A Geeky Guy's Guide to Ponies
Even though Ponies is supposedly about "Persons. Of. No. Interest." don't let that fool you. These characters are out of sight!
Ponies, which stars Emilia Clarke and Hale Lu Richardson, is set in 1977 Moscow during the height of the Cold War. Clarke and Richardson play Beatrice Grant and Twila Hasbeck respectively. Beatrice and Twila are in Moscow because their husbands are members of the CIA posing as US Embassy workers. From the sound of this, it could be just another formulaic Cold War spy show. But this one has a twist, Bea and Twila's husbands die in a mysterious way. Instead of running home, the two widows want to find out why their husbands are dead. They are so determined that they are willing to become... US spies themselves.
OK this is where your suspension of disbelief has to jump into high gear. the C.I.A. allows two untrained women to become spies. Luckily the writers realized we would need at list a thin tether to reality so they cleverly came up with the idea that these "P.O.N.I.E.S." (people of no interest) could be useful as the Soviets would never suspect them of being spies. OK cool. I like the characters and the dialogue and story is fun so that is plenty to keep me interested. Thanks writers! You're the best!
With that out of the way, the show can now do what it does best, highlight Clarke and Richardson as delightful, funny, smart, endearing characters... who happen to be attempting to be spies. When you add in the really cool 1970s details like fashion and music you have something worth watching. Toss in some cool backstory of some Soviet citizens and you have a really entertaining show.
Another difference between Ponies and the typical Cold War spy show is that the highlight of the show is not the twits, turns and intrigued. yes there is definitely a bigger plot here and there are definitely some surprises, but those are secondary to the dialogue, retro feel, and relationship building. To be honest, there is enough "spy stuff" to make this watchable even if you don't like the characters. And the characters just interacting during a regular day in Moscow would also be watchable on its own. But when you put those two pieces together, you have a very fun show.
As an added bonus (for me at least) this is the first television show to prominently feature one of my favorite people in the world... Vic Michaelis! Vic is a regular on my favorite streaming service Dropout.TV. They are by far one of the funniest humans on earth. Thy have such a quirky mind and delivery. I cannot explain how happy I am for them that they finally landed a big role. It is well deserved and we will hopefully see much more of Vic!
for the movies'fans
I hope there is some interesting plot twist like cia sold them or betrayed, rather than just a busted and killed
TBH, I watched 20 mins of episode one, and thought what a load of shite. off it went never to be seen again.
lol. Yeah I guess if you don’t like the characters or the premise, there not much left lol
LOl spot on
This really sounds like a fun twist on the classic spy genre. The characters and 70s atmosphere seem to be what really make the show stand out.
Just landed on Hive as a 25‑year‑old accountant from Bangalore, and this Pony‑spies pitch blew my mind. The whole CIA‑as‑babysitter move—handing two widows with zero training the spy toolkit—feels like a crazy budget‑cut plot twist, but somehow it works. The 70s Moscow vibe with the neon tracksuits and vinyl beats is pure gold, giving the drama a slick retro swagger. Still, slapping the P.O.N.I.E.S. badge on clueless women feels like the writers were tossing in a lazy acronym for kicks. Bold move, though—if they can pull this off, who’s to say the next spy series can’t be run by accountants who love spreadsheets 😂.
Oh yeah. Need a good spreadsheet whodunit!!!!
@hansshotfirst, spreadsheets are thrilling until numbers start dying—ready for accountant chaos? 😏 What’s the culprit?
I've seen ads for this, but we haven't watched it because we don't have Peacock. We had it for a bit and watched that show about the lady who can tell when people are lying. "Poker Face"? My wife and I just started watching Company Retreat. We have about three episodes left of that and while I don't think it is as good as Jury Duty was, I have been laughing more than I have in the past at it.
The story of the film seems quite good, as you have told, the husband dies and after that his wife investigates. So when someone takes their own life, whether they have taken training or not, we invest their emotions in the same way and investigate so that we can know who did this. It is a good story. I will definitely watch it
It looks like a very interesting series to watch, and the fact that it deals with the Cold War, which is a sensitive topic with a rich history, makes it even more enjoyable.