In 1977, two secretaries working at the American embassy in Moscow become CIA operatives after their spy husbands die under mysterious circumstances.[2]
Beatrice and Twila are two married woman living in Moscow with their respective CIA agent husbands, Chris and Tom. After their husbands are killed during a mission, Beatrice and Twila return to the United States. To learn more details about their husbands' deaths, they contact the Moscow station chief, Dane, and offer to work as CIA agents. Dane is unsure, but feels like they may serve a purpose, as the KGB would not suspect that women employees at the embassy were under cover agents. They return to Moscow, and begin their official work as secretaries. Dane sets up a meeting where they will hand off material to a potential source, codenamed C.K. Solar. Beatrice, posing as a Russian schoolteacher, meets with him, but they are interrupted by Vasiliev, a KGB agent.
2
"Hanging on the Telephone"
Susanna Fogel
Susanna Fogel & David Iserson
January15,2026(2026-01-15)
Twila rescues Beatrice from Vasiliev by setting the bar on fire. The two women escape back to the embassy, where Dane proposes that they need formal training in spycraft. Vasiliev confronts C.K. Solar, who is named Sasha, but believes his story that he was on a date. C.K. Solar opens the package from Beatrice, and finds a camera for him to photograph electronic schematics. He completes his assignment, but the camera had a light leak, rendering the photos unusable. Beatrice, under training from another spy, Emile, breaks into Sasha's apartment, and narrowly avoids him catching her as she escapes. Beatrice gives Sasha another camera and returns home. Vasiliev, believing Beatrice is a Russian woman, calls her on a phone in her apartment that is listed as belonging to her cover identity. One of Shep's friends from college, George, visits, and ends his trip having sex with a prostitute. She meets Vasiliev after, and he murders her.
3
"Backstreets"
Viet Nguyen
Susanna Fogel & David Iserson
January15,2026(2026-01-15)
At the urging of Dane, Beatrice prepares to go on a date with Vasiliev. She is nervous, and is coached by Twila on how to make Vasiliev interested without having sex with him. George calls Twila to tell her that the woman he had sex with has been found dead; Twila begins researching further and discovers a large number of prostitutes that have been similarly murdered, and arranges to meet with an employee at a brothel with the help of Ivanna, a local merchant. Ivanna's price for her aid is that Twila meet her for a drink. Beatrice goes on a date with Vasiliev; she takes him back to Sasha's apartment, as she cannot take him back to her home at the embassy. She convinces Sasha to sneak out, and bring Vasiliev inside. Outside, Sasha encounters Twila, who has stood up Ivanna so that she could provide backup for Beatrice. Twila and Sasha plant a listening device in Vasiliev's car. In a flashback, one of the women reported murdered is noted by Tom; Emile hides the murder weapon.
4
"Don't Go Breaking My Heart"
Viet Nguyen
Susanna Fogel & David Iserson
January15,2026(2026-01-15)
Twila and Beatrice are approached by Vera, a Russian woman and one of Dane's contacts. She tells that she wants to set up a meeting with Caterpillar, the code-name for a high-ranking KGB agent who has valuable information to pass to the CIA. She requests money and a passport to allow her to escape the Soviet Union. Beatrice forges artwork to get the money for Vera, and Twila meets her demands and sets up a meeting with Caterpillar. Vera tells Twila that she was with Chris and Tom in the plane when they were killed, and that Tom had been a double-agent and was passing information to the KGB. Twila confronts Vera, who backs up and falls off the bridge where they are meeting and drowns. Twila argues that Caterpillar doesn't know what Vera looks like, and Beatrice suggests having her grandmother, Manya, pose as Vera for the meeting. Ray's son discovers a listening device hidden in a fireplace.
5
"Turn the Beat Around"
Susanna Fogel
Susanna Fogel & David Iserson
January15,2026(2026-01-15)
Manya, posing as Vera, prepares for her meeting with Caterpillar. Beatrice accompanies Vasiliev to a poker game, where she meets Aksana, who previously dated Vasiliev and tells Beatrice that she has a dacha outside of Moscow if she ever needs to escape. Twila accompanies Manya to her meeting, and witnesses Manya getting abducted by the KGB. Vasiliev leaves the game with Beatrice to go interrogate Manya. Beatrice witnesses the interrogation and runs to Vasiliev's car to report her location to the bug; Dane, Twila, and Ray arrive as Manya is being transported to Lefortovo Prison. They rescue her from the prisoner vehicle, where she is riding with Caterpillar. He gives Manya a tape and tries to escape, but falls out of the car and is recaptured by the KGB. At home, Beatrice finds a tape labeled "Good Year," and finds a tape of Chris having sex with Sasha's sister, who had also been murdered.
