It’s never a good sign when characters start making decisions that are wildly illogical and even out of character for the sake of pushing the plot along.  And that’s exactly what happens in this episode, which takes some relatively interesting character beats and ruins them in rage-inducing fashion.  It’s one thing when the characters make bad decisions out of ignorance of the new world they have found themselves in, and quite another when they do things in direct contradiction of logic they outlined just moments earlier!

Madison is suddenly leading the hotel-bound survivors, which is a bit abrupt, but all well and good if she can apply some of her emerging pragmatism to new developments.  I would think that this is a role better served for Alicia at this point, given that she’s the one stepping up to the plate, and maybe her tensions with her mother later in the episode are meant to reflect this oversight.  But let’s face it, Maddie is the one that makes a lot of inexplicable mistakes in this episode, and the impact of those mistakes is amplified by her assumed role.

Ilene stabs Strand and gets subsequently confined to quarters.  There is essentially no attempt to determine why she stabbed him or what more could be in store.  Further, she makes a big deal out of the fact that the mission to trade with the gang is only about saving Strand, not seeing to Elena’s concerns about her nephew.  In other words, as a leader, Maddie is playing favorites, something that Alicia once again calls her out on later in the episode. 

It also makes her decisions regarding the possible sightings of Nick all the more hypocritical.  She’s unwilling to help Elena (or further gain her loyalty by at least pretending to care about Antonio), but as soon as the possibility of finding Nick is on the table, Maddie loses all perspective.  She just about earns a quick death at the hands of the gang for ignoring all warnings about the rules, and then breaks her own logical rules about the use of the generator, broadcasting the existence of the sanctuary at the hotel for miles around.  It’s all about creating a scenario that will pull the family back together in the end, but it relies on Maddie essentially turning into an idiot.  Having flaws in her leadership is one thing; endangering everyone for personal gain is another.

Meanwhile, I must admit that I enjoyed watching Nick get checked on his enormous entitlement attitude.  It’s an interesting turn, because Nick was once the downtrodden of his former society, yet here he has adopted a privileged mindset.  Luciana and Reynaldo call Nick out on it and it’s actually a fair criticism, one I can’t say I would be able to avoid myself.  This cultural exploration, including how Alejandro’s means of keeping the colonia together fits into it, is one of the better aspects of the series right now.  But it has to add up to something, and all too often, we see Nick throwing his weight around without quite seeing why it matters to the larger story.