NBC’s The Thing About Pam episode five opens with Pam (Renee Zellweger) dragging a garbage bag while carrying a shovel. The year is 2003 and she’s in the Florida Everglades. While dragging the bag to the back of her car we hear Keith Morrison say, “The past is a powerful thing.”
The action moves to Naples, Florida and Pam blow-drying a $100 bill. Money’s spread out all over the bed and Mark (Sean Bridgers) arrives to question what’s going on. Instead of responding Pam asks for a suitcase. He asks her not to do this because he was under the impression they were going to make things work in Florida. She changes the subject and talks about the heat. Pam he wants to go back to Missouri but Mark’s unhappy because he thought they had a plan in Florida.
“I moved my life to Florida for your baseball. We all know how that went,” replies Pam.
Mark wonders if wanting to go back to Missouri has to do with the money on the bed. She insists she just needs a change.
The lady seen exercising in the pool in episode four has passed away and Pam makes it all about herself, complaining the woman’s family is on her case and won’t even let her help plan the funeral. Mark’s stuck on the Missouri conversation and reminds his wife they don’t even have a place there. She insists they can stay at her mom’s.
We learn Pam’s daughter, Sarah, isn’t allowed at Pam’s mom’s house. However, Pam thinks it’ll be fine.
Fast-forward to Troy, Missouri in 2016. Pam attempts to return an item to the store without a receipt or a tag. The clerk tells her they can only give her store credit and Pam does what she does best – lies. She claims she bought it for her dog but he hurt his legs and can’t use them. Plus, the collar’s now too small because her dog gained some weight.
When she doesn’t get her way, she asks to speak to the manager. The clerk and other employees speak in hushed tones, and suddenly the clerk realizes who her customer is. “That’s Pam Hupp? Like, from the Dateline show?”
Keith pipes in with a voiceover. “Here she was, the once anonymous housewife and mother and now the TV star, the talk of the town, the famous Pam Hupp.”
The clerk wonders whether Pam killed Betsy. Pam realizes what’s going on, picks up the collar, and leaves.
Attorney Joel Schwartz (Josh Duhamel) meets with Mike Wood, a man who works at the District Attorney’s office. Mike asks if Joel still thinks Pam killed Betsy and Joel confirms he does. However, his opinion doesn’t change anything unless DA Leah Askey wants to reopen the case. Mike jokes that Askey would rather swallow glass.
Mike explains he wants to run against Askey and that if he wins, they can go after Betsy’s real killer – Pam Hupp. Mike wonders if Joel knows other undisclosed facts about the case and Joel says yes, but Mike can’t campaign just on bringing Pam Hupp to trial. Mike believes he can. He’s going to build it around the one person who hid the truth and he’s convinced he’s the guy who can find it, prosecute it, and get real justice. Joel agrees to help.
Pam’s back home complaining to Mark that she can’t even make a return because everyone thinks she killed Betsy since that’s what the TV says. She believes the whole town is against her now. Pam notices Mark and their son, Travis (Drew Scheid), glancing at each other and asks what’s up. Mark suggests they think about moving. It’s not just her – the whole family is experiencing blowback.
She thinks they’re being a bunch of babies and claims she’s the only one taking the hits. She adds, “And you don’t see me running away, do ya?” in a mocking tone. She brings up the house they recently bought and is sure she can turn it around and sell it to her daughter. Travis doesn’t see that happening.
Mark reminds Pam if she loses the trial over the insurance money, she’s going to have to pay Betsy’s girls that money. Pam laughs and asks, “Lose? You think I’m going to lose?”
Dateline producer Cathy Singer (Alice Barrett Mitchell) is on the phone discussing Pam’s mother’s death. The coroner ruled it an accident but her system had 14-times the recommended dose of Ambien in it. Cathy had her own experts investigate what it would take for someone to fall to their death, even though she can’t prove someone pushed her off the balcony. Cathy points out it’s the second time someone close to Pam Hupp has recently died and Pam collected the money.
“One theory is that Pam killed her friend and then killed her own mother simply for the money,” says Cathy.
Cathy questions the woman at the nursing home’s front desk, asking if she found it curious that on the night of her mother’s accident Pam said Shirley wouldn’t be down for dinner or breakfast the following morning either. The woman admits she didn’t at the time because she thought Pam was such a nice lady. However, she’s now changed her mind and doesn’t think she’s nice anymore.
Pam sits at home reading as Keith Morrison chimes in saying Pam had a fascination with crime novels. We see Pam using sticky notes to mark pages in her current book when her phone rings. It’s Cathy Singer and Pam asks how Chicago is. Cathy informs her she’s actually finishing things up in Troy. Cathy gets to the point and lets Pam know she’s heard about her mom, Shirley. Pam immediately blurts out that she didn’t kill her mom.
