Daisy Jones & The Six's Bizarre Ending Undercuts Series' Larger Message

Daisy Jones & The Six’s Second-Chance Ending Undercuts the Series’ Entire Message

“Let’s just be broken together.”
“I don’t want to be broken.”

That conversation between Daisy (Riley Keough) and Billy (Sam Claflin), which is a true highlight of the series finale of Prime Video’s Daisy Jones & The Six, is more than enough reason for those two to never end up together. And yet, in the aftermath of destruction and pain that lives at the heart of Daisy Jones & The Six (and Billy and Daisy’s relationship, in particular), the series’ odd flash-forward ending provides hope to a relationship that should have stayed a temptation on the wind.

Following Daisy’s revelation that she does not want to spend the rest of her life broken and fighting with Billy, the two return to the stage to perform the song that first brought them together, a song they have scarcely played since Daisy officially joined the band. But there, at Soldier Field during what would be their final performance, they played “Look At Us Now (Honeycomb),” or, at least Daisy did. Billy, overcome with grief over losing his wife and child and his potential relationship with Daisy just moments ago, can’t bring himself to sing the words. Instead, Daisy tells him to go, and the resulting scene is a true series highlight: Billy runs to catch Camila (Camila Morrone) before she leaves the hotel as Daisy and the band continue on—Karen (Suki Waterhouse), who only just told Graham (Will Harrison) that she aborted their unborn child, steals hurt glances at him from across the stage; Eddie (Josh Whitehouse), with his eye completely black and blue from his fight with Billy earlier in the day, looks apprehensive as he plucks his bass; Warren (Sebastion Chacon) can seemingly sense the tension in the air; Daisy herself dances and sings, finally looking as if the weight of the world is no longer hanging off her sequined shoulders, all while the lyrics sum up their situation perfectly: “This thing we’ve been doing, ain’t working out, why can’t you just admit it to me? Oh, baby, look at us now.”

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This singular performance and what it symbolizes is the perfect end cap for this show about a group of people who find themselves destroying each other in an effort to make their dreams come true. At the end of this series, when Daisy has almost died due to her addiction, Billy has nearly lost his family due to his, and the rest of the band has suffered similarly heart wrenching losses and tribulations, it’s cathartic to watch Daisy and Billy let go of a bad thing as Daisy belts out a song about doing just that. However, the epic high hit during that final performance is undercut within the very same episode by the events of the last five minutes, which unpack the story behind the “20 years later” interview segments.

In the flash forward, we find out that it was actually Billy and Camila’s daughter, Jules, making the documentary the entire time, interviewing all the band members individually, who only agreed because it’s Jules on the other side of the lens. Billy and Camila made it work, becoming a family once again after Billy completed another stint at rehab; Daisy also got sober, then went solo, and has a child; Karen started her own successful pop band; Graham moved back home, and now has a wife and kids; Eddie also attempted a solo music career, but to less than impressive results; Warren is a session drummer with a family of his own; and Simone (Nabiyah Be) and Bernie (Ayesha Harris) opened their own club together. The most important reveal, though, is that of Camila’s fate: she fell ill, and her daughter made this documentary as a way to honor and remember her mother and the part she played in one of the biggest bands in the world. All of these developments are satisfying—it’s nice to see each member thriving in a post-Daisy Jones & The Six world—but Camila’s final wish for Billy and Daisy turns this entire flash forward sour. Billy’s daughter shows both Billy and Daisy her final message, in which she says: “Tell your father to give Daisy Jones a call. And tell Daisy Jones to answer.”

In the final words that Camila utters on screen within this series, she urges her husband to seek out the woman that nearly destroyed her family numerous times, clearly wanting them to reconnect—and we all know what will happen between Daisy and Billy the moment she opens that door for him in the series’ final moments. Camila’s deathbed blessing for Daisy and Billy to reunite undercuts not only everything we have come to know about her character, but also everything we know about the show itself. While it’s tempting to swoon at the idea of these two finding each other now finally at the right time, Camila’s death as the catalyst for their reunion makes her the other woman once again, a fate this series narrowly managed to avoid through the resilience and agency she demonstrates throughout the previous episodes. Camila weathered the storm that was Billy’s addiction and The Six’s first tour, then the hurricane that was Daisy Jones, only to be cast aside once again as soon as her body was in the ground. By making her last wish a plea for Billy to move on swiftly with his almost-mistress, Daisy Jones & The Six takes Camila’s agency away, making her nothing more than an agent of the series’ endgame agenda.

By creating a picture-perfect, second-chance-at-love ending for Daisy and Billy, Daisy Jones & The Six all but erases the hard work put in by Daisy and Billy in their efforts to change and be better, both for themselves and for their families and friends. It’s empowering and hopeful to watch Daisy tell Simone that she’s going to get better, and it’s heartwarming to watch as Billy makes every effort to get his family back—and yet, mere moments later, it’s all thrown away in the flash-forward. It’s easy to think that the two of them earned their second chance after all those years apart, but narratively, it happens much too quickly for that to be the case. One moment, the series establishes how detrimental Daisy and Billy are to each other’s well-being, and the next, the series wants the audience to believe they could be good together instead, never actually considering how the fight backstage and Daisy and Billy’s reunion are completely contradictory. In an adaptation that took many liberties in bringing this story to the screen, leaving the book’s original ending in-tact does much more harm than good.

Daisy Jones & The Six is about music and connection, yes, but it’s mainly about destruction, and Daisy and Billy were the epicenter of every single form of destruction within the series. They made each other worse, and that is only underscored by that conversation they have before they step out on stage together for the very last time. Through their almost-fairytale ending, Daisy Jones & The Six throws everything into the fire, opting for fanfic fodder over what could have been a truly satisfying conclusion about resilience, change, and the triumphant nature of leaving destructive relationships and circumstances behind.

Anna Govert is an entertainment writer based in middle-of-nowhere Indiana. For any and all thoughts about TV, film, and the wonderful insanity of Riverdale, you can follow her @annagovert.

For all the latest TV news, reviews, lists and features, follow @Paste_TV.

Daisy Jones & The Six’s Second-Chance Ending Undercuts the Series’ Entire Message