Netflix’s ‘Tiger King’ weird, but worth watching

Image+Courtesy+of+Netflix+

Image Courtesy of Netflix

WEB EXCLUSIVE

“Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem, and Madness” is the documentary series that has taken over the internet- what started as the story of Oklahoma private zoo owner Joe Maldonado-Passage, aka ‘Joe Exotic’ and his ongoing feud with animal rights activist Carole Baskin has left viewers shocked. The show not only goes into detail on the lives of the owners of big cats, but the big cat community as a whole.

The first episode of the series begins by introducing the two main characters- Joe Exotic and Carole Baskin. Joe Exotic is quite the character; he’s a mullet-sporting, gay polygamist zookeeper and 2016 presidential candidate. He owns the Greater Wynnewood Exotic Animal Park, a private zoo in the middle of Oklahoma where he owns and breeds over 200 different types of big cats (tigers, lions, pumas, etc).

Carole Baskin and her current husband run the Big Cat Rescue in Tampa, where she rescues and breeds big cats. She has made various efforts to put a stop to Joe Exotic and his zoo, such as emailing malls to keep Joe from bringing in tigers for a show. Carole quickly becomes Joe’s greatest enemy, as he makes it public that he wants to take Big Cat Rescue down on his various tv shows and YouTube channels.

Carole seems to be just an animal rights activist set on shutting down the zoo at first, but in the third episode we find out that she has many secrets as well. This episode goes into more detail on Carole’s personal life, when we find out that her second husband, Don Lewis, mysteriously disappeared, leaving his millions behind. This sparked the theory that Carole killed her husband and fed him to the tigers, giving Joe even more reason to take Carole down.

Outside of Joe and Carole, the show also interviews other private zoo owners, like Bhagavan ‘Doc’ Antle, who owns and runs the Myrtle Beach Safari. While Doc Antle is not directly involved in the murder-for-hire plot, he inspired Joe to open his own zoo and is also a part of the big cat community who has many secrets as well.Throughout the show, friends and workers of Joe are interviewed, many who eventually have involvement with the murder-for-hire plot.

Since its release, ‘Tiger King’ has taken over the internet, leaving everyone baffled with its crazy characters and storyline. ‘Tiger King’ is the perfect show to watch if you are bored during quarantine.