Pam & Tommy Finale: Hulu’s Series Justified Itself Despite a Controversial Origin

“One movie shouldn’t kill my whole film career,” Pamela Anderson (Lily James) says with a heartbreaking, quasi-hopeful laugh early in the final episode of Pam & Tommy. But of course, it essentially did. It probably ended her marriage to Tommy Lee (Sebastian Stan), too, and it certainly made her—as she put it—a walking punchline.

But Pam & Tommy sought to set the record straight, and in that it succeeded. In eight episodes, the Hulu series justified itself after a controversial start, as it was made without the participation (or permission) of Anderson. And yet, it is clear after having watched Pam & Tommy that of course Anderson wouldn’t want to comment on it or be a part of it in any way—when it comes to the infamous sex tape, she cannot win. There is never a “right” choice for her to make.

As a pre-teen when the tape was released, all I knew was third-hand pop culture information; there was something scandalous and tawdry about it beyond it being a sex tape. Later, as PR-approved sex tape “leaks” became common for certain low-tier celebrities, it further obfuscated the truth. The presumption was that Anderson and Lee wanted this exposure, and that they paid no real price for it (and maybe even benefitted). One of the most shocking revelations both to me and those I’ve talked about the series with was simply that Anderson and Lee were married at the time. Further bombshells: it was not made as porn, and it was not shared by the couple.

In that, the series became educational. Pam & Tommy crusaded for Anderson even though she rightfully never wanted to hear about or think about the tape again. But through the miniseries, there has now been a worthwhile reset of our understanding of the events—even if the most intimate parts of them have been fictionalized. The Hulu series frames this as a love story, and never sarcastically. The optimism, hope, and vulnerability that James and Stan (both exceptional) bring to roles they disappear into is what makes the story fully human. Even Lee, who doesn’t come off especially well, is at least painted as a man who desperately loves his wife and who would do anything to make her happy, even if he’s often too caught up in his own pride and, frankly, stupidity to do it right.

As Lacy Baugher Milas wrote in her initial review of the series, the strongest aspect of the miniseries is that very humanity. It gives Anderson pathos and dimension, chastising us as we watch it to consider our own part in the way we blamed or assumed wrongdoing on her part. It also gives a little context and grace to Lee, despite his toxic machismo, in the way his band was losing its relevancy, as well as his helplessness at understanding his wife’s anger over the tape. He even says in the finale that while he does like showing off his dick, this time it wasn’t consensual. I kinda snickered at that line (as even his bandmate says, “there’s worse things in the world than knowing you got a monster hog”), but then I was chastened. I was now putting on Tommy what everyone had put on Pamela: “You are seen so often without your clothes on, why are you mad at it this time?” But of course he was violated as well. The difference was, he was congratulated for his part in it while Pamela was viewed, in her own words, as a slut. Even though she was engaging in intimate relations with her husband.