Cathy informs Pam they’re doing another Dateline and suggests they should talk so they can hear Pam’s side of things. Pam’s a little shocked to hear about another Dateline episode and declines to participate.
It’s been five years since Betsy’s death as we see Betsy’s daughter Mariah (Gideon Adlon) throwing away little bottles of alcohol and Betsy’s mom, Janet, doing dishes. Keith Morrison talks about how Betsy’s girls are still coping with her death, and they still haven’t seen a dime of their mother’s money.
Mariah has a journal with her as she cracks open a beer. Her grandma notices the journal’s almost full and asks what she writes about. Mariah explains she writes her mom letters and sometimes poems – things she wishes she would have said to her. Mariah confesses sometimes she writes to Russ too.
After Mariah leaves Janet calls Pam and leaves a message asking if they can work this out tonight. She suggests Pam do the right thing and give the girls their money.
Pam’s surrounded by media when she walks up to the courthouse with Mark. She holds his hand and clutches her signature big pop in the other hand.
Mariah and Lily’s (Olivia Luccardi) lawyer tells the girls he doesn’t think it’s a good idea for either of them to testify in the trial. As they’re discussing it Russ (Glenn Fleshler) walks into the courtroom and takes a seat. Mariah wonders if he’s there for them while Lily’s still dead set on Russ being the one who killed their mother.
“He kills mom and now he wants to see us get the money,” says Lily.
Pam’s sworn in to testify and notices documents on the stand. Attached to them is a photo of Betsy and after making an unpleasant face she flips the paper and picture over so she doesn’t have to see it. The girls’ lawyer asks his first question and Pam claims she can’t hear him. He asks the judge if he can treat the witness as hostile and the judge grants him that.
The lawyer then asks Pam if she was asked to take another oath during Russ’s trial in which she was asked to tell the truth. She says yes. But then Pam starts to tell him about her traumatic brain injury and how she can’t remember things.
We’re treated to multiple clips of Pam’s disastrous testimony. She’s asked to read a letter and claims she can’t because she needs her glasses from her husband. She’s also asked if she gave law enforcement a false statement and she admits she did but adds there are also other statements in there that do not say that. (What does that even mean?!) Each time she answers a question a new Brady Bunch-style square pops up on the screen until the whole screen is covered.
Moving on, the lawyer states she closed the trust in December 2013 and that $134,000 was deposited into her own personal checking account that same day. As he’s asking her where that $134,000 came from, she cuts him off. The lawyer asks the judge to advise Pam to answer the question. She attempts to wiggle out of it and the judge reminds her that her lawyers will object to anything they see fit to do so. (They decline to object.) The girls’ lawyer asks the question about the source of the money again and Pam claims it could have come from anywhere.
He then asks if she’s lied to anyone else about what she was going to do with the life insurance policies. Her response stuns the courtroom. She admits she lies when people bug her. The lawyer slides his eyes to the judge as if to question if she really just said that.
Everyone in the courtroom thinks the lawyer got to Pam, but Pam exits the witness stand with the same smug look on her face she walked up there with. We see Mariah run out of the room as soon as the judge calls for a short recess. She tries to hold the door open for Russ and his family but they pass by without acknowledging her.
A delusional Pam tells her husband she thinks it went well but then notices her neighbor, Minnie (Patricia French), seems awfully quiet. Pam asks what’s going on with her and Minnie confesses she couldn’t believe all those awful things they said about her. Pam replies, “Well, then don’t.”
Minnie correctly points out Pam herself said she was a liar. Pam waves that off saying everyone lies.
The sisters are talking in the courtroom hallway when Mariah admits she feels she should say something to Russ who’s standing nearby with his family. Lily still doesn’t agree. Russ tells his family the girls said all they needed to say on the stand in his trial. His mom suggests maybe they should leave but he spots Pam and replies, “Nah, I came to watch Pam lose.”
The lawyer informs the girls it’s time for closing statements and the girls still think they should testify. The lawyer remains adamant that it isn’t necessary. They reluctantly tell him, “Okay if you think so.”
Even though Pam did herself no favors on the stand her lawyer closes by stating they heard from more reliable witnesses that Betsy did not trust her daughters with that kind of money. Everything else was just he said/she said.
The judge asks where the evidence is that the girls were supposed to receive the money. Their lawyer states the evidence is that Betsy intended the girls would receive the money when they were older and it has now been four years.
Unfortunately, the evidence doesn’t support the attorney’s declaration and Pam somehow manages to win the case. The girls rush out with their grandma, angry and rightfully so. They watch as Pam and her husband exit the courtroom, literally skipping.
Days later, Mariah and Lily are at work when a co-worker hands Mariah a letter. It’s from Russ and her smile fades away as she begins to read the letter. He calls her a greedy little b*tch and insults her looks. Her sister admits even for Russ that letter seems harsh.
