When Pose co-creator Steven Canals sketched out the initial idea for the ground-breaking trans person of colour-led show, he was willing into being the TV program he so desperately needed to see as a young man. Partnering with queer super-producer Ryan Murphy and business partner Brad Falchuk, the resulting Ballroom-centred drama delivered a huge representation boost.
But, shepherded by ace trans writers and directors including Janet Mock, Pose was more than just button-ticking, introducing characters that felt real, delivering a fresh perspective that centred queer Black and Latinx joy (and, yes, pain).
Packed full of magical moments, here are a few of our favourites (with spoilers aplenty, so proceed with caution if new to the show).
Stealing the look
Indya Moore as Angel Evangelista in the opening episode of 'Pose' - in a dress very recently in a museum display.
Queer history has all too often been deliberately obscured. Well, there’s no ignoring Elektra (Dominique Jackson), the mighty (and snappy) Mother of the House of Abundance. In one of the greatest show openers ever, we see her lead the charge in a museum heist to raid right royal costumes for their next catwalk. Even if the police crash the party, we know from the off that these queens are writing their own story.
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Pilot
episode • Pose • drama • 1h 14m
MA15+
episode • Pose • drama • 1h 14m
MA15+
Blanca flies free
For all Elektra’s towering presence, it’s the magnetic MJ Rodriguez’ Blanca who lays the foundation stone on which Pose is built. The season one opener hands her a presumable death sentence via her HIV-positive diagnosis, but instead of laying down in the gutter, she builds the House of Evangelista, bringing Damon (Ryan Jamaal Swain), Angel (Indya Moore) and Lil Papi (Angel Bismark) with her.
Blanca (MJ Rodriguez).
Pray for Tell
Billy Porter shines as Pray Tell. Credit: Pari Dukovic / FX
Billy Porter is bedazzling in every conceivable way, and it would have been easy to simply pop him up on a pedestal as Ballroom judge Pray Tell, dispensing harsh truths and build-up bon mots as necessary. But episode four laid out the devastating drama to come as he discovers his HIV-positive status, keeping it to himself.
Stream free On Demand
The Fever
episode • Pose • drama • 54m
MA15+
episode • Pose • drama • 54m
MA15+
It’s just business
Evan Peters’ pinstripe-wearing business wannabe highflyer Stan epitomises how clumsy straight culture negatively impacts queer folks, conducting an illicit affair with Angel while his wife Patty (Kate Mara) is stuck at home begging for a dishwasher. But the side gig’s busted big time when Stan’s bozo boss Matt (Dawson’s Creek alum James Van Der Beek) blows his cover in episode five’s humdinger.
Stream free On Demand
Mother's Day
episode • Pose • drama • 49m
MA15+
episode • Pose • drama • 49m
MA15+
Home truths
Patty confronting Angel in a diner in episode six is one of the show’s most astounding scenes. Playing out with more empathy than you might expect, things take a turn when Patty realises Angel is a proud trans woman and tries to demean her, getting a serve in return. It’s a masterpiece moment, as is the Stan vs Matt smackdown that follows.
Stream free On Demand
Love Is the Message
episode • Pose • drama • 49m
M
episode • Pose • drama • 49m
M
Mother knows best
Even the most adoring of parents understand that you need to set boundaries to keep your kids on the straight and narrow. So you feel Banca’s pain when she’s forced to turf Angel and Lil Papi out in episode seven because they’re doing drugs. It all comes good in the season finale when she wins Mother of the Year, and the now down-on-her-luck Elektra crawls to her home.
Stream free On Demand
Pink Slip
episode • Pose • drama • 42m
MA15+
episode • Pose • drama • 42m
MA15+
Strike a pose
'Pose' season 2 takes us into the '90s.
Broken Hart
Season two’s opening gambit also contains one of the show’s most brutal come-downs. Paying due respect to the countless victims of President Reagan’s monstrous failure to act fast on the HIV/AIDS crisis, Pray Tell and Blanca visit Hart Island, a mass burial site for those far too many poor souls whose families did not come to claim them.
Stream free On Demand
Acting Up
episode • Pose • drama • 56m
M
episode • Pose • drama • 56m
M
Hard as nails
Broadway titan Patti LuPone makes a welcome appearance across season two as Frederica Norman, a penny-pinching landlord who promises Blanca the world she’s always dreamed of – a nail salon to call her own – only to cruelly set her hopes ablaze, literally. Which leads to the best perp walk when karma comes biting.
Trunk of junk
Elektra is often played as pantomime villain, with Dominique Jackson simply too good at being bad not to let her catty clap-backs let loose and cry havoc. Which is why episode three’s utterly wild twist, when the now-dominatrix discovers a dead body in her sex-on-premises gig and deals with it in dastardly fashion, flies.
Stream free On Demand
Butterfly/Cocoon
episode • Pose • drama • 41m
MA15+
episode • Pose • drama • 41m
MA15+
Farewell Candy
While the trials of the Ballroom crowd are never far away, the brutal reality of male violence against trans women comes like a thunderclap when Candy (Angelica Ross), the lovably anarchic former daughter of Elektra, is shockingly murdered. But she gets the last laugh with a ghostly curtain call in season two, episode four.
Stream free On Demand
Never Knew Love Like This Before
episode • Pose • drama • 59m
M
episode • Pose • drama • 59m
M
Empty Nest
One of the finest moments in season two comes with the simplest of images at the climax of episode eight: Blanca all alone in a now empty House of Evangelista, with her adopted children all flying the roost. ‘You want gratitude, get a puppy,” Elektra notes. While there are two more episodes, this feels like the season two closer.
Stream free On Demand
Revelations
episode • Pose • drama • 52m
MA15+
episode • Pose • drama • 52m
MA15+
Home, sweet?
Billy Porter’s Pray Tell, so often the good angel to Elektra’s sassy devil, is just as fallible as all of Pose’s outstanding cast, but the show’s joy always leans into redemption. So it does as he faces down alcohol addiction and his impending mortality on a road trip home to face his mother and the church. But it’s his reconnection with former lover Vernon (Norm Lewis) that glimmers brightest.
Stream free On Demand
Take Me to Church
episode • Pose • drama • 48m
M
episode • Pose • drama • 48m
M
Shotgun wedding
While episode five of season three is just the warm-up to Angel and Lil Papi’s marriage, it is set alight by some of Elektra’s finest burns as she reads the riot act to a transphobic bridal shop owner. As if that’s not glorious enough, she then sends her newly minted mafia connections in to relieve the joint of all wedding dresses. Of course, the actual nuptials next episode are delightful.
Wrapped in blanket
For all the Ballroom noise, it’s often Pose’s quietest moments that sing loudest. So it is with Pray Tell returning home in the show’s two-part finale, taking off his makeup and false eyelashes while looking in the mirror. We know the end is nigh, but he won’t be alone, with time for Blanca to help him finish his contribution to the historic AIDS Memorial Quilt and duet ‘Ain’t No Mountain High Enough’ before the show takes its well-earned bow.
Stream free On Demand
Something Old, Something New
episode • Pose • drama • 1h
M
episode • Pose • drama • 1h
M
Stream free On Demand
Series Finale
episode • Pose • drama • 1h 24m
M
episode • Pose • drama • 1h 24m
M
Pose seasons 1-3 premieres Friday 14 February on SBS On Demand. Episodes air weekly on SBS Viceland starting Friday 14 February at 10:30PM.
Stream free On Demand
Pose
