My Review of "Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness"

I've been hearing the hype about Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness for quite some time. I wanted to wait to watch this one with my girlfriend because she really loves this show. In the mean time there have been countless memes and jokes about this show that I didn't understand.

Now that I've watched the show I have to say this series is just as crazy as everyone had told me it was. It really does live up to the hype that it's built for itself. Originally I thought it was a run of the mill reality TV show but it's a lot more dramatic than that.

It starts off with an introduction to the players in the game. There's three main individuals that they start to talk about in the beginning. Bhagavan Antle, Carole Baskin and Joe Exotic. This is a documentary styled TV program so all of the stories are told from the horses mouth. It's crazy that this story is actually a true story but there are all kinds of people in this world.

Bhagavan Antle is kind of a minor character in this series but he does get a lot of attention as he's one of the bigger big cat zoo owners in the US. They paint him as a very good business man that has a lot of influence on others. In fact, he's so influential that it seems as though he's got a harem of women to do his bidding. He's used his influence and charisma to win over many individuals.

Joe Exotic is the real main character of this whole TV series. He's a very creative individual. He prides himself on the vast amounts of large cats in his zoo. Again he's a very charismatic individual but he holds no punches when he has an opinion on anything. He's very loud and opinionated too.

Both Bhagavan And Joe have a huge hate for Carole Baskin. Carole Baskin plays off as an animal rights activist when she's doing pretty much the same thing that Joe and Bhagavan are doing. The only difference is that Carole doesn't breed the big cats that she owns. She does however shows them off to the public for money to pay for their imprisonment in her zoo and possibly for a profit. The reason why Joe and Bhagavan have a huge distaste for Carole is that Carole does a lot of hypocritical campaigning against them to shut down their zoos.

As the TV series continues, layers of these characters start to become exposed. We learn more about each of these characters and how they don't have such delightful past lives. The skeletons in each of their closets get pretty crazy but there's no way to confirm whether these stories are true or false. I guess that's how gossip and rumors are spread.

I'm ashamed to admit it but I was locked into this series from start to finish. I actually binged watching this whole TV series in one sitting. There are only seven episodes and they really had a good grip on me for some reason. One of the reporters hit it on the head when she said when you see a train-wreck you can't really turn away. That's what it felt like while watching this series.

It's terrible to say but it hit on every element of what makes us bad as people. There's jealousy, ego and revenge on each of their minds. I fell into the black hole as well. If we make fun of these characters how much better are we to bully them? The Internet memes have often been cruel and really some of the people in the show really don't deserve what they get. It's just the fact that everyone is so non-compromising that everything gets so bad.

Overall, I have to admit that I enjoyed watching this TV series. I can't say that I didn't if I sat through the whole thing and watching it all in one sitting. Yes it shows the worst side of human beings but that's really what intrigues people to watch it. It's terrible to say but there will probably be more shows like this because of its popularity and we will watch them. I have to give this series an 8.5 out of 10. It gets extra points for being original but loses points because it's something I should be ashamed of enjoying.