It is a guilty secret of ours that we are not fond of shows or series based on the lives, trials, and tribulations of artists. Give us a moment to explain ourselves. We find that such pieces of content are usually full of angst, high tempers and people who let temporary emotions get the best of them, sometimes to great detriment of the people around them. While this might play into the popular stereotype of the ‘tortured artist,’ the narrative has gotten stale at this point. It is not that these movies or series are bad, but we don’t want to only see the worst of the artists’ journeys all the time. Still, knowing that this was going to be the exact narrative, we tuned into the first episode of “Daisy Jones & the Six.” Despite the fast-moving first episode and the fact that we liked it, we are apprehensive about what’s next, but that comes from a place of personal prejudice and nothing else. However, “Daisy Jones & the Six” Episode 1 was a breeze, and despite some of the characters making some decisions that we rolled our eyes at, we were still smiling. Either way, let’s see why that happened.
Spoilers Ahead
The Dunne Brothers
We are not insulting the characters; they actually named themselves ‘The Dunne Brothers,’ for now, as they would say it. We had really forgotten how good Sam Clafflin looks, even though both of his haircuts are not doing his jawline any justice. Either way, his brother Graham forms a band with his friends, and Billy tells them that he will just watch a few of their rehearsals to give them some pointers. But soon enough, he becomes a part of their band, and they start performing at various events. During one such performance at a wedding, Billy is furious when he sees his drunken father flirting with a girl much younger than him. Billy thought that his father was not in town but watching him be purposefully neglectful of his family was more than he could digest. In a fit of rage, he asks his father whether he remembers him. His father tells him that he would recognize the guitar he gave him anywhere since it was his gift to his son. But he still doesn’t care that Billy caught his lie.
Angry, Billy breaks the guitar and severs all ties with his father, as does Graham. That is when the group decides that they are not just working as musicians for fun and games but are going to make their mark in the world. This is further strengthened when one of their members decides to quit the band and go to dental school. He was their bassist, and once the band learns about his decision to leave, they really can’t do anything except accept it and find a new place to start practicing. That is how Eddie Roundtree started playing bass for the band. Meanwhile, Billy has started dating Camila Alvarez, who Eddie has been in love with since childhood, probably even at the time the interview was being taken. But she was dating Billy because he was sweet and promised to write a song for Camila in exchange for her number. They dated for over a year, even though Camila’s parents were apprehensive about Billy’s income potential. Either way, times were good for them, unlike what was going on with Daisy.
Daisy’s life in LA
Daisy Jones had always been in love with music, but it seemed like she was one of those people who people loved to underappreciate. As a child, when she was singing a song, her mother told her that nobody wanted to hear her voice. That is the kind of thing that ends up turning into a core memory, but we don’t think Daisy’s mother cared. She could have just asked her to keep it down because of the party downstairs, but she expressly said that nobody wanted to hear her. A child cannot differentiate the words from their context. Later, we see that Daisy is a lonely teenager who would go to every spot in the city to hear the musicians play.
During one such gig, she was taken advantage of by a musician, and since then, Daisy’s life changed. Something we often see in sexual assault survivors is a need to reclaim control of their bodies, and quite often, that comes with the murky territory of blurred boundaries and low self-esteem. That was Daisy’s life for a long time when she turned to all kinds of drugs to avoid facing her demons. However, she never lets go of her first love, which is songwriting. It is quite a blow for her when her mother tells her that her songs are no good. She does not say that in so many words but just insinuates that Daisy being a beautiful woman is enough for her to survive, and she does not need to turn to things like this. People usually say that when they think the person has no talent or prospects. This obviously did not help her confidence, and maybe that is why she let her boyfriend take credit for her song. But in Daisy’s own words, things changed when she met Simone, who was the first person to ask her why she was not singing on the stage like she clearly wanted to.
Episode 1: Ending Explained: Does Daisy Jones Get The Validation She Needs?
In Pittsburgh, the Dunne Brothers meet Karen Sirko, a pianist, and Graham Dunne takes an instant liking to her. Meanwhile, they also meet Rod Reyes, a tour manager, who encourages them to go to LA if they really want to be successful. The band is on board with the idea, and that places Billy and Camila’s relationship in a difficult position. He asks her to come with him, but she is hesitant since that would mean leaving behind her family and school. But she eventually makes the decision to go with them.
Back in LA, Daisy has had enough when her boyfriend Gary laughs at her when she says that she doesn’t want to be just a muse and wants to be somebody in her own right. Daisy goes to a local pub to see if she actually has the talent to support her dreams. To be honest, she should have tried to perform in front of people she trusted, like Simone, or a bigger audience, at least 4-5 people, but she chose a pub that had barely two customers in it. She sings a song, and we must say that anybody who listened to it would see the very obvious talent in Daisy. Once she is done, there is a light spattering of applause, but we have a feeling that Daisy does not hear it. Daisy probably always knew that she was good at what she did, but self-doubt had overpowered her. When she walked out of the pub, she was smiling. That is because she had found validation within herself. She knew that her performance had been good enough that she did not need anyone else to reaffirm it for her. She was a new woman and was ready to set out to explore her dreams and her love for music.
What To Expect From Episode 2 of ‘Daisy Jones & the Six’?
In the coming episodes of “Daisy Jones & the Six”, we might see how Daisy meets the band and Karen and the entire group come together as “Daisy Jones and the Six.” Graham likes Karen and seeing those feelings in a professional setting may or may not be sweet, but Billy is certainly going to have an affair with Daisy, and that is scandalous enough to break up the whole group due to the conflicting loyalties. There will also be a fair share of ego tussles to deal with, so that is something. We just feel bad for Camila because she clearly deserves better. She followed Billy to LA after he merely said that she ‘could’ come with him. She is in the relationship deeper than he is, which means that it is going to hurt her more. Only future episodes will tell.
