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Kristin Bauer on Pam’s conquests, flirting with Sookie and her relationship with Tara

On True Blood, Pam is a vampire that likes women. Tara is a newly turned vampire and last season had a relationship with women. So, if my gay math is correct, now that Pam is Tara’s maker and their lives are truly enveloped together, that should equal a hot and steamy time on the new season the bloody good HBO series, right? Let’s hope so!

Yes, the crazy times in Bon Temps have started up again now that new episodes began airing this past Sunday and one of the juicier developments is that the woman who hates vampires more than life itself, Tara (played by Rutina Wesley), had her life saved by the fabulous Pam (Kristin Bauer) which makes Tara a vampire. But just how friendly will things get between Pam and Tara? And since a lot of this season is about Tara turning, what will this Sunday’s flashback reveal about Pam’s turning at the bite of Eric (Alexander Skarsgard)? And with hot new ladies on the show like Lucy Griffiths, Camilla Luddington and Valentina Cervi, will Pam get a taste of the new hot ladies roaming about this year?

AfterEllen.com went right to the source and grabbed some chat time with Bauer earlier this week to see what’s we can expect from Pam this year.

AfterEllen.com: My first question of course is what was worse for Pam? Being buried alive with Tara or wearing that yellow WalMart sweat suit? Kristin Bauer: [Laughs] The sweat suit for Pam is probably worse torture than her face falling off. I mean, I just loved last year, her face was falling off but she has on false eyelashes and lipstick. So, the sweat suit in the wardrobe fitting when we put that on, we just died laughing and knew we found it and [Costume Designer] Audrey Fisher, the queen of details, dyed the top and the bottom slightly different yellows so that they didn’t quite match, put elastic in the bottom, and shortened them so they were too short. That’s the best.

AE: It totally made sense, though, because you know Pam would not get in all that dirt wearing one of her fabulous goth outfits, would she? KB: Totally. I imagined since after the night she was made, that was the last time she went in dirt.

AE: Love it. And I know a big part of what’s coming is we’re going to see a little bit more into Pam’s past, which should be so fun. How was it to play all that? KB: It was so fun and I really did want that for years and Alex and I kept asking and talking to each other and wondering. I thought that the storyline that they came up with supported what we know of Pam, perfectly. Pam is so unsympathetic and so happy to be a vampire. She does not have the slightest regret. Eric and Pam are the most unapologetic vampires so to see it and tell that and now for everyone to see it is pretty exciting.

AE: In the episode that aired on Sunday, just before Pam is going to help save Tara, Sookie says to her, “I don’t know what you care about” and it’s nice that the viewers at least are starting to see what she cares about even if the other characters on the show don’t. KB: I had a lot going on in my head when Sookie says that line, because, in my mind, I have been there, what I care about, and it’s sort of been a secret but we know that Eric is her only Achilles heel. That’s her one person that she needs and now we’ve seen what lengths she’ll go to get him back. She’ll be tied to someone that she spent a season trying to kill!

AE: When we see Pam in the past on the next episode, she’s still in charge so obviously that’s always been who she is, right? KB: Yes. I thought that was really smart, because we see her running the brothel and we see her running Fangtasia in the same way.

AE: Do you think at that point in Pam’s life she had already been with women? KB: I think so and I think it’s just who she is and she can see sexy in men or women, but I feel that also coming from that life, if you happen to be – I had a friend who was bisexual and he was exactly 50/50. He was like “Hot is hot.” And if you have that proclivity and came from that background, personally, I would be choosing the sex that hadn’t caused you pain. So that’s what I have in my head. Amazingly, there is some tiny bit of caretaker in her [and] we see that world that she lives in, her vulnerability of being human, especially, for a woman in that profession and that time and that she cares for these girls under her charge. AE: She’s also aware that vampires exist because she sees some of her girls get killed. KB: Yes. That’s right.

AE: So in some ways vampires living in the world have already been a part of her reality before she gets turned, right? KB: We will see more of that reality, that a prostitute madam in that time… the story doesn’t usually end well or old. I mean, she was very practical. She’s exceedingly practical so she knew her possible future.

