Ponies Ending Explained: Who is the Mole in the CIA?

Set in 1970s Moscow, ‘Ponies‘ is a spy show where espionage hides in the plainest of sights. As a result of their husbands’ top-secret CIA jobs, Beatrice “Bea” Grant and Twila Hasbeck find themselves living in Moscow through the détente era of the Cold War. However, the deaths of Agents Grant and Hasbeck threaten to send the pair of widows back into their homelands without any clear answers or explanations about the death of their spouses. As a result, Bea and Twila come up with the idea to work as covert agents for the CIA’s Dane Walter, using their inherent indiscernibility as women and “Persons of No Interest” to their advantage. Consequently, they’re assigned to a case of intel extraction from a wannabe USSR turncoat, Sasha Shevchenko. However, once the keen-eyed KGB agent Andrei Vasiliev enters the picture, the mission becomes even more muddled than previously expected.

Ponies Recap

On Christmas Eve of December 1976, two CIA Agents, Chris Grant and Tom Hasbeck, die during a highly covert mission. In the aftermath, their widows, Bea and Twila, receive their husbands’ medals behind closed doors, but no explanation about the events that led to the deaths of the two men. The reality of the events brings different but equally distressing futures for the two women. Twila, who had a more complicated relationship with Tom, struggles to fathom a life without him grounding her. On the other hand, Bea, who loved Chris dearly, is lost about the path of her own life going forward and frustrated about staying in the dark about the nature of his demise. Furthermore, she discovers a cryptic card in her husband’s old coat that may contain a clue about the last mission he was working on. As a result, the two women, sharing a common goal of a desire to return to Moscow, take their case to the CIA Station Head, Dane Walter.

The CIA, situated in Moscow, which functions out of the American Embassy building, has been struggling to establish any firm communication between its agents and USSR assets. This is largely due to the fact that any male operative exiting the Embassy instantly collects a KGB tail in the heavily surveilled city. However, as women, Twila and Bea can avoid this problem. The former’s fearless personality and the latter’s multilingual skills further incentivize the possibility of their hiring. Consequently, despite the lack of confidence from his superior, DCI George Bush, Dane ends up recruiting the two women as top-secret CIA operatives. As their covers, the duo become secretaries in the Embassy. Meanwhile, they’re actually a part of the same high-level mission their husbands died trying to fulfill. Their first mission involves Bea making contact with the asset, “CK Solar,” and making a covert delivery to him. Although this meeting is almost foiled by the unexpected arrival of the KGB Agent Andrei Vasiliev, Twila’s quick, albeit reckless, thinking manages to get them out of the bind.

However, this also puts Bea, or her cover “Nadiya,” on Andrei’s radar. Alternatively, Twila’s job as Shep’s assistant puts her in contact with George Tallman, an American bigwig. This is how she comes to learn about a string of murders happening in Moscow, targeting female sex workers. While the authorities insist there’s no connection between the murders, the CIA Agent can’t help but suspect otherwise. Consequently, she uses her tentative acquaintance with marketplace seller, Ivanna, to investigate the matter alongside Ray, Dane’s right-hand man. Additionally, the station head also brings in another covert operative, Emile, to train the two women. As their mission continues, Bea finds herself having to date Andrei to extract sensitive information. She also gets closer to “CK Solar,” aka Sasha Shevchenko, and learns that he is defecting with the CIA because of his sister’s murder at the hands of the KGB. Simultaneously, Twila realizes that Sasha’s sister, Galyna, was also likely one of the sex workers targeted in the string of murders.

Chris and Tom’s old contact, Vera, reaches out to Bea and Twila, offering to make a deal in exchange for the location of the relocated facility their husbands were looking for. Nonetheless, things become jumbled when the older asset dies, leaving Twila with the information that her husband was a mole in the CIA. While the latter sits on the secret, Bea comes up with the idea of using her grandmother, Manya, as a decoy to extract intel from Vera’s source. Although this puts Manya in grave danger for a moment, she manages to collect an important tape from the asset’s source. This tape contains a recording of Tom having sex with Galyna. Thus, through a layer of emotional turmoil, the newbie agents learn about the crux of the CIA mission. As it turns out, the KGB has been collecting incriminating recordings of American officials to use them as political leverage. The facility at the center of the mission houses these tapes. Although Chris and Tom had gotten close to the location, a KGB ambush, conducted through information supplied via the CIA mole, ultimately took their lives.

