I have a special relationship with the true crime series Tiger King. Not only did I write the first Esquire article about this crazy miniseries, but it was my very first Esquire article ever. And I’m a fan. When the series hit Netflix two years ago, there was no escaping it. Of course, that was also because the world went into lockdown and we streamed everything that was possible. It quickly became apparent that Joe Exotic isn’t the only person in this hilarious series whose personality is memorable. Carole Baskin was and is no less bizarre. Joe Vs. Carole is essentially a fictionalized version of Tiger King, with a tone reminiscent of the Pam & Tommy series. However, the question always arises as to why you should watch this series when the Netflix documentary shows the real Joe Exotic and the real Carole Baskin. It’s not like nobody saw Tiger King.
It feels like they’ve taken the milestones of the original story and built a completely fictional narrative around them. Now she’s getting close to the exploits Joe wanted his YouTube viewers to believe. The role of Carole Baskin makes you scratch your head a bit. Not only is the actress a good 25 years younger than the real Baskin, but she’s also portrayed in a more outlandish way than we know her. This may be due to the fact that there are far more videos of Joe Exotic and Baskin’s character had to be dealt with more creatively. Or they finally wanted to make Baskin the villain many think she is. Exotic fans still accuse her of killing her missing husband. Joe vs. Carole has some good moments, but fans don’t learn anything new. The series struggles with the problem of parodying what in reality is already pure parody. In the end, the saying is true here too: real life always tells the best stories. This also applies to Tiger King.
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