This review will have some broad spoilers about the Peacock original series Ponies — specifically the gay stuff — but will not reveal any major non-gay plot twists.
At the beginning of this new Peacock original series, Bea Grant and Twila Hasbeck are deemed Persons of No Interest, aka PONIES. They are simply wives to important men, forced to follow them to Russia whether or not they wanted to, living in a strange new place with strange new people and no real life of their own. Then they become widows, and everything changes.
Ponies is a buddy spy thriller that has all the espionage, action, suspense, stress, and violence of a straightforward spy thriller but also is about two women and their growing friendship and the shenanigans they get into. Emilia Clarke brings such grace and passion to Bea, showing her blossom from a dissatisfied woman forced to play secretary despite her education to someone who takes control of her own life. Haley Lu Richardson imbues Twila with the chaotic, friendly, and seemingly fearless energy (my friend Nic and I decided her vibe is a cross between Jennette McCurdy and Natasha Lyonne) while also shining in the quiet moments where Twila gets a little more vulnerable. Together, they are fun and hilarious and truly making the most of things at any given moment. In fact, watching an interview between Emilia Clarke and Haley Lu Richardson is what got me to move this show up my priority watch list because I loved their friendship energy so much, and the show itself did not disappoint.
What I didn’t know when I started it is that Twila is queer! (To be fair, I’m not sure even Twila realized it at the beginning of the show.) There was a moment when I hoped it would be true, perhaps an innocuous moment to those who didn’t spend most of their life searching every inch of every frame of every TV show they watched for a mere crumb of sapphic subtext. Twila goes to the farmer’s market and visits a grumpy merchant she’s gotten help from before, Ivanna (Lili Walters), and she agrees to help Twila in exchange for some Hostess cupcakes…and then Ivanna calls her a ding dong. (Get it?) There’s a moment where Twila stares her down trying to decide if she wants Ivanna to know how funny that was, and where Ivanna does her best not to even crack a smile, and I was like, “uh oh, I’m doomed.” The next time Twila needs information, Ivanna barters for a drink instead, and though Twila ends up having to stand her up for that particular date, their paths do cross again, much to my excitement.
Their journey is very much a C or D plot in the show, but it is delightful nonetheless. Ivanna’s black cat grumpy energy and Twila’s golden retriever optimist energy is one of my all-time favorite combos. And because of the time period and location, their story could have been very tragic and dark, but so far it’s not. So far, it’s just fun and flirty and sexy, and while of course that could change if there’s another season and the wrong people get their hands on this information, it’s nice to at least have a queer story that is about two adult women who aren’t tortured by their attraction to another woman.
Plus, it leads to a conversation between Twila and Bea that made me bark-laugh out loud alone in my apartment, but I won’t spoil that for you.
In bonus queer news, the actor who plays Cheryl, Twila’s uptight and highly strung boss, is played by Dropout’s Vic Michaelis, who is non-binary and queer! And I’ve only ever seen them doing improv comedy, so watching them play a beleaguered housewife with a stick up her ass is very amusing.
Overall I really loved this show, not only for the great queer parts but also because it told the story of two women proving themselves. Bea uses what she’s learned from school and being Jewish (specifically from her grandmother) to outsmart and outwit her enemies while Twila uses her cunning and fierce survival instincts. Together, they bond over being widows, being women in a male-dominated field/world, and being Americans in 1977 Russia. They grow more confident in themselves, their own abilities, and their own sexuality, discovering more about who they are and what they want as the season goes on. And throughout, their friendship is just a wonderful thing to behold. It goes through its ups and downs of course, as all friendships do, but it’s the core relationship of the show, and that’s something I’m really drawn to as a firm believer that family is what you make it.
I really hope we get more seasons of Ponies, to watch what Bea and Twila can do together…and to see more of Twila and Ivanna.
All episodes of Ponies are available now on Peacock.
Comments
Ponies was one of my fav new shows – so glad to see AS cover it!
what episode is the cupcake exchange in??