‘Aurora’ Comes To Life In Episodes 4-6 Of Daisy Jones & The Six

Posted On March 12, 2023

Samantha Colleran, March 2023

‘Look At Us Now (Honeycomb)’ is the number one song in the country. Everyone is happy except for Billy, who is still upset Daisy changed his lyrics into a “celebration of doubt, uncertainty”. Regardless of Billy’s feelings, the success of the song lands them a slot at the Diamond Head Festival in Hawaii. This is their first live show since Billy’s been out of rehab, so no one is sure how it’ll go. When they arrive Billy explains to Daisy, who is of course there to help The Six sing their most popular song, that ‘Honeycomb’ will be fourth on the setlist. After the first song the band plays and popping a pill, Daisy struts out on stage and immediately begins to command the 1:00 P.M. crowd with her presence. It’s the song everyone is waiting for, and the band absolutely kills it. During this performance, Billy looks at Daisy and we’re convinced for just a moment that he feels something other than hatred toward her. 

Daisy stays on stage, tapping away on a tambourine in Stevie Nicks fashion, and shares the mic with Billy to harmonize. When Billy pulls Daisy aside backstage to ask her why she came out early, she takes a jab at him and says she thought they had already sung three songs because they all sound the same. During an interview the band is asked what their plans are for future collaborations with Daisy, and Billy says it was a one time thing. On the bus, Karen points out to Billy that it may not be the worst idea to have her be part of more songs, to which Billy responds he doesn’t think they’d be able to survive her. 

Back at Simone’s house Daisy’s trying to write more songs, and while Simone is watching TV she realizes a girl group is lip syncing her song. She questions her actions in the studio (“If I had sat on his lap for two more minutes…”), and tells Daisy she wants to go to New York for a fresh start. Daisy explains the feeling of being on stage with Billy as the happiest twenty five minutes of her life; she sees the same feeling show on Simone’s face when Bernie calls her, and she should chase that happiness. Their goodbye is touching, “She was my only real friend in the world. And just like that, she was gone,” Daisy says. Daisy decides to move into a hotel to be around people to feel less alone. In an intoxicated state with no one to share her success with, Daisy breaks into her family’s old home, hurts her hand, and falls asleep. She’s arrested, and calls Karen to bust her out. We see their bond strengthen here. 

During a conversation with Teddy, Daisy says she wants to stray away from the singer songwriter sound and do something bigger. Teddy says it sounds like she’s talking about The Six’s sound, but she is meant to be a frontman and The Six already have Billy. We cut to Camila and Billy watching the festival interview, and Camila tells Billy he should have given Daisy more credit. We see Graham and Karen’s relationship slowly start to form as they walk arm in arm to Billy and Camila’s housewarming party, where Karen tries to convince Graham to let Daisy join the band. Camila tries to convince Graham to tell Karen how he feels, and he has doubts about being so vulnerable. 

Daisy arrives at the party. Camila invited her because she wanted to meet her. Billy apologizes for the things he said at the festival, and carefully proposes the idea of making more music together but can’t give Daisy a reason why he wants her in The Six. When Daisy tries to leave, Camila runs after her; she explains that Daisy changed her life and her family’s lives, and asks her to stay. A power outage happens, and while Camila and Eddie are handing out candles, Daisy hears Julia crying upstairs. She brings her down to Billy, and Billy even compliments Daisy by saying he thinks Julia likes her. An impromptu singing number breaks out of “Ooh La La” with Karen at the piano, Daisy begins to vocalize and Billy joins. It’s electric, we see how easy it is for Daisy to blend in with The Six. 

Karen and Graham sneak away, and Graham finally makes his move (a personal win, I was rooting for them so hard in the book and seeing it come to life on screen was worth the wait). Graham admits that the first night they met he had feelings for her, and my heart quickly shattered when he looked at Karen and said “Never gonna happen for us, is it?” and Karen responds by saying Graham’s amazing and walking away. Sitting alone after having his heart broken, a girl named Caroline comes over and introduces herself. 

Billy and Camila have a moment in the car with Julia in Billy’s arms. Camila says that Julia feels safe with Billy, and segues into the conversation about Daisy being important to The Six’s success. Daisy wakes up on Billy and Camila’s couch, Camila shares that she and the band are family and they’ll all take care of each other, and she hopes Daisy will do the same. In her interview, Camila shares the infamous line about trust from the book. 

