Daisy Jones and the Six Boss Breaks Down Why Simone Had to Be the One to Pull Daisy from the Edge

[Warning: The following contains spoilers from Episodes 7 and 8 of Daisy Jones & the Six. Read at your own risk!]

Daisy Jones (Riley Keough) finally entered The Six during the second batch of Daisy Jones & The Six episodes that dropped on Prime Video last Friday. And in the third batch, she almost blows up the band before they even hit the road. After finishing the album and realizing her feelings for Billy (Sam Claflin) were too real – while also getting mixed messages from Billy about whether those feelings were returned – Daisy hightailed it to Greece, skipping the album release and tour rehearsals. 

No one from The Six knew where she disappeared to, or tried that hard to find her. Instead, it was Simone (Nabiyah Be) who trekked halfway across the world after getting a distressing telegram from Daisy. When she arrived in paradise, she found Daisy not hurt or held captive anywhere, but engaged to a rich European and planning to give up on her dreams in order to spend the rest of her days living like a model for idyllic postcards. 

While Simone was definitely running from her own issues, she was able to see what Daisy was doing clearly and called out the frontwoman for self-destructing. Daisy lashed out by accusing Simone of being in love with her, but ultimately, Simone calling Daisy out on her selfish behavior was the wake-up call the singer needed and the confrontation changed the path for both characters going forward in the rest of the series. 

Co-showrunner Will Graham helped TV Guide break down the pivotal episode and explained how Simone standing up to Daisy changes both characters' courses. 

What is Daisy running from when she decides to go to Greece?
Will Graham: I think what Daisy is running from at that moment is understanding that she just realized her dream. She's just written songs that are as good as the ones that she hears in her head, with a person who is incredibly dangerous to her, [whom] she could in a way lost part of herself [to]. It's that sort of thing of, "Do I need this person who I can't quite figure out how to fit into my life in order to do the thing I want?" It's a scary moment for her. We know from the beginning of the show when Daisy imagines herself to be Daisy Jones and changes her name, that she is capable of indulging in fantasy. This is a way of trying on another version of who Daisy Jones could be, which leads her in a different direction for the end of the series.

What is Nicky giving to her that Billy can't, besides the obvious physical connection?
Graham: Happiness isn't quite the right word, but Nicky is a master of creating a beautiful moment, a beautiful evening, of sitting on a balcony and feeling like you're in a photograph. Daisy has grown up with her parents and then the band in an environment where she's almost never focused on treating herself well or enjoying the good things in life. There's something about someone who is capable of seeing life or making life unfold in this really beautiful way that makes Daisy think, "What if this was all I was living for?"

What is it about Daisy that made Simone willing to drop everything and go rescue her? As a fan, I watched this going, "Girl, don't you dare! You have shows to do!"
Graham: I felt the same way. Simone and Daisy are family, right? They've been bound together from the start in a ton of different ways. There's something about that moment for Simone, right as things are getting more intimate and serious with Bernie, where there might be something seductive about these problems. Sometimes it's easier to face someone else's problems than it is to face your own. Simone is someone who, for a lot of reasons that I understand and relate to as a queer person, is scared of the intimacy that Bernie is giving her. There's a sense of obligation that comes from [her friendship with Daisy] and their deep ties. There's also a part of Simone at that moment where she is finally getting the thing she wants in more ways than one, and that might have caused the urge to run away.

There is this very validating moment of Simone telling Daisy that she's a selfish bitch. Can you talk about that confrontation and what it is that is bringing Simone to that moment angry enough to call Daisy out when she hasn't before?
Graham: That moment is about a lot of things. It's about white privilege and straight privilege. Simone has that line that's essentially she had to find a new music, almost be part of the invention of a new genre, to have the opportunity that sort of fell into Daisy's lap. That's also why Simone thinks Daisy disappeared for a moment. Something must be really wrong, right? She is hurt or she is in bad shape, and then finding out that instead, she's on this seductive, romantic island. Simone tries to see what Daisy is seeing, but ultimately realizes we all have different versions of ourselves inside of us. Daisy is coming from a place of hurt in that moment, the moment where Daisy says, "You're in love with me." That's actually a moment that happened to me with a friend, and I think that is a moment, as a younger queer person, where you can feel so misunderstood in such a profound way. It's maybe the first time Simone realizes that Daisy is not seeing her at all, maybe Daisy is just seeing herself.

The confrontation between Daisy and Simone in the series is much more dramatic than it is in the book. Can you talk about amping that up and what it means for their friendship and journeys for the rest of the series?
Graham: It gives them a really big rift to come back from. It's also a moment where Daisy realizes that if Simone is angry at her, she's gone away from a fundamental part of herself that she eventually needs to come back to. Part of the fun of crafting this episode is that it was skipped over a little bit in the book. We felt because of the different way the story plays out in this medium and because it's not just the oral history that you needed to be on the ride with Daisy. You needed to understand if Nicky was going to wind up being really problematic for her in a lot of different ways. You needed to understand what she saw in him. You needed to believe, along with her, even if it was just for a moment. We've all had those moments of, "Oh, maybe I could be this version of me that this person sees, right?" And Simon is the one who says, "No way. You know who you are."

Simone is not the first person to call Daisy selfish. A few people have said that and a lot worse to Daisy, so why is Simone the one who is able to connect when she says it instead of Teddy or Billy or anyone else in the band saying it?
Graham: Simone is the only thing in Daisy's life that remotely resembles family. Teddy wants Daisy to make a great album. Did he think it was good for Daisy to throw her into the middle of this band with Billy? Maybe we'll never know the answer to that, but he thought that great music would come out of it. Billy needs Daisy as a counterpart in all kinds of different ways. Simone just wants Daisy to be Daisy in the same way that Daisy, when she's in a good place, wants the best for Simone. Having that person say you're selfish and you've gone wildly off course, is pretty devastating. It's a moment where Simone is also falling in love. Simone has her finger on the pulse of what makes her tick as an artist in a way that she probably never has before and I think that also makes her look at Daisy a little differently. 

Daisy Jones & The Six episodes 1-8 are now streaming on Prime Video.