The Thing About Pam

I listened to the podcast, so I did know the background on this case. The case is very interesting, so I was intrigued.

It seems like intentionally they don't want you to really like any of the characters.

Personally, I do love when a show is narrated, but it feels almost silly the way that this was done.

If I were a family member or friend of Betsy Faria and watched how this show was framed, I would be upset. Somehow, they managed to take a heartbreaking case and turn it almost 'silly'.

I say check out the show, but keep in mind that this was a woman (Betsy) whose story deserves to be told.

By now anyone who doesn't know who Pam Hupp is should do a quick search. This limited six-episode series is not intended to surprise you, we pretty well know the sequence of events. It is intended to entertain. With heavy makeup and prosthetics Renee Zellweger is unrecognizable until she speaks. She plays Pam with a lot of dark humor, I'd suppose the character is exaggerated. But the way she does it totally entertaining.

This week I finished the series and my overall take is the old saying "Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction."

Good series. The actors are all in fine form.

Zellweger is excellent in this playing the Machiavellian Pam up against weak-minded, incompetent, small-town law enforcement. This whole works extraordinarily well despite my prejudice against narrated stories and 'true story' drama. Judy Greer performs admirably as the closed-minded prosecutor, and effectively colludes with the police, the judge and Pam in framing the innocent husband.

Well done whoever cast Renee Zellweger as Pam Krupp. She is by far an unobvious choice but is absolutely excellent as the fascinatingly unlikeable- but seemingly mundane and harmless- Pam. There is a true crime book that has recently been released which is how I knew of the story (having never seen the dateline show.) It's twisty and I can see why a show would have been warranted. The creative angle here of Pam slurping her drink and the Desperate Housewives style narrative just work in bringing to story to life as a sort of disturbing caricature as opposed to a dark and miserable crime retelling. This was original and interesting, particularly as I had a vested interest in the case already.

This is a dark comedy, folks, especially with the Keith Morrison narration. If that's not your cup of tea, then you'll hate this show. If, like me, you watch reality crime shows and have a slightly "off" sense of humour, you'll stick with the series, as I plan to.