Breaking Down the Shocking Ending of Ponies

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The new Peacock series, PONIES, created by Susanna Fogel and David Iserson, starts with a captivating idea. Set in 1977 Moscow, Bea (Emilia Clarke) and Twila (Haley Lu Richardson) are wives of CIA agents stationed at the US Embassy. When their husbands unexpectedly die together, their world is shaken. Determined to uncover the truth, the two women – previously considered unimportant to the intelligence community (hence the nickname “PONIES”) – decide to become CIA spies themselves.

While PONIES is mostly made up, it includes details inspired by real life. For example, the story features an Elton John concert – which actually happened in 1979, a couple of years after the show’s timeline – and a significant event that took place at the US Embassy. The story isn’t based on truth, but it feels plausible – it simply didn’t happen the way it’s portrayed.

Okay, so the finale kicks off with Bea and Twila’s biggest problem, Andrei Vasiliev – a seriously high-ranking KGB agent – finally realizing they’ve been playing him. He’s furious they outsmarted him and is dead set on taking them down. What makes this really scary is we learn Andrei is responsible for some truly awful things – he’s already killed women in Moscow. Knowing that, the tension is ratcheted up as Bea and Twila desperately try to escape with him breathing down their necks. It’s a genuinely frightening setup.

Just before the climactic scenes, Bea, Twila, and Sasha (Petro Ninovskyi), a former KGB agent now working with the CIA, find Andrei’s secret hideout. Inside, they discover evidence linking Andrei and the KGB to wrongdoing, cleverly hidden inside shampoo bottles. They are then attacked by Andrei’s men, and Sasha is stabbed during the fight. Andrei eventually confronts them, but Twila and Bea manage to evade him in a thrilling car chase, causing him to crash. They bring Andrei back to the US embassy for questioning. Sasha is rescued by American forces, but it’s unclear if he survived his injuries. Despite this concern, even greater challenges await in the season finale of PONIES. We spoke with Fogel and Iserson about the key events of the Season 1 finale and what viewers can expect in Season 2.

Who is the mole?

A major mystery throughout the first season of PONIES revolved around a spy within the CIA. The finale revealed that Cheryl (Vic Michaelis), the embassy’s office manager and wife of agent Ray (Nicholas Podany), was the mole. This came as a shock, especially considering Cheryl’s apparent devotion to Ray and her previous annoyance at his harmless interest in their nanny, Eevi (Clare Hughes). According to creator Iserson, the character wasn’t initially intended to be the spy. However, the team realized making Cheryl the mole reinforced the show’s theme of Bea and Twyla being underestimated, highlighting how others consistently overlooked her capabilities.

Okay, so the tension really ratcheted up at the end of episode nine when Cheryl, in a total panic, shot Eevi after catching her snooping around Ray’s stuff and finding this key tracking device. Then, right at the start of the finale, she handed that device over to a CIA agent, telling him to get it secured in the vault. What we didn’t realize – and it was a seriously shocking twist – was that the device wasn’t a tracker at all, but a bomb! When it went off, it wiped out a huge amount of crucial evidence the CIA had been gathering for years. It was a really dark move by Cheryl, and completely changed the game.

According to Iserson, a deleted scene revealed a CIA acronym – MICE – which explains the four main reasons someone might betray others. These reasons are money, ideology, compromise, and ego. The character Cheryl falls into the ‘ego’ category; she feels unappreciated and that vulnerability was exploited, a storyline they plan to develop further in Season 2.

Eevi’s death came as a surprise, but there’s a possibility she wasn’t who she seemed. According to creator Nicole Fogel, they’re considering the idea that Eevi was secretly planted as a spy to monitor Cheryl. The show might explore Eevi’s true identity further in future seasons.

What happened to the husbands? 

