'Pam & Tommy' Review: Hulu's biographical series is insane and unmissable TV
Making a series on real-life people is never easy. Yes, you can get a lot of material on them, but it’s actually the things that no one knows about that make the project worth watching. So, Hulu took the responsibility of letting the world know that it was not The Kardashians who took the world by storm, it was Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee who changed the Internet forever with their sex tape.
Titled ‘Pam & Tommy’, the show revolves around the same controversy, how it got leaked and how it gave birth to pop culture. Now, this is one story that the entire world knows, but they don’t know about why Rand Gauthier (Seth Rogen) stole the tape and what kind of problems came into the couple’s life that made the relationship sour. But, one thing that makes the series highly addictive is the way the story has been told. It’s freaking insane. From how Pam and Tommy fell in love to how they get married, the makers have made sure that they didn’t hold back in telling the story how it was supposed to.
RELATED ARTICLES
'Pam & Tommy' Episode 3: Pam gets pregnant as Rand heads out to ruin their lives
From Tommy Lee to Dan Hayhurst: Here are all the men Pamela Anderson has dated
So, the couple got married after knowing each other for just 96 hours. As soon as they return, they get to know how their lives are changed. Tommy Lee was one of the leading drummers during the 1980s, but it all came crashing down during the late ‘90s. Meanwhile, the 90s was a decade that still defines Pamela Anderson. She took the entire world by storm with ‘Baywatch’ and became a sex symbol. However, she needs more than that. She wanted to tell the world she can act as well.
One day, while watching a movie, they shared things with each other that leads up to them having sex. The video recorder was on and the entire incident was recorded. Long story short, the video gets stolen by Rand Gauthier, a carpenter working at their Malibu mansion, and decides to sell the video on the Internet.
The series does not hold back in showing things that might sound illogical to you, but they are really important for the series. The sex scenes between Lily James and Sebastian Stan are “important” and they are an integral part of the series. The camera work is brilliant and the makeup and hairstyling department have done a splendid job with James’ transformation. But, it’s the story and the execution that makes the show worth watching.
Lily James as Pamela Anderson is the soul of this show. Everyone was mad when she was cast as the ‘90s bombshell, but the actor gives them a befitting reply with a performance that might turn out to be career-defining. In most of the scenes, viewers will hard to believe that it’s James standing and not Pamela. She is phenomenal.
Meanwhile, Sebastian Stan is damn brilliant as Tommy Lee. Tommy Lee seems to be a person with two personalities. One side shows that he is arrogant while the other one shows him as caring and loving. Stan plays Tommy with precision and makes us realize that he is much more than a superhero with a metal arm. He is the real actor.
Seth Rogen is superb as well. His nervousness in some scenes is actually how a normal person would react if he or she has something really controversial with them. In the first three episodes, he shows his range from being a guy who cracks jokes at weird times, to a guy who can be a criminal mastermind as well. Nick Offerman is stupendous as well. Although we don’t see much of Taylor Schilling in the first three episodes, whenever she is on the screen she just mesmerizes you with her flamboyant acting. She is really good.
All in all, there have only been a handful of shows that are insane yet so amazing. ‘Pam and Tommy’ is one of them. It might have an abundance of sex scenes, but it also has a story that needs to be seen and heard. These two people changed the internet and the Internet changed the world. So indirectly, they changed the world with something really private.
Also, the very first scene where an actor playing Jay Leno asks Pamela how it feels to have such exposure after the sex tape leak shows how disgraceful have been become so rotten.
‘Pam and Tommy’ is absurd, insane, and un-missable.
‘Pam & Tommy’ returns to Hulu with a new episode every Wednesday.