‘Tiger King 2’ TV Review: The Line Between Documentary & Reality Series Blurs In Return Of Netflix’s Massive Hit

Millions of Netflix subscribers spent hours inside the world of “Tiger King,” especially during the worldwide lockdown that made its gaudy true-crime all the more seem like an escape—but depending on who you ask, it was two different things. Some people on-camera in “Tiger King 2” refer to it as a “documentary.” But many more refer to it as a “show,” and it’s a revealing confusion about what “Tiger King” has become. The Netflix juggernaut is wedged somewhere between our love of true-crime documentary filmmaking and trashy reality TV, and in its sequel—or second season—it shows just how good “Tiger King” can be at stirring things up with larger-than-life personalities and getting us involved with their personal business. And like a worthwhile reality TV series, “Tiger King 2” proves that there’s still more indulgent entertainment to come from its dramatic character arcs, murder mysteries, and legal struggles, stuff that we wanted more of after “Tiger King,” even if we’ve forgotten about them since. There are enough new developments in “Tiger King 2” to justify its existence, and enough cliffhangers to make you want a Part 3. 

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“Tiger King 2” continues to ask many of the questions that made “Tiger King” such a soothing distraction. Like, “Did Joe Exotic really hire someone to kill his rival Carole Baskin?” Or, “Did Jeff Lowe really set up Joe Exotic to look like he wanted to kill Carole Baskin?” And then of course, “Did Carole Baskin kill her husband Don Lewis, and feed his body to her tigers?” (If the names of these warring big cat owners are not familiar to you, “Tiger King 2” will equally have little meaning.) The show does not have many answers to these questions, but it does take the viewer even deeper into the world, sometimes by treating us with shocking developments for a saga that is even messier now. 

Lest we forget, Joe Exotic remains in jail for crimes that were explored in the first season (his current appearance is only from a rectangular video call, like a protagonist hidden away). And while the opening episode tracks the efforts to get him a Trump pardon, we know how that failed. Episode 1, “Beg Thy Pardon,” also profiles how outsiders jumped on the phenomenon, the Joe Exotic-like opportunists who also know how to slap pictures on vehicles and words and try (and fail) to get people’s attention. As becomes a bit common throughout this installment, this episode also shows the series spinning its wheels by refocusing on his history (more family history, more trauma, all stuff we don’t need to see). If you squint while watching this episode, you can see musings on the cycle of 15-minute celebrity, whether it’s Carole Baskin on “Dancing with the Stars” or the outsiders who want to get involved, maybe because they know the cameras are rolling. 

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“Tiger King” hints that there is a new title king, in the new leader and owner of Joe’s GW Zoo in Wynnewood, OK, Jeff Lowe. Like many people in the series, Jeff has owned the celebrity status put upon him, another fake jewel to his Affliction clothing collection and you’ll-never-catch-me smirk. By giving so much time to Lowe, “Tiger King 2” deals with what we viewers hath wrought, the celebrity we created for these narcissistic big cat owners and exploited workers; even more so by touching upon more of the past illegal activity he may have been involved in Nevada, which was only hinted at in Season 1. But as a character, he does what he is meant to do here, which is to make things even messier. 

Like with Season 1, “Tiger King 2” takes about an episode-and-a-half to dig into the disappearance of Baskin’s husband Don Lewis, who might have fled to Costa Rica to leave his wife behind or might have been murdered. Credit to the investigation done by the documentary, the series leads viewers to parts of Lewis’ life we may never have expected to learn more about, namely that of his business in Costa Rica. The editorial focus is a little shaky (including when one insinuation about Don’s whereabouts is brought up and then dumped) but it should further titillate true-crime nerds. Still, the documentary remains stuck on speculation and hearsay, which you almost look past when in the rush of feeling like you might have just solved the case. Almost. 

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Criticism was previously and (rightfully) lobbed at co-directors Rebecca Chaikin and Eric Goode for losing the focus on the animals, just as the big cat owners had who sat in front of the cameras. “Tiger King 2” offers a type of revisit to this arc with a focus on Tim Stark, who was initially framed as a smaller player in the first season. Now, he’s an irate zoo owner and reckless animal handler this side of Joe Exotic, and the series invests a great chunk of time—too much—watching him go down for crimes he has committed involving treatment of animals, while lashing back against the courts, at PETA, at the whistleblowers who stood up against him. He threatens violence against anyone in his path in one scene and talks about being bipolar and a boy who used to go by “Sue” in another. It’s plainly a sad, thin arc, and has the strange air of “Tiger King” trying to add some animal justice into their saga at the sacrifice of tone, plot, etc. Or, after a moment when Stark threatens to kill one of the filmmakers if they put him in “Tiger King 2,” a type of “fuck you” revenge made possible with a camera crew. (“Tiger King 2” makes one wonder even more about how transparency in the filmmaking could bring this series’ whole experience full circle.) 

There’s so much he said/she said, so much finger-pointing, so much criminal activity that gets explained away by one interview figure just for the sake of creating questions (it’s almost like “Tiger King 2” doesn’t want resolutions). It’s more exhausting than last time, especially without the adrenaline rush of discovery—the previous tiger-spotted acid trip of getting lost in the world of Joe Exotic and other cult-like big cat owners, which made the series so fascinating and gave it artistic merit as being executive produced by the guy behind “American Movie.” “Tiger King” evolved through its series from a sociological examination to a breakdown of the hot gossip in the big cat industry, and at this point, the incisive, biting humor is a bit lost. When there’s a recurring character named Ripper who refers to himself as an “Armchair Detective,” the humor of it seems to be lost on the show, which is all about allowing viewers to become armchair psychologists, detectives, business owners, etc. But it’s one segment of a notable few in this series that are not funny or insightful, so much as just going with the strange momentum of what has been called, hoping we’ll find it kooky. 

As much as certain parts may be filler, like a reality show trying to stir things up instead of pointing anything out, “Tiger King 2” still proves that Chaikin and Goode found a gold-mine of real-life drama, as numerous documentary filmmakers gamble on when they commit years and years to follow around someone else’s life. Later into “Tiger King 2” it does offer more twists that are of the this-could-change-everything variety, regarding the Shakespearean pieces that have been set into place and that involve the freedom of numerous people. Allegiances change, a big battle is prepared, right before the final credits. The twists are so wild that it would only make sense if this were scripted, but you have to remind yourself this isn’t a reality show. It’s very much a documentary. Only now, it’s about what the audience wants just as much as what it captures within these new celebrities. [B] 

“Tiger King 2” is available now on Netflix.