What the fuck did I just watch?
Since Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem, and Madness premiered on Netflix on March 20, the world has been set afire. This documentary truly stands in a league of it’s own as it follows the life and business dealings of Joe Exotic. Joe owns a small big cat and wildlife zoo in Oklahoma–a state I now realize I truly know nothing about. And that’s literally as simple as I can make it because the entire docuseries is bat shit crazy.
To be honest, I don’t even know where to begin. All I can say is, if you’re sitting at home wondering if you should watch a documentary about animal abuse in the big cat industry or one about a freaky sex cult or if you want to indulge in an unsolved crime show, then watch Tiger King because it’s somehow all these things and more.
The series begins by showing Joe in jail and then jumps to the beginning to uncover all the mystery involved in this strange case. Along the way you’ll learn about Joe’s life as a zoo owner, big cat breeder, and husband to two. Oh and later he runs for president and eventually governor of Oklahoma. Yup.
As bizarre and other-worldly as Joe is, he’s met with an equally extreme cast of characters including Doc Mantle who is, without a doubt, running a full-on tantric sex farm, and Carole Baskin who may or may not have fed her second husband to a tiger (she totally did).
Some minor characters include a fake millionaire who keeps tigers in suitcases and calls his pregnant wife fat and a zoo keepers who’s arm was torn off by a tiger, prompting Joe to immediately serve looks in an EMS bomber jacket. Like, seriously, you can’t make this shit up.
There’s even more debauchery to get into to like a man accidentally shooting himself in the head, a hit man who forgot to go to the state where his victim was, and the man who served as the real-life inspiration for Scarface. But these are all just minor blips on the Tiger King radar and I need to leave something for the imagination.
Sara Says:
Tiger King demands to be seen, felt, and loved. Seriously there is no better way to spend your time than to dive into the world of Joe Exotic.