The band prepare for their first recording session at Sound City in November 1975. Daisy steps out of her cab drinking a stolen bottle of champagne, and Billy arrives in his own car. The rest of the band is already there. When Daisy shares that she has songs she wants the band to listen to, Billy cuts her off and tells her everything has already been written. Daisy makes a comment about not wanting to sing songs about Camila, “If we’re in a band, then the album has to be just as much mine as it is yours as it is Karen’s and Graham’s and Warren’s and that guy’s [Eddie’s]”. Karen and Eddie chime in in agreement, and Billy chooses to pick on Eddie’s comment about the band not being rock and roll enough. Teddy breaks up the argument and suggests Billy and Daisy go somewhere else to write songs. 

At a restaurant called Apple Pan, Daisy asks Billy why he can’t write about anything but Camila and suggests maybe he did something that makes him feel as if he owes her. ‘Stumbled On Sublime’ comes on the radio, and when Billy says he likes it Daisy drops the bomb that she was the one who wrote it. 

While Warren and Eddie go off to see Rollerball, Graham hits the beach with Karen and Caroline. The girls talk on the shore while Graham surfs, and we learn that Caroline is a student at UC Santa Barbara studying to become a psychiatrist. Karen asks what it is about Graham that makes him appealing to her, and she says he’s a good guy, and sexy. Graham tries to teach Karen how to surf, and Karen asks Graham what he and Caroline actually have in common, to which he admits there isn’t much. On the ride home, Graham asks Caroline what he likes about Barry Manilow (he didn’t even write the song!), and she says his music is catchy and it makes her happy, “[Pop music is] not supposed to change your whole life”. Both Karen and Graham agree Caroline’s opinion is insane. Karen asks Graham to walk her inside in case there are burglars (we know there aren’t), and she makes a move (KarenGraham lovers everywhere lose their minds). 

Daisy and Billy head to Teddy’s house to write songs. Both Daisy and Billy admit they don’t know how to write with other people, and they exchange songbooks to see what material they have to start with. Daisy is annoyed that all of Billy’s songs are about Camila, and Billy takes a dig at Daisy’s ‘nature shit’. Billy plays a melody Graham had been toying with, and while he plays Daisy jumps into Teddy’s pool; this makes Billy unravel a bit. 

They listen to records together, and Daisy tries to get to know Billy better, saying they don’t have to be friends but strangers can’t write together. Billy asks how many pills she takes in a day, and she answers that she doesn’t know. Billy points out that it’s a problem, and Daisy says she can stop whenever she wants and flushes them down the toilet. Daisy admits she wanted to join the band because of Billy, saying he felt familiar to her and that feeling doesn’t happen often for her. Daisy asks Billy what he does when he gets sad, and he says he just feels the sadness instead of drinking like he used to. Daisy comes to the conclusion that Billy writes songs about who he wants to be instead of who he is, she tries to convince him to write more songs about himself. 

Their musical connection deepens as they spend all day working on one song. When writing the track Billy says he was wrong about Daisy and that he would have never thought she was so broken. Daisy takes offense to this and runs to Teddy’s garage, taking a pill she didn’t flush. Billy finds her and explains what he meant was he never realized how alike they are. He opens about his dad leaving, and Daisy simply says she isn’t broken. Teddy comes back, but he isn’t mad for long when he realizes the two put aside their differences to work together. The band get a call to head to the studio.

It’s here ‘Let Me Down Easy’ comes to life. Billy even gives Eddie permission to “fuck around and do [his] own thing”. This session changes everything; every instrument flows together effortlessly, each member adds their own little flare, this song becomes The Six’s ‘The Chain’ with everyone bringing a little something to the table to make it a true band effort. The world stops when Billy and Daisy hug, and everyone notices the way they hold each other. 

Daisy and Billy continue writing “great fucking songs”. Making an album is intimate, no matter who you’re writing with, but for two people who are as similar as Billy and Daisy in so many ways it gets intense. Teddy calls in a favor at Rolling Stone, and Jonah Berg gets an assignment. Billy tells Jonah that his relationship with Daisy is like Bonnie and Clyde; on camera the actors were passionate, off camera they led their own lives. 

