Daisy Jones & The Six Washes Over You with Emotion and Music

Based on Taylor Jenkins Reid's bestselling novel of the same name, Daisy Jones & The Six follows the roots and rise of a '70s band.

It's clearly an homage to Fleetwood Mac and Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham's tumultuous relationship, with Riley Keough and Sam Claflin playing their roles as Margaret "Daisy" Jones and Billy Dunne.

But aside from the musical influence and romantic entanglements and the era, Daisy Jones & The Six is an original, well-plotted story that has all the features of a rock documentary, including catchy music that will stay with you once the series ends.

Billy Dunne and his brother Graham (Will Harrison) start a band called The Dunne Brothers in their hometown of Pittsburgh with their best friends Eddie Roundtree (Josh Whitehouse) and Warren Rhodes (Sebastian Chacon).

Through a chance encounter with a tour manager played by Timothy Olyphant, the four young men yearn for the rock and roll life in LA he dangles tantalizingly before them.

They set off with Billy's girlfriend Camila (Camila Morrone) in tow and stardom dancing in their eyes, landing a cheap, somewhat dilapidated but well-located house in Laurel Canyon, only to discover the competition is far fiercer than the Pittsburgh scene.

Still, they're used to hard work, and their winning personalities entice keyboardist Karen Sirko (Suki Waterhouse) to join the band. But while Billy has always had that special something all rock stars have, the band is missing the direction it needs to take flight.

While they become a house band, changing their name to The Six, Daisy is on her own journey to superstardom.

Margaret, aka Daisy, is the child of wealthy parents who prefer parties to child-rearing, and at 15, Daisy is already a club regular. She was into drinking and drugs at an early age, but she does it all for love of the music.

A childhood incident left her questioning her talent, and while other musicians find success with her songwriting, the fire inside of her struggles to get out.

Daisy perseveres, gaining the ear of music producer Teddy Price (Tom Wright) and a supportive friend in fellow songwriter Simone Jackson (Nabiyah Be). With their encouragement, she finds her voice.

By that time, The Six have also come onto Teddy's radar, and what they lack in songwriting, Daisy provides. And what she lacks in experience and band power, The Six provides.

When Billy and Daisy meet, magic happens on screen and for the band. They push each other to their limits, provoking and testing one another to reach higher, and their electricity leeches out to the band, thrusting them onto a national and soon worldwide stage.

The story is crafted as a "Back to the Music" style documentary and even opens with an on-screen statement that will leave some viewers wondering if Daisy & The Six was an actual band. (They are not, but the actors play one successfully on TV).

The documentary is set decades after their meteoric rise, and the band has long since imploded. Through a series of interviews with the present-day band members and Billy's wife, Camila, viewers are taken on a personal and musical journey of Daisy Jones & The Six.

We're privy to every aspect of their lives, seemingly as told by themselves, which is evident in how the narrators of their stories launch into and react to segments of the tale we see unfold as if it's a narrative they're in the midst of explaining. It's like peering behind the curtain of their most intimate moments and stepping into their memories.

Their battles of wills, with drugs, and of the heart take center stage, always pushing and pulling the band dangerously, but every hard studio session, heady argument, and sold-out concert fuels the characters' passions for each other and their music.

Keough has said in interviews that Daisy was a role she was born to play, and it's hard to imagine anyone else capturing Daisy's essence as she does. At times, she's the scrappy singer clawing her way to the top with legs for days, and at others, she's almost ethereal.

Claflin exudes that rockstar charisma and commands attention as he struts on stage, but he's also warm and genuine, which plays well to the character's off-stage persona.

Keough and Claflin sing all of the music written, lending significant weight to its authenticity. But that's not all that was required to bring this production to life.

While actors on Yellowstone attend cowboy camp, the Daisy & The Six crew attended band camp. While most of them had some level of experience with the instruments they play, music camp paid off, which lends further credibility for their studio and on-stage performances, especially.

Even better, none of the credited characters are extraneous. Every character gets a specific arc and a journey, allowing them to grow along with the band.

The music itself sounds era-specific, and the tunes are originals written by Blake Mills, with some collaborations with artists like Jackson Brown, Marcus Mumford, and Phoebe Bridgers.

Daisy Jones & The Six was a passion project for Reese Witherspoon and her Hello Sunshine! Production team and Amazon bought into it hook, line, and sinker, sparing little expense to ensure an immersive experience from start to finish.

Fans of the music can purchase the band's first album, Aurora, and Prime Music Members can stream it for free.

The best part of Daisy Jones & The Six is how easy it is to get lost in it. The characters leap off the screen and into our hearts, and the love story at its core between Daisy, Billy, and Camila is the stuff of legends.

It's not the first time author Reid has created such an engrossing world, and one hopes that the success of bringing Daisy Jones & The Six to the small screen will help her other works get similar treatment.

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo is already set for a film treatment at Netflix, but hopefully, they'll reconsider a longer adaption with how beautifully Daisy Jones & The Six takes to series form.

If you've read Daisy Jones & The Six, you are prepared for the journey that lies ahead with the series. But viewers who have not will also fall head over heels for the story of talent and drive, love and music.

Daisy Jones & The Six is an emotional and musical tour de force just waiting for an audience to set it free.

Check out the first two minutes now and the premiere on Friday, March 3, only on Prime Video.

Carissa Pavlica is the managing editor and a staff writer and critic for TV Fanatic. She's a member of the Critic's Choice Association, enjoys mentoring writers, conversing with cats, and passionately discussing the nuances of television and film with anyone who will listen. Follow her on X and email her here at TV Fanatic.