Joe Exotic, The "Tiger King"
Tiger King is named after its main subject, self-proclaimed "Tiger King" Joseph Maldonado-Passage, who ran Oklahoma's The Greater Wynnewood Exotic Animal Park under the nom de guerre Joe Exotic. To describe Maldonado-Passage as eccentric would be putting it very mildly. More flamboyant showman and aspiring social media star than zookeeper, Maldonado-Passage is a heavily tattooed and mulleted gay man in a polygamous marriage who seems to spend most of his free time shooting guns, recording badly lip-synced country music videos, and feuding with fellow tiger lover Carole Baskin (that feud becomes one of the more fascinating storylines in a very eventful saga). And that's to say nothing of the alleged drug-dealing and other nefarious pastimes. One need only watch the first minute or two of episode 1 to understand why directors Eric Goode and Rebecca Chaiklin were so fascinated by Joe Exotic. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/02/28/new-to-netflix-for-march-2020"] Maldonado-Passage largely dominates this documentary, due both to his larger-than-life personality and the tragic circumstances covered in the final few episodes, but he's not the only morally questionable big cat lover on display in these seven episodes. There's the aforementioned Baskin, owner of Florida's Big Cat Rescue and whose own shady past is put on display in Episode 3. Other supporting players include Bhagavan "Doc" Antle, whose zoo T.I.G.E.R.S. (The Institute of Greatly Endangered and Rare Species) comes across as more a front for some sort of quasi-religious sex cult, and Maldonado-Passage's backstabbing former business partner Jeff Lowe. The documentary also features copious interviews with other former associates, employees, and lovers of Maldonado-Passage (and Antle and Baskin), none of whom seem better off for having been drawn into these people's orbits. That's really the main takeaway from watching Tiger King. The documentary isn't so much concerned with the details of Maldonado-Passage's recent legal trial [again, I'll avoid spoilers here but PopSugar has a succinct breakdown of the whole Joe Exotic story], which is far more cut and dry than something like the Steven Avery case in Making a Murderer. This series is more dedicated exploring the cults of personality that spring up around these zoo owners and the increasingly unhinged and self-destructive behavior of Maldonado-Passage himself. In general, the documentary is adept at painting well-rounded portraits of these people without ever condoning their unacceptable (and sometimes downright criminal) behaviors. Though sometimes you might find yourself wishing the tigers would just rise up, eat their jailers, and restore balance to the universe. There's a fascinating tonal shift to the series over time. Early on, the show seems content simply to shine a light on a very odd community of animal enthusiasts. Certainly, Goode and Chaiklin would have had no inkling early on of how dark their documentary's subject matter would become over the course of five years. But as the series progresses and it becomes clear just how damaged and unstable Maldonado-Passage is, a great sense of sadness and unease settles in. The series becomes an uncomfortable reminder of how low some people will stoop in pursuit of fame and adoration. Maldonado-Passage is an extreme example, to be sure, but he's also representative of that all too common, faux-Cartesian mindset, "I want to be famous, therefore I am."Murder, Mayhem, Madness, and Animal Cruelty
The series can be downright uncomfortable to watch, especially for anyone sensitive to images of and references to animal cruelty. One particularly stomach-churning scene comes as we learn exactly how the penny-pinching Joe Exotic keeps his vast menagerie of animals and underpaid handlers fed. In another, a group of animals becomes collateral damage in an escalating conflict between squabbling partners. Far from being a cynical, voyeuristic look inside a hidden community of big cat fanatics, Tiger King makes a strong argument for the need for much stronger regulations governing the ownership and care of these animals. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=the-best-netflix-original-movies-and-tv-shows&captions=true"] Sadly, as compelling as the journey is, Tiger King also becomes increasingly unwieldy over time. The series is never particularly consistent in its focus, jumping around a lot in the first half and trying to juggle a real information overload in the final couple episodes. Antle isn't given nearly enough attention over the course of the series, considering what little we learn about his background suggests he'd be ripe for a documentary of his own. Though, to be fair, the filmmakers may simply not have had as much footage to work with there. And as exhaustive as the series is in chronicling Maldonado-Passage's life from 2014 onward, it's surprisingly tight-lipped about the many tragedies and scandals he was involved in prior to that point. Watching the finale, it's hard not to walk away feeling Tiger King should have been at least one episode longer, and possibly kept in development a while longer, too. The plot twists come fast and furious in the finale, rarely giving the viewer much time to process the criminal investigation before the next bombshell drops. The ending is also frustratingly inconclusive. While Maldonado-Passage's story is more or less wrapped up, we're left hanging where several other key players are concerned, with only the pre-credits text crawl providing some amount of closure. Perhaps the idea is to eventually follow up with a Season 2 that chronicles more recent developments in the Tiger King saga. But given how poorly that worked out for Making a Murderer's sophomore season, that's not an encouraging thought. Flawed though it may be at times, it may be best to leave this story where it is and focus on the all-important core message. Tigers are amazing creatures, and they deserve better than the hand humanity has dealt them.from IGN Reviews https://ift.tt/394Y0hC
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