With Its Inviting Storytelling And Dynamic Cast NBC’s The Thing About Pam Needs To Be Your Next Binge Session

Narrated by the one and only Keith Morrison The Thing About Pam is a well-crafted retelling of the murderous tale of Pam Hupp who, in December of 2011, murdered her BFF Betsy Faria by stabbing her 55 times (a bit much) and successfully framed Betsy’s husband Russell Faria for it all for Betsy’s life insurance money. Pam allegedly also managed to knock off her mother Shirley Neumann (she was never found guilty of it but the amount of evidence found suggested otherwise) and not-so-allegedly, murder a physically and emotionally disabled man named Louis Gumpenberger (she was found guilty for his murder) who that it was in self-defense. Thankfully Pam is currently serving a life sentence without the chance of parole but small-town cronyism kept Pam free for years and enabled her to kill again before it all finally caught up with not just Pam, but the town of Troy itself.

An abbreviated version of the story is Pam and Betsy worked together at a local realtor’s office, Pam got fired and years later after Betsy had been diagnosed with cancer the two reunited and the pair became best friends, almost inseparable. Betsy eventually made Pam the sole beneficiary of her insurance policy and 5 days later wound up dead, her husband was framed by Pam and the prosecutor’s office ran with it because it’s a small town and they wanted a quick conviction. The ensuing trial was a total three-ring circus with the judge blatantly favoring the prosecutor/DA requests to block most of the defense’s evidence, the police mishandling or flat-out lying about evidence, and the performance of pillar-of-the-community and notable nice lady/star witness Pam Hupp. While Russ did time in prison, his defense attorney Joel Schwartz never gave up on him, working behind the scenes to get Russ a new trial and in those rare moments of justice, he got one.

Even with Russ being found not guilty, and the overwhelming amount of evidence that Pam Hupp was somehow connected to Betsy’s death, she wasn’t investigated for it, at least not by the police but that’s what Dateline is for. In fact, Pam wasn’t investigated for anything up until the incident involving Louis in 2016 except by Dateline. The total mishandling of the Faria case also became the bedrock for a popular political candidate’s platform who was looking to unseat the DA and had access to all the right information in all the right places. And people. But places too.

So, with one episode left in the limited series, we’re now watching the downfall of one Pam Hupp, a really nice lady whose inner demons won but thanks to a charming, almost Columbo-like defense attorney who never gave up (and in the process rid himself of a few of his own malignant spirits) justice prevailed. Eventually.

The Thing About Pam is beautifully shot with very interesting and occasionally campy visuals and flashbacks mixed in throughout the whole series. Keith Morrison’s narration makes it almost feel like you’re watching an old-school Christmas program featuring Rudolph or Frosty The Snowman and it just amps up the quirkiness. Renée Zellweger is utterly fascinating as Pam Hupp, along with the equally impressive  Judy Greer as DA Leah Askey (you will grow to hate her and that’s ok) and Ben Chase as Nick Swanson.

The finale airs April 12th, 2022 on NBC.com but all previous episodes can be streamed on NBC and Hulu.