Camila tells the interviewer she was busy raising a child this entire time alone. She hears Billy on the phone late one night, and sees lyrics written down to a song called ‘Please’. If you’ve listened to Aurora, you know what the first few lines are, and how hurtful it must have been for her to read something like that. In a red room while Camila is working on photos, another photographer tells her how beautiful her photos are and asks her to see a movie sometime. When she says her husband is in the photos, he makes a remark that Daisy and Billy look a little more than friends. 

Confiding in Karen, Camila shares that she feels less involved in the band, and needs something that’s her own. She asks about Graham, and Karen says they’re just having fun and it’s nothing serious, when Camila knows the truth is that Graham is in love. In bed that night, Camila says she liked the “intense” lyrics to ‘Please’, and Billy shrugs it off, saying Daisy wrote them. Camila confesses that she wishes she could hear the songs, Billy tells her they aren’t ready yet. We feel him slipping away, and you feel how hurt Camila is. 

During a songwriting session late at night, Daisy and Billy drive to the ocean for inspiration. They bask in the feeling of newness, and Daisy shares that she changed her name from Margaret to Daisy because she wanted to become someone else when she was little. Billy breaks down a wall and admits that she made ‘Honeycomb’ better, “You make everything better”. Billy drives Daisy back to her hotel, and decides that it’s enough for the night when he sees all the “temptation” behind the door. Daisy goes out for a cigarette and sees Jonah sitting by the pool, and Jonah tells her about the story so far; Billy does it all for the music, none of his feelings about her are real. Daisy asks Jonah for drugs. 

The band were supposed to record vocals, and Daisy is MIA. Billy finds her at a house party laying in a pool in an expensive dress. Daisy tells Billy she thinks he’s the most talented person she’s ever met besides herself. She gets out of the pool and steps on broken glass, not feeling anything. This inspires Billy to write ‘More Fun To Miss’, and he forces her to sing it over and over. She walks out of the session, and she tells Billy to tell her that there’s nothing going on between them and that she’s crazy. His response to get her to sing the way she does on the album? To kiss her hard on the mouth. 

The album shoot rolls around, and there’s tension rumbling. Camila finds out that Billy lied about Daisy writing ‘Please’. Karen tells Graham she doesn’t want people to know about them because she’s afraid of her image being tarnished as “the girlfriend of The Six”. The band gets frustrated when the photographer asks them to get out of the picture so it can be just Billy and Daisy. Jonah asks Billy to go over some things, and when he mentions the recovery clinic Billy gets mad. He pulls Daisy aside, and while they’re arguing Camila takes pictures of them. Daisy asks him about the kiss, and he says he did it to get her to sound better on the recording. In a fit of rage Daisy leaves the shoot and crashes her car while trying to find a pen and paper to write lyrics down. ‘Regret Me’ is born. 

Camila goes out alone for a few drinks and sees Eddie out with a girl. He ditches her for Camila, and Eddie says he’d choose her over anyone. Billy gets a taste of his own medicine waiting up for her. We can assume Camila got with Eddie (she says there were so many secrets and she needed one of her own), but nothing is actually confirmed by either of them. 

In the studio, Daisy plays ‘Regret Me’ for the band, and Billy walks in mid pitch. He doesn’t want it on the album, and Daisy puts it to a vote. Everyone except him agrees that it should be on the album, and he leaves the session. Jonah catches him, and Billy tells him not to put his daughter in the story. Jonah asks for something better. 

The band records ‘Regret Me’ without Billy, and that ends the recording sessions for Aurora. Eddie sticks around, Warren sails down to Mexico, Graham and Karen shack up for a bit together. Daisy gets a letter from Jonah, a draft of the Rolling Stone piece, which from the snippet we catch a glimpse of we can tell its contents are dissatisfying to her. Billy looks over the pictures from the photo shoot, and Camila shows him the pictures she took. “We used to fight like that… if you love her… if you ever do… that is when this ends.” 

Billy goes to Daisy’s hotel room, and finds out she’s gone. She goes to Greece without telling anyone; no plan on how long she wants to stay or what she’s actually going to do while she’s there.

I personally loved this round of episodes; I’m sad that Daisy Jones & The Six is officially more than halfway over, but I can’t wait to see how the final four episodes wrap everything up! Episodes 7-8 will be available to stream on Friday 3/17, the finale episodes will be streaming the following week.