Ponies Ending: Who is the Mole?

Even though Chris and Tony are only present in the story as phantoms, the circumstances around their deaths remain at the center of the narrative. It’s what motivates Bea to join the CIA alongside Twila and defines the nature of their covert mission. For the same reason, when the latter learns that Tony may have had a hand in setting the stage for his and his partner’s demise, she’s reluctant to share that detail with her newfound best friend. However, in the show’s climactic moment, when the CIA duo have managed to capture Andrei and bring him to the “Bubble room” inside the Embassy for questioning, he leads them toward a new and unexpected revelation. Previously, Vera had confirmed that Twila’s husband was the mole who had alerted the KGB of their arrival at the Kompromat Facility, where the two agents ultimately died. Nonetheless, Andrei insists that the older asset had confused the two CIA agents. It was actually Bea’s husband who was trading his Agency’s secrets with the KGB rather than Tom.

On its own, Andrei’s explanation wouldn’t have mattered much since the KGB agent hadn’t proved himself to be trustworthy in any way. Yet, the audience gets an insight into another startling discovery unfolding in Manya’s Belarusian village. Dane and Emile set out for the locale after getting a tip about a possible spy in the area. Therefore, upon arriving and rescuing Manya from a tail, the duo drives to a secluded location. There awaits them none other than Chir Grant, the former CIA Agent, who is apparently still alive. If Bea’s husband really is the mole, then it makes sense for him to still be alive even after the bloodthirsty welcome that awaited him and Tom at the Kompromat Facility on their Christmas Eve mission. Even so, this also opens up a whole new can of questions. Were Chris and Tom partners even in their defection to the KGB, and is the latter still alive? Furthermore, Dane’s reaction to the reveal doesn’t give anything away about his level of knowledge about this turnabout.

On the other hand, another plot unfolds that reveals the possibility of a double agent. Initially, Dane learns about the existence of a mole through a bug that Ray’s child finds in the Embassy. Initially, his wife, Cheryl, who also works as a secretary but is shielded from her husband’s work, at least on an official basis, suspects their new nanny, Evie, of being the mole. She’s a newcomer with easy access to the Embassy and Ray’s apartment, which could be exploited to extract intel. On the night of the Elton John concert, Cheryl gets into an argument with her husband, which compels her to return home before the show. As a result, she finds Evie in their house, going through Ray’s locker with classified objects, including a gun. The interaction ends with the housewife shooting the nanny in a chaotic haze. In the aftermath, the latter is understood to be a mole by the CIA, while the former gets to walk away scot-free.

However, this turns out to be an elaborate plot orchestrated by Cheryl. After the shooting, the CIA collected all of Ray’s items, including one mysterious device that Evie was in possession of. As it turns out, this device originally belonged to Ray’s wife, who got it from her secret, possibly KGB lover. The mystery object is actually a bomb, which, when implanted in the archives of the Embassy’s CIA floor, leads to a big blast and ensuing fire. While everyone else evacuates, Bea and Twila, who are in the Bubble with Andrei, learn about the fire surrounding them relatively late. Thus, by the time they try to escape, firefighters have already flooded in. Apparently, some of these firefighters are also KGB operatives who have been sent in to collect intel from the burning Embassy, which was always a part of the original plan involving Cheryl.

How Did Sasha’s Sister Die? Who Killed Galyna?

Initially, Galyna’s death remains a point of intrigue. Yet, there is a general understanding among the CIA and her brother, Sasha, that the KGB was involved in her murder. Once Twila’s connection to George compels her to look into the string of murders of local sex workers, Galyna fits into the profile of the victims. As a result, the new assumed explanation becomes that she was another victim of the KGB’s overarching blackmailing scheme. In this scheme, the Agency has its claws in a prominent hotel that many American political officials visit. Through hidden cameras, the KGB are able to procure incriminating, oftentimes sexually explicit, evidence against their enemies for their own advantage.

