NOTE: This post contains spoilers for Pam & Tommy season 1 episode 7, "Destroyer of Worlds." For the previous episode head here.
The last few episodes of Pam & Tommy have focused on the titular couple, particularly Pam’s (Lily James) experience in the aftermath of the tape becoming a global news story. The legal action put Pam’s work in the spotlight and sales have continued — even though it is stolen material. “Destroyer of Worlds” brings Rand Gauthier (Seth Rogen) back to the forefront, which has seen his get-rich-scheme spiral out of his control. He rages about the bootleg copies, but it's hard to feel sorry for him when it was never his to sell in the first place.
Rand is a big believer in karma, yet he has not considered the ramifications of putting this intimate and private material out into the world. Orders have slumped thanks to copycat sites and enterprising bootleggers selling copies in a Tower Records parking lot. Business partner and self-proclaimed “money guy” Miltie (Nick Offerman) fled to Amsterdam leaving Rand to deal with the man who fronted the $50,000, Louis “Butchie” Peraino (Andrew Dice Clay), who is definitely not someone you want to owe money to. Desperate times call for desperate measures and Rand is out of options.
Meanwhile, Pam is trying to promote her new movie Barb Wire amid the sex tape furor, which brings us to the Tonight Show with Jay Leno interview shown briefly in the first episode. Pam wants to celebrate this new role and her pregnancy but it is hard to escape the shadow cast by the tape scandal.
We are going to separate fact from fiction in the limited series Pam & Tommy. This episode-by-episode guide continues with the Jay Leno interview, how Rand paid his debt to the mob and whether he tried to get the money Tommy Lee (Sebastian Stan) owed him.
What occurred during Pamela Anderson’s appearance on 'The Tonight Show'?
Becoming a late-night talk show punchline is a common celebrity occurrence, but Pam & Tommy reflects on the kind of missives that were being fired at the star to highlight the inherent misogyny of this time. Pamela Anderson was a regular guest during Jay Leno’s tenure of The Tonight Show appearing 32 times between 1994 and 2010. Suffice to say she didn’t hold a grudge for any of the jokes Leno ever made at her expense — or if she did then it isn’t obvious.
In the Pam & Tommy, when Jay (Adam Ray) brings up the tape, Pam answers “What tape, Jay?” before the interview turns tense.
The real version of this interview with Anderson wearing the strappy black Versace frock with her hair in a messy updo she does in the show actually took place at the start of November 1995 — right around the time of the theft — so while Leno makes some eye-roll worthy comments about her chest it was before the world knew about the tape.
The next time she appeared was in April and Tommy Lee joined her during this chat. There is no indication that Leno framed a question in the way he does in this episode from the clips available and this candid reaction from Pam in the series appears to be a wish-fulfillment invention by the writers.
What was the reaction to Barb Wire?
Not great. The movie was released in May 1996 to a slew of bad reviews and ended up making less than $4 million at the US box office. The media tour began the previous year when Anderson appeared at Cannes Film Festival wearing a version of the costume and sporting the character’s iconic tat.
Anderson enthusiastically talked up Barb Wire to The Los Angeles Times during the summer of 1995, including the physicality of the role and her decision to forgo the makeup version of the tattoo for the real deal. “Maybe C.J. will turn into this evil, tattooed woman all of a sudden,” is how she responded when her Baywatch character was brought up. In reality, the ink was covered for the series.
It cannot be stated with certainty whether the tape kept people away from theaters, but Anderson’s movie career never recovered. Cameos in Scooby-Doo, Borat and Scary Movie 3 followed, but no major leading roles.
Did Rand have to work for the mob to pay off his debt?
Yes. In the Rolling Stone article Pam & Tommy is based on, Gauthier tells Amanda Chicago Lewis he did have to play debt collector via intimidation to pay back the cash he owed. First, Butchie invited him over for dinner of linguine and oysters and purposefully got him drunk so he could ascertain the truth about whether Gauthier and Miltie were ripping him off. “Then, after dinner, he brought out Bing cherries soaked in Everclear,” is how Chicago Lewis describes Gauthier's experience.
In the show, Rand doesn’t get a choice about this meeting and it doesn’t come with a meal either. The alcohol-soaked cherries do feature, as this is how Butchie decides Rand isn’t in on any scheme — he’s just a naive guy who trusted the wrong guy. But he still has a debt to pay and the mob has plenty of people who owe them money.
Did Tommy set $27,000 on fire?
Rand sends Tommy a letter demanding the $26,938 (“no more, no less”) he owes him for the contracting work and includes the stolen wedding bikini from the safe in the typed letter as proof it is him. He isn’t going to return the tape but Rand explains this money is the karmic payback that will lift the dark cloud. Tommy sees it differently, setting fire to the bundle of cash when they meet in the Dodger Stadium parking lot.
There is no indication this ever happened and it is simply a way for Pam & Tommy to address the wider themes (such as the way the tape hurts Pam) and give Tommy a rock and roll moment.