Just before Cheryl’s planted tracking device sparks a fire, Twila and Bea manage to trap Andrei in the interrogation room. For the first time, they’re in a position of power. They hope to recruit Andrei as a double agent to gather crucial information about the Russians. More personally, they’re finally close to discovering the truth about what happened to their husbands – the mystery that launched them into the world of espionage.

Twila recently learned a shocking truth: her husband, Tom, was secretly a Russian spy. However, Andrei reveals an even bigger surprise – it wasn’t Tom at all, but Bea’s husband, Chris, who was the double agent. According to actress Iserson, this leaves Bea feeling desperate for answers and completely blindsided.

Bea is immediately thrown another curveball. Andrei reveals that Galyna, one of the women they were investigating, wasn’t a sex worker, but a spy for the KGB. Even more surprisingly, the CIA killed her to get her brother, Sasha, to work for them. Before Bea and Twila can fully process this information, Twila suddenly smells smoke.

Okay, buckle up, because things just exploded – literally. Cheryl’s bomb went off, and the evidence room is engulfed in flames. All that progress Bea and Twila had made? Gone. Up in smoke. It’s a devastating blow, and honestly, a really dramatic turn of events. Just when you thought things were looking up, BAM! Everything changes.

I’m still reeling from the latest twist! It turns out Bea’s husband, Chris, isn’t dead after all! Bea and Twila don’t find out, but her grandmother, Manya, and Dane were absolutely shocked to see him in Belarus. He just said ‘hello’ before the scene cut back to the embassy chaos, so we’re left with so many questions about what’s going on with him – looks like we’ll have to wait until Season 2 for answers!

Things at the embassy have gone from bad to worse. The KGB has secretly gotten inside, disguised as firefighters, and they’re stealing all the CIA’s unburned evidence. Bea and Twila are trapped, their cover is ruined, and they’re facing imminent danger. The situation escalates when KGB agents threaten them with guns. Seemingly resigned to their fate, Bea and Twila hold hands as the season ends abruptly, leaving their lives hanging in the balance.

There’s still a chance to find evidence. We found a shampoo bottle in Twila’s apartment, which means the CIA might be able to locate a tape that proves Andrei is involved.

Twila and Bea are reeling from this setback. According to Iserson, they’re desperately wondering how to recover from this lost opportunity. They’ve grown significantly since they started this work, but now they’re forced to watch the KGB succeed in stealing vital secrets, realizing this will create a massive and ongoing problem. Their cover is also compromised with Andrei, who will now be exposed. If everything falls apart, they may have no choice but to return home.

Fogel notes the characters are questioning their chances of survival and how much they’re willing to sacrifice. Despite the danger, she sees a glimmer of hope in their growing friendship. Throughout the season, facing life-threatening situations has brought them closer, and they’ve now formed a strong bond. They’ve reached a point where, even if they don’t make it through, they’re grateful for the connection they’ve found in each other.

What will happen in Season 2

Season 2 has a lot of loose ends to tie up, but the creators have plenty of plans. A major focus will be how the CIA copes with this shocking betrayal, and what happens to Bea and Twila. The CIA doesn’t know who the mole is, which will especially impact Ray, Cheryl’s husband. However, the biggest mystery is how Bea and Twila will handle Chris, assuming they even survive.

It’s common to assume that Americans working with Russia are automatically acting with bad intentions. However, we’re aiming for a more nuanced portrayal of our characters. We want to explore who these people are as individuals, beyond their national identities. By understanding their personal motivations, we can create more complex scenarios where their actions, even when serving a country, might conflict with what that country expects of them. We’re interested in the internal struggles and complexities of individuals caught between personal desires and national allegiance.

The show PONIES centers around Bea trying to understand what happened to Chris, who she previously believed was the most important person in her life. Throughout the season, Bea’s relationships become complex, and she undergoes a significant transformation. Losing Chris sparked a journey that has made her stronger, and the show explores whether he still has a place in her life and what it means for Bea if he doesn’t.

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2026-01-16 05:07