TV Show Review - Pam & Tommy

Season: Mini Series
Genre: Drama
Number of episodes: 8
Year: 2022
Starring: Lily James, Sebastian Stan, Seth Rogen, Nick Offerman, Taylor Schilling

Description: Follows the story of Pamela Anderson (Lily James) and Tommy Lee’s (Sebastian Stan) relationship, going back to their whirlwind romance that started with them marrying after only knowing each other for 96 hours in 1995.

Review: The first episode starts of from the perspective of Rand Gauthier, a handyman working in Pamela and Tommy’s house to remodel their bedroom. Of Pamela we see little and it is mostly Tommy who leaves a poor first impression on Rand. He is highly inflammable and fickle, always changing plans. Both Rand and the contractor already have thousands of dollars in them, without any down payment at all. When Rand finally dares to ask for the down payment, he is fired. And no money for Rand. Or his toolbox. For Rand it is clear: it is time for karma. Rand breaks into the garage and steals their safe, filled with guns, diamonds and…. A sex tape.
That first episode shows u Pamela and Tommy as most of us will know them: a privileged, extravagant, and hot celebrity couple. Only to then show a very different side of the couple. The subsequent episode jumps back to how Pam and Tommy first met and fell in love. Their first days together are actually much sweeter than you might think. Because even though they married on a whim, in retrospect they actually turn out to be a really good fit for each other, until, the series suggests, the sex tape threw a spanner in the works.
Somehow you understand that the makers could not avoid the sex tape and a large part of the series revolves around this and the effect it has on the people involved. Tommy doesn’t really think much of it at first and doesn’t understand why Pamela is so upset, because in his words: “it’s not like it’s anything they haven’t seen before”, referring to Pam in Playboy. The video was stolen from them and published without their consent. With that, Pamela gave permission to shoot for Playboy, therefore it was her own choice. This video being released into the world wasn’t. And Pam has a point by saying that Tommy will probably be high fived for being in such a video and she will be called a slut. The position of a woman is very different in this situation then that of a man would be. Tommy later also realizes this, when he is confronted with comments as well.
Although Rand’s storyline often takes away the focus, it is a good choice to show his perspective. His initial intention was to take revenge on Tommy, after being treated the way he did. But he didn’t think it through, because the one being hurt and affected the most if Pamela. And that wasn’t his intention. He didn’t think of the consequences and let revenge lead his actions. You can see Rand being sorry for what he did, mostly towards Pamela.
The strongest scenes are those where the message is not spelled out in neon letters. Like a scene during the filming of Baywatch, in which the close-up of Pamela’s buttocks gets more attention than that of her face. Or the one in which Anderson is forced to comment live on her home video during testimony by opposing counsel and answers questions like, “How old were you when you first showed the general public your genitals?” The fact that all the lawyers are men need not even be mentioned in this regard.
Sebastian Stan and Lily James throw themselves wholeheartedly into their roles: it is almost uncanny how convincingly James resembles Anderson. All sympathy clearly lies with her as well.
I enjoyed “Pam & Tommy”, especially how Stan and James portrayed them so well.