It’s been six years since Chapman and Maclain Way’s six-part series Wild Wild Country but they’re back. They’re still working with Netflix, this time bringing their viewers The Kings of Tupelo: A Southern Crime Saga. It all starts with an Elvis impersonator doing work as a janitor in a hospital near the titular Mississippi town. There, he finds body parts that the deceased left to probably donate for those in need. That seems like the most logical conclusion, but Paul Kevin Curtis is generous with his Occam’s Razor. He concocts a conspiracy theory of a black market of organ harvesters, writing books about the controversial subject. His obsession is his weakness, turning him into a prime suspect for trying to poison President Obama.

Yes, at least two of the sentences I wrote above feel like brand spanking new sentences, but that’s part of being a writer, the kind of people the South produced before the internet. The docuseries, this one in three parts, is tactile, showing viewers media between 2000-2013, which feel ancient in 2024. The docuseries takes me back to Myspace, a site I used but not to read about conspiracy theories. Then Myspace turns into Facebook, a social media I use to fight people but not like that. Conspiracy theories feel more popular now, but this docuseries shows us that we didn’t need Internet 3.0 for that. At the same time, Kings of Tupelo doesn’t need to make connections that we’re already making at home.

A docu series like Kings of Tupelo may leave an impression that it’s exploiting its subjects, particularly Curtis. Part of this impression feels valid, especially when the docuseries just lets him talk about body parts. The other subjects feel equally archetypal, like Steve Holland, mysterious enough for some to assume he is a sleaze. He does look the part, but then again that may just be a lot of subconscious biases at play. Credit is due for this docu series for turning a powerful local politician into quite a sympathetic figure. The same goes for the crime’s second suspect, Everett Dutschke, who the others just mention by name. Most of the details about him are on public record, but Netflix’s version of him is equally wild.

I haven’t finished Wild Wild Country but it has a reputation as a crazy docuseries for Netflix. Kings of Tupelo feels like a dime a dozen where it feels like it has natural conclusions. A guy like Curtis digs a hole for himself when he decides to dedicate his life to conspiracies. He makes himself a target by his typical enemies, because he’s making a lot of them all over. The craziest part of this story though is the possibility that one of his enemies slips up. The conspiracy theories that destroyed his life may just be the thing that builds him back up again. Watching the retelling of how the media reported on the Obama ricin plot is equally a fever dream in this docuseries.

Watch The Kings of Tupelo: A Southern Crime Saga on Netflix.