Galyna is present in one such tape, involving Chris Grant. A second, internal conspiracy persists within this scheme. KGB Agent Andrei had quickly realized that alongside American officials, USSR politicians, and other important men also used the same hotel for their own clandestine pleasure. Therefore, he has taken to collecting these tapes and stashing them in his own covert facility to blackmail his superiors into granting him promotions. This is how he has been able to progress through the ranks unusually fast. Andrei’s blackmailing scheme doesn’t rely on chance alone. Instead, he hires specific sex workers to seduce people who are of interest to him. Later, in order to tie up loose ends, the Agent kills these women.

As a result, given the nature of Galyna’s involvement with Chris, Bea and the others assume she must have died as a result of Andrei’s killing spree. Nonetheless, in a climactic plot twist, the KGB Agent reveals a different truth. He discloses that Sasha’s sister wasn’t a sex worker. Instead, she was actually covertly working with the KGB, and Chris Grant’s seduction was a part of her mission. However, in the aftermath, the CIA ended up having her killed and staging the murder to look like a KGB affair. This assassination was carried out with one motive in mind: to manipulate Sasha and recruit him as a CIA informant by turning him against his government.

Is Sasha Dead or Alive?

On the night of the Elton John concert, Bea’s cover as Nadiya finally breaks when she inadvertently runs into Andrei as part of a diplomatic meeting between the local government and the American Embassy. Fortunately, she and Twila are able to bolt out of the premises in time. Unfortunately, the KGB Agent remains on their tail. Off the bat, the duo makes their first stop at Sasha’s place. Over the course of her undercover work, Bea, as Nadiya, had to improvise multiple times. As a result, by the end, Andrei believed she was in an unfaithful relationship with Sasha. Consequently, with her own cover blown, the latter wasn’t much safer either.

During escape, Bea manages to take Twila and Sasha to a remote safehouse, which belongs to one of Andrei’s exes, whom she had met during a poker game night. At the cottage, the trio is able to call up the CIA for an emergency extraction. However, before backup arrives, Andrei’s goons manage to find them. This leads to a violent confrontation wherein one of the hired hands stabs Sasha, before Bea manages to kill them. Afterward, Twila attempts to drive them out of the hostile location right as Andrei manages to find them. Ultimately, the chase concludes with the latter ending up in a car crash and CIA operatives arriving in the nick of time. As a result, Sasha is taken to receive much-needed medical help. Even so, his condition remains in the deep end, leaving the chances of his survival up in the air.

Do Bea and Twila Find the Kompromat Facility? Does Andrei Die?

By the end, it starts to become evident that the location of the hidden Kompromat Facility is at the center of Bea and Twila’s mission. Sasha works in a factory that manufactures tape for camera recordings. As an informant, he’s supplying the CIA with blueprints and other information about these tapes. In turn, the Agency is creating a replica of the tapes so that they can implant one at the hotel. Their version of the tape consists of a tracking device, which will help them zero in on the facility where these tapes are stored. Twila and Ray conduct a mission wherein the latter poses as a potential target to get into a hotel room and find the hidden camera to replace its tape. Despite some hiccups, they manage to succeed in this mission.

The next day, Twila and Bea follow the truck, which is actually an ambulance, that takes the tapes out of the hotel and to the Kompromat Facility. However, they notice that Andrei sequesters one package to deliver to his wife before continuing with his route. As a result, the two women split up to follow the two leads. In the end, Bea discovers the location of the Kompromat Facility and also learns that one of the KGB Agents there has videos of Andrei murdering the sex workers. Later, after her cover is blown, and she withdraws to the remote cottage with Twila and Sasha, the trio makes a startling discovery.

As it turns out, the safehouse actually belongs to Andrei, which means Bea has been set up by the Agent’s “ex-girlfriend.” On the bright side, it also leads Twila to discover the crateful of shampoo bottles, which actually contain Andrei’s personal collection of tapes. Although the Agents and Sasha find themselves involved in a car chase afterward, Twila and Bea manage to escape with their lives. Additionally, they also have Andrei, who didn’t die in the car crash, hostage. They are planning on using him as a mole for their own purpose by leveraging his blackmail tapes against him. Nonetheless, Cheryl’s embassy fire puts a damper on all these plans. Although they don’t know it yet, the fire has destroyed all of the tapes in the archives. As a result, in the end, Andrei finds himself in a position of power as he captures both Twila and Bea.