Dhruv Trivedi
‘Pam & Tommy’ is a biographical drama that follows the whirlwind romance of rockstar Tommy Lee and actress Pamela Anderson. Set around the events that led to “history’s most infamous sex tape,” the eight-part miniseries also delves into the story of how a disgruntled carpenter chances upon the tape and decides to try and profit from it.
The opening episodes of the series are set across multiple timelines and set the stage for the explosive scandal to unfold. Episode 3 closes on a particularly dramatic note, with the titular couple celebrating their marriage, unaware of the tape that has gone missing. A lot’s about to go down, so let’s take a closer look at episodes 1, 2, and 3 of ‘Pam & Tommy’ and make sure we’ve picked up every glistening detail so far. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Pam & Tommy Episodes 1, 2, and 3 Recap
Episode 1, titled ‘Drilling and Pounding,’ fittingly opens on a construction site where Rand (Seth Rogen), the carpenter, is working on building Tommy Lee’s “love pad.” The rockstar is a belligerent employer and soon fires Rand just to prove a point, keeping his tools as well. Fuming, the carpenter plans a “compensatory” robbery at Tommy’s house and comes away with the wealthy rockstar’s safe. Apart from a bevy of expensive baubles, Rand also finds a tape in it. Upon playing it, he and his friend, Uncle Miltie, find to their surprise that the tape contains a private, intimate recording of Pamela and Tommy.
Episode 2 is titled ‘I Love You, Tommy’ and takes us back two months to when Tommy and Pamela first met. Through flashbacks, we see how Tommy remains infatuated with Pamela after a wild night at the club and follows her to Cancun. The two get married, having barely known each other for two days, and the episode contains a fantastic sequence with the titular couple on the flight back home, slowly coming to terms with the fact that they know almost nothing about the person they’ve married.
For the most part, however, the wild romance between the rockstar and actress continues, and Tommy even decides to change his renovation plans to include Pamela’s ideas into his Malibu house. It is around this time, during their honeymoon, that the infamous tape is filmed. Episode 3 (‘Jane Fonda’) then brings us back to the present, where Rand and Uncle Miltie realize that the tape is a goldmine, especially given Pamela Anderson’s fame from her role in ‘Baywatch.’
Pam & Tommy Episode 3 Ending: How Does Rand Sell the Tape?
After multiple rejections from adult-video distributors, Rand and Uncle Miltie realize that the tape cannot be sold without permission from those that appear on it (Tommy and Pamela). The carpenter then hits upon the idea of using the internet, a new-fangled technology at the time, to supply the tape directly to buyers. Along with Uncle Miltie, Rand finds a sketchy producer and sets up a website to start selling the video.
Expecting a windfall, Rand takes Erica out to dinner at a fancy restaurant. Though he finds it exceedingly difficult, he manages to keep himself from telling her about the underground celebrity sex tape he is planning on selling. Meanwhile, Pamela struggles with her acting career and tries to break out of being used in shots only for her body. However, as season 3 closes, she finds out that she is pregnant, and both Pamela and Tommy celebrate joyously in their newly renovated home.
And so, the titular couple celebrates their pregnancy, not knowing that a private video of theirs is currently being processed to be sold across the world. According to Rand, over a million people use the internet (at the time), and he expects to reach a sizeable chunk of them through “search engines like Yahoo and AltaVista.” Pamela’s fame as the titillating ‘Baywatch’ beauty ensures that demand for the tape is extensive, and the carpenter is seen making copies and mailing them out to the orders he receives online through the website.
We also briefly see Uncle Miltie traveling to various banks in different countries to deposit money. This is a reminder that the tapes being sold are, in fact, illegal, and therefore, the proceeds from their sale consist of black money that needs to be laundered. Uncle Miltie’s frequent trips to foreign banks also hint that business is booming and the tapes are selling exceedingly well. Unsurprisingly, Rand needs a large number of VCRs because he wants to step up production and begin producing many more recordings of the private tape to keep up with the orders.
What’s Next For Pamela and Tommy?
At the end of episode 3, the couple celebrates the news of their pregnancy with joyous abandon, blissfully unaware that their private video is now doing the rounds. This is strange, considering Tommy still hasn’t realized that Rand made off with an entire safe full of valuables from the house. The most likely explanation is that the rockstar has been so obsessed with Pamela that he has paid little attention to anything else since they met. Enamored by his newfound romance, Tommy has failed to notice that the safe, and therefore the tape, is missing.
Of course, considering the tape is being sold online, it is only a matter of time before the celebrity couple finds out that their intimate moments have been publicized. The timing is especially dramatic (and tragic) because Pamela is attempting to be taken more seriously as an actress and has just found out that she is pregnant. Suffice it to say, finding out about the tape is going to be a colossal shock for Pamela and Tommy and is going to inform a significant portion of the show’s narrative.
Read More: Where is Pamela Anderson Now?
