Daisy Jones & The Six – Track Five: Fire

For both Billy (Sam Claflin) and Daisy (Riley Keough), their time before heading to the studio starts off quite differently. Billy wakes up, exercises, and spends time with his family before heading to Sound City. Off one wild night with a random hookup, Daisy is woken up by a courtesy call from the hotel before pulling herself together and pilfering a random gift basket and a bottle of champagne that she sees by the pool before heading to the studio. Later that morning, both arrive to Sound City at about the same time, Daisy pulling a swig from her stolen champagne bottle as Billy takes notice. 

Inside the studio, the rest of the band members are waiting to start recording for the new album…but first they welcome Daisy into the fold. And eager to collaborate, Daisy immediately brings out her songwriting notebook with ideas that she has for new songs. Billy tells Daisy that they have their songs already and don’t need anymore, but Daisy is quick to assume that all the songs are about his wife and don’t give the other band members a chance to show off. As they banter back and forth, Teddy (Tom Wright) walks in and forces Billy and Daisy to go off somewhere and write new music. The rest of the band members go home as the studio time is cancelled.  

Heading off to a local food joint, Daisy and Billy sit down over burgers to get to the root of Billy’s need to write songs about Camila (Camila Morrone). “Stumbled on Sublime” comes on the radio and Billy starts singing the words. Daisy takes the moment to discuss her stolen song and tell Billy that she wrote it. Realizing that Daisy is capable of great music, Billy is in to get to work….after their food.  

Getting ready to head to the beach, Graham (Will Harrison) waxes his surfboard while Warren (Sebastian Chacon) and Eddie (Josh Whitehouse) make plans to go see “Rollerball” for the millionth time. Surprisingly, Karen (Suki Waterhouse) offers to join Graham in his beach excursion. Unfortunately, Karen soon finds out when Caroline’s (Olivia Rose Keegan) car pulls up that she will be the odd woman out. Graham tells her not to be weird and join them anyway, to which Karen relents.  

Deciding that Teddy’s house would provide a perfect backdrop for their work, Daisy finds Teddy’s hidden key and both her and Billy “break in” to Teddy’s house. Billy walks around in awe, but quickly comes to his senses as he and Daisy have a job to do while they’re there: write another hit song. Billy quickly starts plucking out a tune that Graham had been working one and Daisy approves, but now it needs some lyrics. Trusting Daisy with his notebook of lyrics, he hands it over only to find that Daisy is less than impressed with his upbeat, hopeful style. In turn, Daisy hands over her notebook for Billy to read and he finds her nature-inspired imagery is too much for him. They will need to come up with something new, even while Daisy makes herself comfortable at Teddy’s house. 

As Graham catches some waves, this leaves Karen and Caroline alone to talk. Quickly, Karen finds out that Caroline’s taste in music leans towards Barry Manilow….to which Karen is secretly horrified. Karen tries to glean more information about Caroline’s relationship with Graham and, upon hearing about all of his endearing qualities, she becomes a little jealous. Graham takes this opportunity to head over to the girls and see if either of them want to surf, which Karen quickly agrees to try. 

Back at Teddy’s house, Billy finds that Daisy’s process has her rummaging through Teddy’s collection of records and booze. Seeing Daisy listening to records, they begin to have a conversation about their first records before Daisy asks Billy to pick the next album. Choosing The Beach Boys “In My Room,” Daisy tries to get Billy to loosen up and move to the music. Although Billy refuses, Daisy also reminds him that they don’t need to be friends, but if they write together they can’t be strangers. This prompts Billy and Daisy to ask each other questions to get acquainted, with Billy getting first pick. Daisy’s answers surprise him and he learns she how alone she truly is. And with Billy, Daisy realizes that Billy’s lyrics are about the man he wishes he was rather than just being honest.  

With Graham teaching her how to surf, Karen takes the opportunity to find out what Graham likes about Caroline. Even though Caroline is pursuing a degree at UC Santa Barbara, Karen is unsure of what Graham can have in common with her….especially when she listens to Barry Manilow. Graham gets defensive that they have things in common, but are also quite physical too. When Caroline drives them back to the house, Karen asks Graham to walk her to the door first. While reluctant, Graham agrees and Karen takes the opportunity to kiss Graham….which he eagerly accepts. 

Putting their disagreements aside, Billy and Daisy’s songwriting is taking on a life of its own. They are working well together for the first time but hit a snag as Daisy keeps pushing Billy to write more realistic lyrics. Billy then realizes that Daisy is a broken soul, which strikes a nerve and she leaves the room. Finding Daisy in Teddy’s garage, he shares his own pain over his father walking out on him and his brother. They are both broken souls. When Teddy arrives back at his house, he is surprised to find Daisy and Billy there.  

As Karen and Graham are finally releasing all their pent-up passion, they also know that they must keep this a secret from the rest of the band and separate when the other members return. But Warren and Eddie’s return is short-lived when the phone rings and the band is called back into the studio: Daisy and Billy have finished the song. Getting to record the track to “Let Me Down Easy,” the band members recall the magic of the music and how Daisy and Billy made each other better…until they didn’t.