Meanwhile, Pam’s at a real estate office questioning why a buyer would back out of escrow. The agent tries to be nice by saying it could be one of a million reasons. Pam won’t let it go and the agent is forced to admit it’s because of Pam. They canceled as soon as they heard who the seller was.
Over at the District Attorney’s office, Askey’s assistant Tina is shocked to receive a request for the destruction of evidence in Russ’s case. Pam shows up just then wanting to see the DA and Tina explains she just left for the day. Pam quickly leaves and Tina puts the request through a paper shredder.
Pam tracks down Leah (Judy Greer) in the parking lot and complains Keith Morrison and Dateline are screwing stuff up for her. Everyone acts like she killed someone and stole money from orphans. Leah corrects her saying Lily and Mariah. Pam makes a noise like she’s disgusted hearing their names and how “those girls” are messing with her business.
Leah claims it will go away soon and Pam reveals she wants her to make it go away. Leah informs her she can’t do that. Leah then tells her this isn’t good for her – meaning their continuing relationship. She’s up for reelection and this will mess with her chances of winning.
Pam’s out to dinner with Mark and Travis and rants about how Leah won’t help her. She thinks they lost the trial because Leah wouldn’t put her on the stand. When Pam finally gets done with her “me, me, me” story her son suggests they should just move already.
Mariah heads to their table to take their order and suddenly realizes who her customers are. Pam greets her a little too cheerfully, claiming she didn’t know she worked there. Mariah tries to ask Mark what he wants to eat and Pam cuts him off saying he’s not hungry. Pam asks for their burgers to go and tells Mark that maybe Leah is right; maybe she should cut off the people who don’t support her.
When Mariah brings the receipt, Pam makes a big show of pulling out a stack of cash and counting the bills one by one. She also leaves a little note on the check. After they walk out Mariah realizes the writing on the receipt matches the letter Russ supposedly wrote. Mariah runs out of the restaurant and tells Pam she’s tired of letting her have control. She’s also done with being mad and for once she wins.
Keith Morrison asks, “If so many people bug her and bug her and bug her, how can Pam keep up?” As he asks that question Pam’s looking at a printout of information on Cathy Singer and a newspaper article on her winning the lawsuit against her for the insurance money. She also glances at a flyer for a shoe drive sponsored by Leah Askey.
Pam shows up at the shoe drive and donates her daughter’s first pair of baby shoes. Leah thanks her and tries to get her to leave. Pam refuses and as people show up she yells, “Pam Hupp – vote for Askey” which causes people to back away and leave. Right before she leaves Pam makes it known she knows where Leah lives.
Next, Pam attempts to go to Zumba but the instructor tells her the class is full. Minnie’s there with other women and Pam seems to expect Minnie to leave with her. Minnie informs Pam she knows she’s the one who left the dead squirrel in a box on her driveway. Pam laughs and ignores that comment, continuing to demand Minnie leave with her. Minnie tells her no. Pam stares at the women and then yells, “Boo,” causing them to jump. (She is truly demented.)
Mike Wood’s campaign commercial debuts and in it he states Pam Hupp got away with murder and Leah Askey helped her.
Pam calls Leah while watching the commercial and Leah warns her if Mike Wood wins he’ll reopen Betsy’s case. They’ll both lose. Pam disagrees and says Leah will lose but she won’t because she didn’t do anything. With that, she hangs up on the District Attorney. During this conversation, Pam’s shown sewing stacks of money into a blanket.
Mariah’s packed and leaving for California to look for a fresh start. Janet asks why can’t she do that in Troy and Mariah replies, “Here is where my mom got murdered, Russ won’t even speak to me, and Pam wins every time.”
Episode five ends with Minnie sick and resting in bed. Pam suddenly appears in her room and claims she’s just there to take care of her. She wonders if Minnie would miss her if she moved. Minnie says she would and Pam points out Minnie lies, too. Minnie wouldn’t miss her if she thinks she killed the squirrel.
Minnie changes the subject and asks if Pam’s moving. Pam reveals she was thinking about it but running away isn’t how you deal with obstacles.
“Leah, Cathy, Mariah, Joel…they’re all just things in my way. When there’s stuff in your way, what you gotta do is get rid of it,” says Pam as she’s shown firing a gun in the middle of the night.
- The Thing About Pam Episode 1 “She’s a Good Friend” Recap
- The Thing About Pam Episode 2 “She’s a Helper” Recap
- The Thing About Pam Episode 3 “She’s a Star Witness” Recap
- The Thing About Pam Episode 4 “She’s Such a Loving Daughter” Recap
- The Thing About Pam Episode 6 “She’s A Killer” Recap
