my heart aches for what this could have been. my whole entire being wanted to like this show but i just could not connect with it the way i so desperately wanted to. i read the book over the summer and fell in love with it. it was perfect. which is why it pains me to say what i’m about to say. taylor jenkins read is no fool, so how could she allow this production? it’s tasteless, it’s almost soulless. there are some things they did right, for example the heart of the show is with the band members and that’s why we needed more of them desperately. like warren and eddie are SPOT ON. i cannot tell you how much i love them, the show made me love eddie, getting more of his perspective was amazing and josh whitehouse is absolutely PERFECT. warren is literally the best character i don’t know if i want to be him or be with him. teddy price is the best thing in this show, he brings the 70’s spirit, he’s such a cool character and done so right, i love rod too. graham and karen were good to an extent, but too surface level, they deserved better. billy looks like what i pictured billy to look like, but they’ve made him kind of bland, flavorless almost? they styled him all wrong, they styled daisy all wrong, it just felt fake? all of their clothes look like costumes, all of the locations look like SETS, nothing is lived in, it’s not believable, it doesn’t suck you in and take you for a ride, it’s just simply happening on the screen, but it feels like they can’t reach you. there’s something wrong with the lighting as well, why is the color grading like that? and it could have been so good, do you realize how good it could have been? there are some things about this show that are just simply unacceptable for television in this day and age. first of all, it does not feel like the 70’s, not even for a goddamn second. you have all the recourses to make it feel like it is and yet you’ve not made use of them, why? look at films like licorice pizza that capture the spirit of the 70’s impeccably, that sort of thing would’ve worked so well. also it doesn’t really feel like they’re the biggest band in the world, they just play a few shows, but we don’t really see the height of their fame in any of their surroundings, the audience just feels like a bunch of extras. no one’s heart is in it, you know? like i wanted more and this does sort of change near the end like maybe there’s a spark but it doesn’t amount to anything sadly. it doesn’t feel big enough, the only time it HIT me was during their final show, when billy runs off the stage to go see camila and daisy sings look at us now. that was the peak of the show, intense and powerful, a glimpse of what the rest of the show could have been. the only you really feel the magic. second of all, that is not my daisy jones. the wild child, free-spirited, loose-canon, manic pixie dream girl daisy jones from the book is extremely watered down in this show. her hair and makeup are a disaster, her costumes never get it right and she’s just kind of unlikable, so is billy. we’re supposed to see something in these characters and connect with them, instead they barely scratch the surface, the only thing that got me through were the little bits of them that merely ghosted over the show. their chemistry is good at times, gripping but only for a moment and then it’s gone, i wanted more, they deserved so much more. i am disappointed but somehow not surprised. it feels artificial, inauthentic. with such great material, how could this be the result? perhaps blame it on the studio, no matter the reason, it’s just wasted potential. the music is good and the cast is obviously talented, but it could have been better, it still just feels like something’s missing. it doesn’t feel big enough, the only time it HIT me was during their final show, when billy runs off the stage to go see camila and daisy sings look at us now. that was the peak of the show, intense and powerful, a glimpse of what the rest of the show could have been. the only you really feel the magic. the music didn’t disappoint me, it’s grown on me to say the least, look at us now, regret me and THE RIVER are near perfect. i also love please and aurora. like yes they changed the lyrics but i’ll let it slide because you KNOW those are straight bops and i loved seeing them singing the songs together, it made me happy seeing the band come to life even if it wasn’t exactly how i imagined. maybe my expectations were too high, but at the same time i don’t think i was asking for too much. it just feels like this adaptation wasn’t handled with enough care or attention to detail. it’s just kind of half-assed, lazy…it mostly lacks style, that’s probably my biggest issue. i’m missing the fleetwood mac, and baby when you think of me i hope it ruins rock and roll, gritty, dirty, raw style? where’s all the sex, drugs and rock and roll? it’s so…clean? it’s like they just played it way too SAFE. the writing isn’t terrible, there’s some good dialogue and it’s not badly adapted in the sense of the book to the script, it’s just the execution of the production that bothers me most. but also there’s some really weird and unnecessary changes, like nicollo or ‘nicky’ apparently isn’t crazy enough? like he’s just too normal, it’s weird. where’s pete? why is karen karen not in a turtleneck? where’s TINY LOVE? WHERE IS THE BOOB ON THE ICONIC ALBUM COVER? i don’t know, some things were just weird to me. however i really liked the simone storyline but that one episode ultimately contributed nothing, it was just sort of on the side. i liked how we received some more closure with daisy and billy, like how billy finally gave into the addiction and then daisy told him she doesn’t want to be broken. ‘you’re my twin soul’ ❤️ i could talk about daisy and billy forever. they OWN the right person wrong time trope (which is one of my favorite tropes and one of the most heartbreaking ones…) in conclusion, i felt like this dragged on a bit, the pacing was off and it would’ve worked better as a movie, would have been tied together more nicely. episodes 9 & 10 were the best of the series and finally came close to giving me what i wanted. anyway now i have to reread the book to cleanse myself and then maybe i’ll rewatch the show and give it a second chance because of how much i love the story but right now i just feel really let down. somehow i blame reese witherspoon for all of this.