or like had a significant other, you would be watching and you'd be like, I know that I know that I knew they were going to be in this profession, but God damn, are they in love with each other? That is what that scene feels like at the end. I am sure if you're all listening right now, still, you've watched it. So you know what I mean. It was insane. So they have that performance. Daisy's even looking confused. Like there are moments where she's just like

looking at him like, what the fuck got into you, bro? Um, we're all confused, but liking it. And Camilla is eventually there weeping in the crowd. Obviously Daisy and Billy don't think she's there at this point. And so then they go. I can't remember if it is the end of the show or like it's just in between songs. It's either like the end of the show and then they go back out for an encore. I think that's what it is. They run back there and Billy is like picking her up and swinging her around and kissing her and telling her like, basically like, let's do this.

Let's do this. like let's be let's be something together let's be broken together he keeps seeing let's be broken together over and over again another really powerful performance from both of them this guy looks like he he like yeah he just it was an amazing performance but he keeps saying to her let's be broken together let's be broken together let's be broken together let's be broken together and she decides no so both of these things are really huge diversions from the book. They don't kiss behind the stage and Daisy doesn't have the option to have him and turns it down. That doesn't happen in the book. What happens in the book is Honeycomb,

which the lyrics all changed. That's another thing that changed that like I just wasn't even going to talk about. I saw, I can't remember the names of everyone who wrote the songs, but they talked about like writing a song as an all. author, which Taylor did in the books, is really drastically different from writing when you actually understand, like, music and melody and stuff. So it just wasn't possible for them to necessarily convert her songs. Rest in peace, the line that says, and when you think of me, I hope it ruins rock and roll, because I thought that was one of the most badass song lyrics. Someone could write for someone like Daisy Jones. Didn't make it in. That's okay. But, um,

In the book, what happens in that final performance, they are seeing Honeycomb, which kind of turned into, look at us now is the song that they're singing. And then it in parentheses, Honeycomb in the TV show. But in the TV show, the song is more about reaching an emotional destination. Like, look where we got in our relationship. In the book, the song is about this like physical, this location. in I think North Carolina where like he writes this song essentially to Camilla talking about like I know that I'm really into this phase of my life right now but like we are going to have our time in like a cute little country house in North Carolina by the honeycomb. So that's the gist of that song in the book. And let me, I'm going to pull this up because it's very important.

Okay, so in the book, that's what the song is about. And the chorus has something about that says, The life we want will wait for us. We will live to see the lights coming off the bay. And you will hold me, you will hold me, you will hold me, you will hold me, and hold me until that day. And when Daisy came on with the six at the beginning of the book, one of the things she did with that song was turn it into question mark.

questions. So instead of statements, it's will we have the life, will the life we want wait for us? Will we live to see the lights coming off the bay? And will you hold me? Will you hold me? Will you hold me? Will you hold me until that day? She felt like that punched up the song. And at the time, it did. And it made the song even more popular in the book when she has realized that she wants to go to rehab and I mean the sentence before that she says and I knew he wasn't mine he was hers and then I just did it I sing the song as Billy originally wrote it no questions so a big part of their relationship in the book is that she kind of challenges him on his like overly sweet lyrics and kind of like pushes him to write edgier stuff that's a big part of their

relationship. It was a big part of the reason why the song was as successful as it was. And so she's always kind of stuck it to him. And so acknowledging this song that he wrote Camille and saying it as a statement instead of a question, I was crying. I cried my way through all of this part, such, just so beautiful that she could realize what he actually needed and let him go. And then Billy says when I heard her singing the lines as I originally wrote them singing about this future that Camille and I would have, there had been so much doubt in my heart. Those lyrics, that small gesture, for one moment, Daisy didn't remind me that I might fail.

She sang the song like she knew I'd succeed. Daisy did that. Daisy. I didn't know how much I needed it until she gave it to me. And it should have just made me feel better, but it hurt too. because if I was the man I wanted to be, if I could give Camilla the life I'd promised her, well, I mean, there was loss in that too. That's what happens in the book. And I think the general feeling behind that is that they all in the book on that day have to kind of reckon with their individual baggage. But I also, I think the spirit of it in the book is that they all see themselves for who they really are and accept the things they need to be better people. And in the TV show, we now have them in the back behind the stage with him begging her

to be broken with him. And because you know the TV show is already off script at this point, you don't quite know what's going to happen. And you do want them together. And Daisy says no. And Daisy tells him he needs to be the man he is with Camilla, essentially, is what she tells him backstage. And it's another moment where like both of their acting, like Sam, Billy, looks crushed. And Daisy looks sad, but also, like, like, like, like, Sam, Billy looks crushed. And Daisy looks sad. but also like she's tapped in to this little hopeful positivity even though she's sad and they go back out on stage to sing look at us now and she gives this beautiful speech about how she almost died a couple nights before and then starts to talk about love

and what it is and how it she used to think I'm probably mixing my book and my TV show now this is not verbatim she used to think love would maybe make you feel heavier but it's meant to make you feel lighter and it means like seeing the best in people and in the TV show again like all his face acting as Billy is, that Billy slash Sam is watching Daisy slash Riley giving this speech. He, the like way his eyes tear up and just like the tears just start to gently fall.