Beatrice, distraught, shows the tape of Chris' infidelity to Dane, who insists it was all part of an operation. Attempting to reassure Beatrice, Twila confesses that Vera claimed Tom was a double agent and responsible for their husbands' deaths, but this only drives them further apart. Twila enlists Ivanna for aid, and both pose as prostitutes to try and gain information on the whereabouts of a Soviet facility containing kompromat. During the operation, Twila and Ivanna have sex. Ray, working alongside Twila, replaces one of the kompromat tapes in his room with a tape that contains a tracking device. Beatrice smokes marijuana with Sasha, and then invites Vasiliev over to Sasha's place and has sex with him. Dane is criticized by DCIStanley for his haphazard approach to espionage in Moscow; that night, Dane becomes frustrated, rips up a tape, and calls someone requesting a meeting. After her evening with Vasiliev, Beatrice reconciles with Twila.
7
"Livin' Thing"
Ally Pankiw
Carolyn Cicalese & Jordan J. Riggs
January15,2026(2026-01-15)
Beatrice, Twila, Dane, and Ray surmise that the kompromat tapes are part of a massive operation to blackmail high-value American targets into becoming KGB assets, and that Vasiliev has his own blackmail operation targeting Russian government officials, which has facilitated his quick rise within the KGB. Twila and Beatrice use a tracker to find the kompromat tape, and follow it once its been loaded in an ambulance. They see Vasiliev get into the ambulance, and then stop briefly to hand a package to his wife. Beatrice follows Vasiliev, while Twila uses an excuse to get into Vasiliev's house and steal the package given to his wife. Twila examines the package, which appears to be a bottle of shampoo, while Beatrice discovers the location of the kompromat facility, where she witnesses footage of Vasiliev murdering a woman. Dane meets with a therapist, and undergoes electro-shock therapy. His therapist afterwards delivers a recording of their session to Emile, who kills him at Dane's instruction. Ray plans to go to an Elton John concert with his nanny, Eevi, which angers his wife, Cheryl. She demands to go instead, but after an argument Cheryl returns home early to see Eevi searching through their bedroom and has found a gun. Cheryl grabs the gun and shoots Eevi. Twila goes to the concert with Ivanna and meets Beatrice there, where the embassy employees meet with a Soviet delegation, and Beatrice is addressed by Vasiliev by "Hello, American."
8
"The Stranger"
Susanna Fogel
Susanna Fogel & David Iserson
January15,2026(2026-01-15)
Manya returns to her village in Belarus and reconnects with her best friend Sofia, but is being followed by an American asset. Dane and Emile eventually reveal themselves to her and together, they enter a safehouse to discover that Chris is still alive and in hiding. Twila and Beatrice fight off Vasiliev and escape the concert with Ivanna's help; they find Sasha, and flee to a dacha that Aksana told Beatrice about. Once they arrive, Twila discovers multiple boxes of the same shampoo that Vasiliev gave to his wife; she realizes that they all contain kompromat tapes. Realizing they are in Vasiliev's dacha, they pack up the kompromat and prepare to flee. As they are about to leave, they are attacked by Aksana and another agent, whom they kill, but not before Aksana stabs Sasha in the chest. As they drive away, Vasiliev chases them, but Twila maneuvers him into flipping his car on a sharp turn. Sasha is extracted by the U.S. Marines, and Twila and Beatrice drive back to Moscow with an injured Vasiliev. They interrogate him, and he reveals that it was actually Chris passing information to the Soviets. The mole is revealed to be Cheryl, who kills Eevi in her hospital room, and starts a fire in the evidence room. Beatrice and Twila attempt to flee, but find KGB agents posing as firefighters breaking into their offices to steal information from the Americans. Vasiliev confidently leaves while the KGB agents hold Beatrice and Twila at gunpoint.
Production
The series is created by Susanna Fogel and David Iserson. Fogel directs the series, with Iserson as showrunner. Jessica Rhoades executive produces for Pacesetter Productions and Alison Mo Massey co-executive produces along with Katherine Bridle. Universal Television are producers. In August 2024, Emilia Clarke became attached to star and be an executive producer on the series.[3]
Filming began in Budapest, Hungary in February 2025.[6][7]
Release
The series premiered on January 15, 2026, on Peacock, with all eight episodes released at once.[8]
Reception
The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 96% approval rating based on 26 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "As much a buddy adventure as it is an espionage caper, Ponies' likable trot of a story gradually achieves full gallop thanks to Emilia Clarke and Haley Lu Richardson's tag-team charisma."[9]Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 75 out of 100 based on 10 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[10]Vulture praised Clarke and Richardson's on-screen chemistry and how the series allows them to "put a spin on the types you may already associate with them" such as Daenerys Targaryen in Game of Thrones and Portia in The White Lotus.[11] Likewise, Variety calls Clarke and Richardson's chemistry the "glue that binds the whole enterprise together".[12] In a more mixed review, Angie Han of The Hollywood Reporter wrote that Ponies might have "moments of dazzle" but their lack of depth makes it a "forgettable distraction".[13]
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