All Hail The Tiger King
Netflix has found a way to master the art of storytelling with the release of its new hit documentary series“Tiger King”. This eight-episode series reveals all the secrets of people in the big cat industry. With each episode being a little under an hour, the story that the streaming service tells is something you couldn’t come up with even in your wildest dreams. Throughout the duration of the series, you will continue to ask yourself, “Are these people heroes who are really trying to help these animals, or are they crooks who are only in it for the money?”
The show’s main character, Joe Exotic, is a gay, polyamorous zoo owner who will do anything to protect his 700 animals located in Oklahoma. He and his staff of misfits live in horrendous conditions in the park and eat whatever the animals eat including expired meat from the back of a Walmart truck. This country singing gun-loving character has a story that you have to see to believe. But he isn’t the only wild character that the series documents and follows.
The limited series also features a yoga-loving vegetarian known as Doctor Bhagavan Antle who runs a cult-like facility in South Carolina where he rides his elephant “Bubbles” around his property like a God. His employees include four to five women who are paid 100 dollars a week and work 365 days a year.
The people in the show don’t mind having run-ins with the law if it means getting what they want. Take MarioTabraue for example, another animal enthusiast who runs a private facility in Miami called the “Zoological Wildlife Foundation”. Tabraue is sometimes called “Tony Montana” due to his slight resemblance and crime-filled past. Tabraue exported and sold drugs along with his father in order to support his exotic animal obsession.
Although all these individuals have different backgrounds, Netflix makes it clear that all these men have a mutual hate for Carole Baskin. Baskin comes off as a big cat-loving hippie as she seems to think that she is different from her male counterparts just because she doesn’t interact with her animals. Netflix, as well as other big cat enthusiasts, does an amazing job convincing the audience that Baskin is a possible murderer.
This series definitely makes quarantine a little more bearable as the wild storyline and unbelievable characters make it impossible to look away. Netflix keeps you tied in with a different and unique story in each episode. This by far is the greatest show that the streaming service has produced in a while.