And then she starts singing and he can't bring himself to do it. And she looks over at him and like nods at him in the way that's like, go get your girl. And he runs off stage. I feel like all of that still captured the essence of that final day in the book. I think it heightens some of the feelings, and because TV is so much visual in a different way than books, I feel like we have Camilla weeping. We have Karen and Graham kind of mean-mugging each other. We have Billy and Daisy, like the flirtiest.

ever been. Like all of the feelings are like raised to max volume, but then the plot is a little bit different. But I feel like you get the exact same feeling. It's that it was the same, I was crying in the TV show for the same reason I did in the book when Daisy sings the song the way he wrote it. And you're like, oh, she knows that Camilla is good for him. You have the exact same feeling in this one in the TV show except a couple things one she has more daisy ends up with more agency so she even could have him if she wanted to so she even gets like presented with this thing that she really really badly wanted and you could almost call their love and addiction she finally gets it and she actually really understands that they will devour each other if they're together

in that moment that she loves him but that if they were together they would just destroy themselves and she walks away from that and i think if we if the story doesn't include i don't think the book ever I thought the book was one of the best books I read. If the story doesn't completely have her maybe with a chance to be with Billy, she doesn't actually make the choice herself to walk away. And I think it kept the sentiment of the story while giving Daisy even more agency. And I loved that. I think the other thing it does is it keeps it, Camilla's conference.

conversation in the book with her before the show when she's saying like you can be better. I still thought that was a really powerful scene in the book, but I feel like not having Camilla say it makes it less like, oh, and the wife told me to back off. So still the same agency thing where it's still like Daisy actually came to that conclusion on her own. and then the final big change is that ending so i already talked about how in the book when we find out that um julia that camilla and billy's daughter is doing it you're kind of immediately like oh they were talking to her would they tell her all the details so in the tv show the reveal happens in the final episode and it happens with Billy and Julia and Julia basically asks him

something along the lines of like would you do it again and he's like what do you mean and she's just kind of like looks at him with a knowing look and she um he says I'm not sure how your mom would feel about that and she says well I am and she starts to show him a video in the book she's talking to Daisy about something. And that is how we find out that she's Julia's daughter. But then, in the book, the last page of the book is an email that Camilla sent to Julia and her other daughters that says, hi girls, I need your help. After I'm gone, give your dad some time, and then please tell them to call Daisy Jones.

her number is in my date book in the second drawer of the nightstand tell your father i said at the very least the two of them owe me a song love mom so no one really ends up knowing about that we don't find out about anyone hearing about that email um in the book in the tv show billy watches a video where camilla says a pretty similar thing along the lines of like call daisy you two owe me a song. And then we see him show up at Daisy's house. People are divided. Some people feel like it was like kill Camilla so that they can be together. I don't feel that way. I don't think Taylor spent that much time on Camilla's character development to just say Billy and, well, I mean, I know she didn't pick that ending, but she kind of did to just say like, oh, Billy and Daisy are supposed to be

together. I think it's why Camilla is the one who instigates it in both the book and the TV show is kind of paying homage to how much she always saw and that she was aware of it all. In the book and the TV show, what we're definitely aware of is the fact that Billy needed Camilla. He did need a strong presence that could get him to where he got. and I think the book and TV show come from a perspective that love is good in many different ways and sometimes who you love is who you need at that time and so it kind of like I don't think it's just, oh, and then Camilla died so that they could be together. I think she did, and I think the reason that she, beyond the grave, brought them back together, is that it was like, if I'm not alive,

be together. And I feel like it's, I think it gives her more power than, like, some people really think it takes the power away from Camilla. I think it actually gives her more power. It, I think it is a nod to how much she was aware of how wonderful they are together when they're healthy. And at that point, she would have known they were healthy. So, I think both endings are perfect. TV show and book. There are some people who are like, so are we going to do a second season? I tend to feel like, no. But at the same time, maybe they have something planned. I don't. don't know. But yeah, I have not enjoyed a book adaptation that much in a while. I thought it was absolutely stunning. There's so many stunning parts of both the TV show and the book that I

didn't even talk about. Somehow I talked for 80 minutes and there's still so many highlights I could gush about, but I am super interested to hear your feedback. So how did you feel about an episode like this? Would you be interested in more like this where like maybe it's not always a book to TV adaptation, but I just like go in depth about parts of a story that I really, really liked a lot. It obviously be very spoilery. But if you guys are interested in more episodes like this please let me know