When Netflix executives scheduled the release of a seven-part docuseries on the wild world of private exotic animal zoos or, more accurately, the people who run them to debut on March 20, , little did they know that they were contributing to what would become a cultural phenomenon. Of course, with a title like Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem, and Madness it was bound to find an audience, but thanks to the start of the Covid pandemic and resulting stay-at-home orders, that audience was massive, bored, scared, and looking for a distraction.
When the first season of Tiger King aired, most people had never heard of Exotic, an incarcerated former zoo owner, or his nemesis, Carole Baskin, co-founder and CEO of an animal sanctuary outside Tampa focused on rescuing big cats. Because of all that, the second season hits a bit differently than the first.
Here are a few that stood out. So, remember Allen Glover β the one who testified that Exotic had hired him to kill Baskin? After contemplating and feeling guilty about his role in having Exotic put away, Glover decided to come forward with new information.
Viewers never find out what happened to that supposed plan, and according to on-screen text at the end of the episode, Lowe declined to comment on the allegations Glover made against him in his sworn affidavit. Before he became the Tiger King, Exotic had a career in law enforcement.
In , he entered the police academy straight out of high school, graduated at the age of 19, and was promoted to police chief of Eastvale, Texas the same year. In September , Exotic sent former President Donald Trump a handwritten letter accompanying the page petition from his attorneys requesting a pardon for his role in a failed murder-for-hire plot, and violation of multiple federal wildlife laws β crimes for which he was sentenced to 22 years in prison.
