In this age of isolation and quarantine, nothing captures the international zeitgeist like a crazy, ripped from the headlines, true story. After all, if we’re all stuck at home, why wouldn’t the world want to dive into something as flat-out insane as Tiger King, the Netflix limited docudrama series that dropped last week. Unlike most people, I had actually heard most of the Tiger King story several months ago, via the New York Magazine story about Joe Exotic and his crazy world (it’s a great read if you want more Tiger King content). So, I wasn’t all that excited to watch a story I thought I already knew. But it turns out this is an ever-changing, ever-growing web of insanity. And boy does it make for a killer binge.
Nothing I’ve seen has captured the statement “truth is stranger than fiction” as well as Tiger King. If you haven’t watched it, please do yourself a favor and check it out. Watching Tiger King feels a lot like watching a massive car accident in slow motion. You’re aware from the beginning of the series that something has happened that sent Joe Exotic, the flamboyant and fame-hungry star of the series, to prison. However the series takes the long route to unraveling just what happened to put him there. And along that journey so many absolutely batshit crazy things are revealed that the ultimate reveal of Joe’s crime seems almost tame in comparison (and when a possible murder for hire plot can be classified as tame, you know some really insane things have happened over the course of the series).
So, what is it about Tiger King that makes it so addicting? Well, the main component is absolutely the cast of colorful characters it presents to us. Joe Exotic has that quintessential blend of gimmick, drive for fame, and insecurity that makes up the best of all reality stars. He knows what he wants, he is willing to literally do whatever it takes to get it, and there’s just enough cracks in his facade that we can’t help but be fascinated by the juxtaposition between the character and the person. He’s not a villain and he’s certainly not a saint, but he’s wholly human. You can watch him and know that he’s making massive mistakes, yet there’s nothing you can do to stop him. Much like watching Walter White or Jimmy McGill break bad on their respective shows, you can see Joe go from a man who genuinely wanted to help big cats to a man so obsessed with his drive for fame and his vendetta against Carole Baskin that it’s almost Shakespearean in its arc.
And then there’s Carole, a woman seen as a hero to the big cat community, but one who might also have plenty of skeletons in her closet. Is she Lady Macbeth or is she simply a woman desperate to protect animals she loves? Did she kill her husband or was she played by a serial womanizer who ran off with another woman? Was she in on the murder for hire plot that got one of her biggest antagonists shipped off to prison, or is she the innocent victim of the crazy attacks of a madman?
It’s clear why the series leaves so many of the questions surrounding Carole open-ended (the documentary is not about her and I highly doubt she’d be willing to get into a lot of these questions for legal reasons), but the lack of concrete facts surrounding Carole make her an even more interesting character within the story than Joe (and that’s saying something). Having a potential villain that the audience only sees in shadow (despite having a fair amount of interview footage with her own words) makes that villain all the more compelling. Whenever you see the monster in a horror movie, the fear surrounding its actions immediately begins to dissipate. When you know too much about what makes the bad guy tick then the fear instilled by his or her presence is dampened. Tiger King makes the smart choice by keeping Carole just out of our reach, leaving us to wonder just who this woman really is.
My only complaint is that the series didn’t delve deeply enough into the glaring issue with Joe, Doc Antle, and even Carole Baskin’s cat parks: The question of animal cruelty. Yes, this was an extraordinary story with more twists than a soap opera, but each of the story’s key players insisted their main focus was protecting these endangered cats – yet it certainly didn’t appear that any of their set-ups really allowed for the best life for any of the animals in their control. For all the drama, backstabbing, threats, and illegal activities, I would have liked a bit more focus on the animals themselves. What happened to the cats from Joe Exotic’s zoo? Are they still being held by Jeff Lowe? How about Doc Antle’s cats? Have Carole Baskin’s cats been deemed safe and secure in their current enclosures? How can we, as viewers, do more to protect these animals? Perhaps the popularity of the series will lead to more conservation efforts. Or maybe we’ll only ever remember just how insane every moment of this story was. Either way, it’s a hell of a ride and perfect for the world we’re living in today.
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Series Rating
