Remember how Making a Murderer had an agenda? This show also has an agenda. The producers set out from the start to give us certain impressions. Many of these impressions are true. Some maybe a bit more disingenuous. I watched all 7 episodes over the weekend and enjoyed it for what it was: a lunatic's life spinning out of control. Complete with a cast of many other wacky and suspicious characters. If you loved Making a Murderer you will probably at least like this.

It follows a mostly insane story of the corrupt world behind a couple private 'Big Cat' zoos. Its very apt that a few fellow great apes are featured in the show, maybe as a reminder of how closely we are related.

 

Yeah, I also thought Carole was just as shady as Joe and Antle, maybe even more so with her husband's disappearance. And I felt she was kind of a hypocrite for doing basically the same thing the other two are doing, minus the breeding. But last night I did a bit of research that partially changed my mind. It turns out the Big Cat Rescue's pens actually range from 1200 square feet up to 2 acres in size. In the documentary they would show only small sections of some of the enclosures that made it appear as if that little section was the entire thing. And it was explained they let the grass grow to make it more like their natural habitat instead of like a zoo where the tigers can always be seen by the spectators. That actually makes sense to me after hearing the real sizes of their enclosures.

I thought Carole was a complete douche for wanting to put Joe's parents' house as collateral but Howard did an interview explaining that they were forced to sue Joe's mom because Joe transferred his assets to her. Once she agreed to release the assets Joe transferred he said they didn't go after one dime of his mom's estate and Joe made up the story about them wanting the house as collateral. Howard's story makes perfect sense and I actually believe him. It sounds like a typical Joe lie.

That huge crowd that they showed at Big Cat Rescue was actually an event that happens just once per year, where they allow the public to freely tour the facility. It turns out that typical tours are no greater than 10 to 20 people, are guided, and at most given times few people are actually touring Big Cat Rescue. The producers of the documentary made it seem as if what we saw on screen was a typical tour day.

And I do think there is a pretty big conceptual difference between what the other zoos do and what Howard and Carole do.

I'm kind of on the fence about Carole murdering her husband, but its starting to seem like those facts may have been presented in a pretty skewed way as well. Among other things, I guess other people besides Carole were noticing a mental decline in the weeks prior to his disappearance, and Don's widow's daughters weren't giving us the exact correct story about their inheritance. Other oddities as well, such as Anne Mcqueen [Don's assistant] previously embezzling money from Don. As I was watching the show, I was about 70% sure Carol killed him. Now I'm less than 35% sure.

Howard explained that they were told the documentary was going to be focused making the public aware of animal abuse going on in the industry [not the human drama] and that Joe Exotic was not going to be a major character. And perhaps that's how the intentions started, but certainly not how they ended lol.

 

And yeah, I also liked the comic elements. I laughed out loud at Howard, in his deadpan, almost downtrodden manner, explaining Joe's online antics. "He took an image of Carol's head and attached it onto the body of what was apparently a man wearing a diaper. And here is a disgusting blob of some sort with the caption 'just remember, things could always be worse, you could have a crotch like Carole's". lol.

And that little 5 second clip of Joe's faced superimposed in Don's face, acting like Don's ghost and saying to let him out of the septic tank.

 

And of course, just like with Avery in Making a Murderer, the dumbest of our celebrities are already starting to petition to have Joe released.

 

https://www.yahoo.com/news/popularity-netflixs-tiger-king-prompts-185608739.html

 

Carole's behavior going forward should be a good hint too. If she's happy the case is reopened, it might mean nothing, but if she seems really annoyed they are activating it again, he's under the septic tank!

 

As an ancient Chinese proverb once said, these are crazy times in which we live.

And don't worry. Its okay to discuss how politicians treat Joe Exotic, in the Joe Exotic thread.