A few blocks from my house right now, there’s an effigy in front of a house of Joe Maldanado-Passage AKA Joe Exotic, the star of Netflix’s new documentary series Tiger King, blaming the ongoing health situation on his arch-nemesis Carole Baskin. It’s a testament to how much this show has taken hold of the public’s imagination in a short period of time. And after watching these incredibly complex and bizarre seven episodes, one could imagine him coming up with such a conspiracy theory.
Flaunting his identity strongly as a gun-toting, flamboyantly gay redneck who’s steadfast in his belief in wild animal ownership (marrying two men at once, in fact), Passage is someone who thrives on being the center of attention. But he doesn’t know how to function as a normal human when there’s no spotlight on him. If you wanted to write a children’s story about a lost tiger cub on a journey to find his parents, Joe Exotic is your perfect cartoon antagonist.
The show examines the niche world of private zoo owners and the competition amongst them, focusing on Joe’s Greater Wynnewood Park and his feud with Baskin’s Big Cat Rescue, who consistently accuses Passage of neglecting his animals. We see plenty of footage from Joe to counter that with his guests happily playing with the tiger cubs and other various animals, swept up in their host’s charisma and flashy personality, and his connections with Hollywood animal trainer Doc Antle.
His magnetism also extends to some of his co-workers, who are so devoted to sticking with him, even after a tiger literally bites one employee’s arm off (captured in unsettling live footage, even while blurred). Filmmaker Rick Kirkham (not exactly a total innocent character himself, even among this crowd) is a default straight man who recounts how in love with himself Joe was with a stunned expression.
He has a wide list of schemes for fortune and fame- a country-western album complete with a music video, a short-lived campaign for President and then governor of Oklahoma, and various efforts to sabotage Baskin’s business, like badmouthing her facilities, plagiarizing her logo, and pouncing on the sinister rumors surrounding her and her late husband’s mysterious disappearance years ago.
They are a perfect yin and yang, with Baskin having a much cooler demeanor and a more consistent focus on her mission, while Joe is barely in control of himself and always envisioning his next project.
Perhaps only a cheap “shindy” low-rent promotion would bother booking him, but there are points in this show where Joe Exotic literally comes off like a pro wrestling character. His loud outfits with fringes and animal-prints combined with his demeanor make him look like a manager from the classic NWA 1980’s shows, and he constantly films vignettes of himself mocking and threatening his various rivals (namely Carole, the feds and animal rights activists like PETA) with shotgun violence.
You could tilt your head and easily mistake them for heel wrestling promos, because they’re so over-the-top they’re almost comical. But keep watching, and it becomes less and less funny.
The tone of this series gets darker, sometimes tragic, as the characters around Passage become seedier (including a literal drug kingpin, who claims to be the influence for a scene in Scarface). One can easily watch this show and be endlessly fascinated by this group of weirdos without sympathizing with them, certainly not for how badly many of these animals are neglected (which is why if you’re sensitive to that sort of thing, absolutely proceed with caution while viewing the series).
You can expect plenty of moments when you might feel bad for some of Joe’s struggles (there’s also the fact some of these characters are even more evil and dangerous than him), only to then wince at how Joe takes advantage of people, slowly drowns in his own ego and gradually becomes more emotionally unhinged.
Directors Rebecca Chaiklin and Eric Goode do a great job detailing the twisting roes of dominoes that lead to the erosion of Joe’s private zoo enterprise. Some involving the murder of a house of alligators, embezzlement, a power struggle between Joe and his employee/con man Jeff Lowe, up to where a desperate Joe finally goes off the deep end with his Carole Baskin obsession.
If you’re interested in a unique true crime story that’s also a reflection of what we choose to take seriously and what we often carelessly dismiss in the digital era, Tiger King is a good option. Though be forewarned that you’re about to meet some of the scummiest entrepreneurs in your life, morbidly fascinating as they are.
This is an entertaining psychological breakdown of a big personality- but based on not just what this series exposes, even the alleged bad stuff that reportedly didn’t make the cut, there’s a good reason why it’s said Joe Exotic’s animals are happier than they’ve ever been away from this dude. So if it’s caught you by the tail and you’ve binged through it, let us know your opinion of it at @Official_FAN on Twitter!