Tiger King 2 on Netflix peers into Joe Exotic’s cage, finds very little – CNET [CNET]

November 18, 2021 Thomas Giboney technology

The new season opens with stay-at-home orders shutting down the US in March 2020. A suddenly upended world got even loonier as Netflix’s hit inspired TikTok dances and memes, and even the president of the United States joked about it. In a meta twist to season 2, the documentary reports on events that it also influenced. People featured can’t escape their fame even as they hamfistedly try to exploit it. They even get recognized by cops when pulled over for DUI. But most sinister is the reaction from viewers taking sides, with many calling for Joe Exotic’s freedom and Carole Baskin’s head.

Baskin no longer has any time for the people behind the Netflix documentary, but does appear in clips recounting the hate-filled abuse sent to her by viewers. Some overzealous viewers have even taken on the role of amateur sleuths and delved into the mystery of Baskin’s former husband Don Lewis, who disappeared in 1997. The documentary spends not one but two episodes on his case, with these people saying very little of anything.

If the theme of the first series was the demented lengths people like Joe would go to in search of validation through attention and fame, this series spotlights people who desperately try to insert themselves into these stories. Among the footage, there’s a motif of people shooting powerful weapons in their back yards, whether it’s a target of Joe or a pumpkin as Carol’s head. And we meet the YouTubers obsessed with the Don Lewis cold case, or private investigator Eric Love, who leads “Team Tiger” in an overblown attempt to secure a presidential pardon for Joe despite never having met him.