My wife and I finished "Tiger King" in three days.

This is a show that I would have never watched unless I was quarantined by my local government to stay in my home. But still, I watched it, and I have to say, it was incredibly enjoyable. It was also hilarious. It was also insane. It was also a total train wreck that I simply couldn't take my eyes off. In fact, I want to thank "Tiger King" because it has kept me off my phone, and let my mind wander elsewhere for awhile.

All that being said, I do want to talk about this show though. I have found, as I have gotten older, I enjoy this style of a mystery, or murder, or crime type story. I was, still am, a big fan of "Making a Murderer". I thought the Aaron Hernandez three part mini docu series was very informative and watchable. I, of course, love the parody of all of these, "American Vandal". I feel like "Tiger King" is a great blend of these two different style shows. There is the true crime element, which I will get to, but there is also humor, albeit unintentional.

For those that don't know, and I think it is a small group of people, the long and short synopsis of "Tiger King" involves two people, one a redneck who owns an exotic animal farm, and a lady who owns an exotic animal rescue. Now, there are many, many, many other people involved, but Joe Exotic, the redneck, and Carole Baskins, the rescuer, are the two main people. Before I get into this, and I won't spoil everything, there are no good people in this story. There is really no one to root for. When we finished last night, the only people I said I felt bad for, or thought weren't that bad, were people who originally worked at Joe Exotic's zoo. They seemed to be down on their luck, they found a job they could do, and do well, and they never got a fair shake. They were put in horrible situations, and thankfully they got it. Hell, there is one lady that lost half an arm, and only five days later she returned to work at the zoo. I did feel for her after all this, and she was, by about a million miles, the smartest person in the whole series.

Anyway, the story follows Exotic's quest to get Baskins. These two were rivals. These two hated one another. These two wanted the other one to suffer, be it through legal fees or via injury. They are also both horrendous people. Exotic cares about no one but himself. He may have started this zoo with good intentions, of getting these animals back to their native lands, but he didn't end up that way. He let the "fame" get to his head. He called himself the Tiger King. He bred cubs and sold them. He euthanized tigers that seemed to old to him, tigers that couldn't help him make money. He hung out with other awful, felonious people. He never paid anyone anything near what they worked for. He was always in debt. He took advantage of young men. He is terrible. But, I actually think Baskins might be worse. She comes off all decent and honorable, but as the series went on, there is some stuff about her that is very bad. She is not the saint she makes herself out to be. She says she "rescues" these animals, but she has them all caged up, and makes millions on people visiting her zoo, which she calls a "rescue". She doesn't pay her workers anything. She calls them all "volunteers", of which she makes go through levels, and even when they get to the highest level, they still see zero dollars netted. At least Exotic paid his people something. Baskins also had an awful childhood, which led to her breaking up a marriage, and then marrying that man, who was a millionaire. There is an entire episode dedicated to when her former husband disappeared, and lets just say, people bring up whether or not she may or may not have fed him to their tigers(I fully believe she did). She also took everything from him, and gave next to nothing to his first family. She changed everything on the living will right before he "disappeared". She also fights baseless legal battles until she bleeds people dry. She is not a good person, no matter how she may portray herself.

Outside of Joe and Caroline, there is a plethora of other people that are just nasty and conniving and despicable and just flat out gross. The guy that came in and took over Joe Exotic's zoo, he is a total scumbag. He should be in jail for a long, long time. The guys he worked with, and then screwed over, they aren't very good people either. The poor kid that was Exotic's campaign manager, yes, Joe Exotic ran for president in 2016, and then governor of Oklahoma, he has lived a life in short, short time. From dealing with Exotic as a candidate, to seeing one of his husband's kill himself right in front of him, to everything else, he has seen some stuff. Baskins new husband seems like he is a brainwashed lunatic that is creepy as hell, especially when he sings to her. All of this is straight up crazy.

This show is wild. Like I told my wife after we finished, in other series like this, I always find someone to root for, or someone I feel bad for. In "Tiger King", there is no one, no one major at least, that I have any feelings for. Look, like I said at the top, this is a show I would have probably skipped if we weren't in our current situation. But, a silver lining perhaps, we are told to stay home, to self quarantine, restaurants and night clubs are closed, and that means we decided to watch this after hearing from nearly everyone we know, via text or Facetime, telling us that we would love it, and I loved it. I will probably watch it again to find even more things I may have missed, or just to listen to Joe Exotic's grating voice, or awful country music, of which he doesn't sing, he lip synch's it all. Or, I want to find out more about this Baskins lady because I think she is as guilty as the day is long.

“Tiger King” is an intriguing show that is humorous while also being crazy. I cannot recommend it enough. Check it out please, and lets have an open conversation about it. I haven't stopped thinking about it since we finished it last night, and I am sure I will continue to think about it for weeks. Watch it.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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