Pam & Tommy Review: More Jane Fonda, Less Drilling And Pounding (Episodes 1-3)
If you’re wondering if Pam & Tommy is a well-made series of television, the answer is a resounding yes.
The show is filled with nostalgia, a killer soundtrack, and an endless string of fantastic performances. It entertains, is well-paced, and the hair and makeup team can all but guarantee an Emmy nomination.
There’s so much to love in the first three episodes of Pam & Tommy, but that doesn’t mean the show always sticks the landing, or feels ultimately satisfying. It depends on your expectations, but while the characters have the look, they’re often written as cartoonish, rather than realistic.
So, yes, the show is fun, but it’s not exactly an introspective and nuanced look at the infamous sex tape leak that rocked the tabloids in the mid-’90s.
It takes a much lighter approach than that, but manages to be funniest when it’s not trying to be. Tommy’s conversations with his animatronic penis fall out of tone with the rest of the series. Stan certainly stays committed, even in the wildest of moments, but the comedic beats tend to land best when James and Stan are just able to play and explore their characters together.
Pam & Tommy shines brightest when it focuses on its star, Lily James’ Pam. The heart of the series, James works hard to give depth to Pam’s story. She makes audiences empathize with her, root for her always, even when the writing doesn’t.
The world underestimated — and severely undervalued — Pamela Anderson. Lily James makes sure you know that.
The show also does a good job adding layers to the Pam and Tommy romance, portraying them more as two kids crazy in love, instead of some type of pre-planned media frenzy. Episodes 1 – 3 don’t exactly give them sincere emotional depth — especially where Tommy’s concerned — but it definitely adds authenticity to their relationship.
It also makes sure to paint Tommy appropriately predatory — an important point to not be glossed over.
That authenticity is never more apparent than when approaching their sex life. There’s nudity, of course, but their dynamic is goofier than it ever is salacious (with a few necessary exceptions), backed by their desire to get pregnant.
If there’s one major hiccup in Pam & Tommy’s first installments it’s the excessive amount of time it spends on Seth Rogan’s Rand Gauthier. The dueling perspectives of a single incident is interesting storytelling, but the expanded view of Gauthier’s personal life feels relatively unnecessary.
It’s important to know how the leak happened, and even why it happened, but the extra subplots — specifically Rand and Taylor Schilling’s Erica — tend to meander in ways that disrupt the show’s otherwise exceptional pacing.
The series would be better off focusing on expanding Tommy Lee’s perspective. For now, his view is limited — the man waiting at home as Pam takes over the world, not the international rocker drummer we know him to be.
Pam & Tommy is clearly more about Pam than Tommy. That’s an unwaveringly smart decision — Tommy Lee isn’t exactly someone deserving of accolades and attention. The show should, however, be more about him — flaws and all — than the carpenter turned porn director who leaked his sex tape with Pamela Anderson.
When touching on the show’s inability to look too deep into the complexities of its lead characters, I remind myself the show has only released the first three episodes of the series.
The sex tape barely breaks to the public in the final moments of Episode 3, and it’s possible the remainder of Pam & Tommy is an introspective study on the invasion of privacy, and the emotional consequences of celebrity culture.
If anyone is going to make sure viewers walk away finding meaning to the series, it’s James. She is clearly determined to show the many facets of Pamela Anderson, and the pivot the story in ways that make it clear she was a star, the victim of a crime, and a legendary public figure the show hopes only to treat with respect.
What did you think of these episodes of Pam & Tommy? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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Pam & Tommy is now airing on Hulu.
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Kat Pettibone
Kat Pettibone is an aspiring TV writer, artist, and poet. As a Pacey Witter Fan Club lifer who never missed a TGIF, she has dreams of becoming your generations small screen Nora Ephron. She's also an avid lover of coffee, dogs and all things spooky.