I have once again made the tough and long journey to the Netflix tab in my browser and click play episode. I feel the need to reiterate that I am not binge-watching this show. In fact, I wait a day or two before watching another episode. A friend of mine almost spoiled somethings for me, so that’s why I am saying this. Before we continue, if you have not read the previous posts on this show, you can find Parts 1, 2, and 3 within this sentence.
In all honesty, this episode could have been titled “Lawsuits, everywhere,” and no one would have said anything. Baskins’ husband, Howard Baskin, mentioned that the couple have a filing cabinet filled with information on Exotic and then a few bins tossed around here or there. I was seriously concerned at first, but after watching the rest of the episode, I have to agree that it is quite smart.
The feud of this episode begins with the fact that Carole Baskin is quite good a social media. If you were to look up “Big Cat Rescue” in any search engine, she would be the first result to show up. Exotic, trying to get search engine optimization on his side, decided to call his show “Big Cat Rescue Entertainment,” that way he would hopefully show up toward the start of searches. The site they created was pretty much a carbon copy of Baskin’s website. Exotic even had a Florida address and phone number to make the site more authentic. Just wanting it to stop, the Baskins sued over copyright. In retaliation, Exotic filed counterclaims and created a website questioning Lewis’ disappearance, the main topic of the previous episode.
This entire saga, if anything, made Exotic more obsessed with Baskin. He had a blow-up doll with the name Carole and threatened to kill Baskin several times. This eventually led to a protest at her facility about murdering rabbits. I’m still confused about that aspect; I don’t know what else to say.
In 2013, the Baskins asked the judge for a summary judgment, which was granted. This decision resulted in Exotic being told to pay almost a million dollars to resolve trademark infringement. Feeling the entire justice system was against him, Exotic would do anything to spite the Baskins, including destroying his own belongings, even though he technically owned nothing. I was confused by this statement, but it comes to a head later.
Early one morning, the studio we Exotic was filming his internet show and storing footage for a reality show featuring him, was blown up while Exotic was away at a funeral. Law enforcement said that the explosion was clearly arson, and unfortunately, the alligators died during the attack because the habitat was connected. Initially, it was thought that the producer of the reality show might have started to fire, but then everything starts to point toward Exotic. His being out of town so he would have an alibi and then talking to his lawyer about what he should do about the footage and offering money. I most definitely think we would have destroyed his own studio to get pity from people. I think it was a scam. Unfortunately, the police could not find anything definitive proof, but then there comes more proof about the happenings of the zoo.
One of the things that Exotic would do to prevent the Baskins from getting everything was moving the ownership of the zoo around to several different people. It would give him more time until the lawsuit paperwork could get transferred to another person. The entire situation was soooooooo bad (I don’t think I could put enough O’s). He scammed his own parents to get his way. At this point, at least for me, there is absolutely nothing to redeem himself in my eyes.
Next comes a man names Jeff Lowe, a supposedly rich man who said that he was going to save the zoo from the million-dollar lawsuit. Eventually, Exotic was convinced to transfer the zoo into Lowe’s name to slow the Baskins’ lawyers. It was going great until it turned out that Lowe was not in fact insanely rich and he ended up stealing the zoo. That’s right; Lowe stole the zoo right from under Exotic’s nose. That’s where the episode leaves off. This is the first episode so far where I’m not completely confused or scared by the ending. In fact, I’m kind of happy that Exotic had to go through this trouble, and I want to know what happens. I might not even wait three days before finding out.
Drabble Geeks 
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