AE: I bet Pam was a good saver. She probably had a lot of money in the bank. She’s probably thinking ahead, right? KB: That’s what I think, too. I think Pam’s got good survival instincts and she’s a fighter. Like we saw last year, she never just gives up, ever. She’s going to go down fighting.

AE: So we know from the season premiere that Pam turns Tara but can you tease what the Pam/Tara relationship is moving forward? KB: It’s an interesting thing. You know, there was a great old movie, The Defiant Ones with Sidney Poitier and Tony Curtis. So, they’re designed by their life experience to not understand and to basically hate each other and they get chained together and they both have something that they want, which is freedom and they have to do it together. That’s what this reminds me of because the length that Pam will go to be with Eric and to follow what he wants is so extreme that she will become the caretaker of someone that she wants to rip her throat out.

AE: So, the big question: Tara’s been with women, Pam’s been with women, will we see them get friendly together throughout the course of the season? KB: Well, Rutina and I, of course, saw the equation and have been wondering the same thing.

AE: Yeah. It’s logical and makes sense. KB: And we’ve been fascinated as the scripts come in, sort of watching, are they? I wondered this with Sookie as well. Pam often flirts with Sookie and she’s a fairy, but yet, she was Eric’s and the great thing about True Blood and HBO is we get to explore these areas and for a few reasons. We don’t have censorship. That’s a pretty strong word but we can be very free here and also we get to take our time and watch these complex relationships develop, so yes, it’s been fun and hopefully it’s fun for the watchers. AE: So, is that kind of a yes that we may see them get a little closer or, I know you have to be a little vague but – KB: Well, in typical True Blood fashion, things might get worse before they get better.

AE: We know he’s coming back but I’m guessing when Russell (Denis O’Hare) returns it’s not going to be a good thing for anybody. KB: It can’t be a good thing, can it? The great thing about it is that Denis O’Hare is one of the most amazing actors I’ve ever seen. He’s just so ridiculous and so ridiculously amazing. Russell is such a great character and you just know when he gets back on his feet, he’s going to be as outrageous as ever and also a little pissed. And he’s not in the vampire world. He’s not really politically correct like we saw ripping the spine out of the newscaster so there’s the faction tries to keep a good faith on things and Pam’s viewpoint is, she just doesn’t get caught. She follows the rules, apparently, but she’s not a rule follower and Russell could care less about how anything appears. So, there are factions within factions and people are having to choose sides and nobody knows who’s a traitor and who isn’t. It’s a lot like life on earth.

AE: One thing I’ve noticed is there’s a lot of a gorgeous new woman on the show this season and, you know, I think Pam’s got a lot going on and could use a little release! KB: I know and I see these incredible women at the table reads and I always want to work with all of them and I do get to work with some of them. There’s only a couple of people I haven’t worked with. Ironically, Chris Bauer (Sheriff Andy) and Kristin Bauer have not done a scene together.

AE: I’ve never read the books but I saw in my research that Pam and Sookie end up being friends in them. Do you ever see that happening on the show? KB: Well, the fans will keep me informed because I haven’t read them yet and also Pam does get a girlfriend. I think, also, that Eric and Sookie get married eventually. So we’re all very curious because every year there is more and more content that’s not [from] the books. Pam isn’t in the books a lot as of book four, my husband has read so I don’t know the answer to that. When I try to ask around the set, because the cast is looking for spoilers as much as the fans so we kind of ask around ‘What do you know? I don’t know! What do you know?” and even Stephen [Moyer, Bill] and Anna [Paquin, Sookie] are like “I don’t know!’ Yeah, they really keep it very guarded so we don’t know what’s going to happen either and we haven’t filmed episode twelve yet so those questions are unanswered for us too. We’re asking everyone ‘What’s going to happen next year?’ and they just giggle and pat us on the head and treat us like little children.

True Blood airs Sundays at 9 p.m. et/pt on HBO..

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