Sam Pickett ‘21
Columns Editor
As Virginia Governor Ralph Northam ordered residents to stay at home until at least June 10, the state, and really the world at large, wondered what they would do with all this time at home. And it was in this time of chaos and insecurity that Netflix gave us the show we didn’t know we needed: Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem, and Madness. This is a show that is so wild and filled with chaos that it doesn’t even address the fact that one of the main characters, Carole Baskin, is suspected of killing her husband and feeding him to her tigers until the very end of the second episode. While you could spend an entire series investigating that type of mystery, as many Netflix shows do, Tiger King addresses the mystery only briefly before promptly moving on to bigger and crazier things. What does it say about a show where someone who murdered her husband[1] is somehow the most moral person in the show?[2]
Rather than review the series, which would be a boring and lame use of the 800 words that the Law Weekly for some reason continues to give me, I am going to answer a few questions that keep me up at night. ***I feel like here is where I should put a spoiler disclaimer, but honestly we have been under quarantine for three weeks and we have been CR/NC for a one and a half weeks, so you should really be caught up by now or else you’re clearly not socially distancing appropriately.
(1) Here I will rank Joe Exotic, Carole Baskin, and Doc “Bhagavan” Antle based on who is the most entertaining: Joe, Carole, and Doc.
Joe is an easy choice for this—he describes himself as a “gay gun-toting redneck,” he had three husbands, two of whom he was married to at the same time even though they were by all accounts not gay, and he has run for both President and Governor of Oklahoma. Joe is a born entertainer and it clearly shows.
The real controversy in this ranking is between Carole and Doc. But here’s the thing—Doc is not entertaining, he is really just creepy. Did you ever laugh when he was on camera? I can’t remember when I did. Did you ever squirm whenever you saw him? Yes. Every time. His beard and his weird little pony-tail made me viscerally uncomfortable. Meanwhile, Carole’s strange outfits and catchphrase “hey all you cool cats and kittens” at least made you giggle. Next topic.
(2) Here I will rank Joe Exotic, Carole Baskin, and Doc Antle based on who is the most morally questionable: Doc Antle, Joe Exotic, Carole Baskin.
Doc has a cult and forces women to sleep with him to improve their position at the zoo. He also kills tigers when they become too old (allegedly).[3] His only redeeming quality is that he feeds his tigers well (i.e. not expired Walmart meat). Other than that, he seems devious and lacks any of Joe’s charm.
The fight between Joe and Carole was a hard one. Joe feeds his tigers with bad Walmart meat, illegally breeds tigers for their cubs and then sells those cubs, allegedly hired someone to kill Carole Baskin, set his own alligators on fire, and basically imprisoned his (ex) husbands. But Carole…Carole definitely killed her husband and fed him to the tigers and also just had creepy vibes. Something about all those whimsical bike riding scenes. She also seemed to care less about the tigers and more about gaining the moral high ground over Joe, even while forcing volunteers to work more than sixty hours a week for FREE. But still, she is at least trying to save the tigers while Joe is just trying to save his own face.
(3) Who is the worst character on the show?
Jeff Lowe, and then Jeff Garretson (fat Chucky). Next question.
(4) Was Joe actually singing in the music video?[4]
Does it matter? He’s a beautiful country music singer in our hearts.
(5) Where is the line between tiger fanatics and cults?[5]
The line is unclear, and this is really more of a philosophical discussion regarding the spectrum of tiger love. On one hand, you have me, who has always loved tigers and wanted to be a tiger growing up and whose favorite Disney character was not a hero but instead Shere Khan the tiger.[6] But I know not to ever buy a tiger. The closest I ever got was making my first email address tigers321@gmail.com. Although, this show now exists…and now there is a cult developing around the show, which is kind of ironic.
This was a sporadic and a random list of questions and answers. But that’s what we do here at the Law Weekly. If you want to discuss any of my takes, or if you just want to talk about the show in general, please @ me. Most people don’t want that, but I really do. Please. I really don’t want to listen to my class recordings.
---
shp8dz@virginia.edu
[1] She did it. Let’s just settle that right here. If you don’t think she did it then I would like to know what show you were watching.
[2] Shout out to Jacob Jones ’21 who brought this question up.
[3] Definitely.
[4] S/O to Meg McKinley ’21 for this question.
[5] S/O Jacob Jones ’21 pt. 2.
[6] The Jungle Book villain, obviously.