As far as story development, shouldn’t Rivera have the characters at least look into this organization for such basics as certifications, training, licensing, etc.? At the least, Rex should be asking Tess these questions on camera, rather than reacting like she just put her hand somewhere else.

Just like the old Mark Trail, Rebooted Mark also fails to capture (on video or camera) current action and dialog. At least Peter Parker thought enough to set his camera on auto to capture images of his fights with Doctor Octopus and the Green Goblin! Time to step in and take charge, Mark, since Rex is too smitten. Roll film!

In today’s installment, Mark continues to just stand around (on what looks like a Christmas Tree railroad track), instead of filming the “therapy session”, as Tess suggested. Way to (not) go, Mark! This will truly be some kind of documentary.

And apparently, today’s strip is an “edited” view of the actual therapy session, since Rex does not mention his dog. If only we had complete video footage to look at …! Mark? Mark?

Home chores and new window inserts kept me too busy yesterday, so today is a double-header.

Okay, the story is finally moving along as Tess explains her Touch Center in more detail. (But quit fantasizing about the cub in panel 3!)  And Mark is finally capturing video of activities. That’s some progress, at least. Maybe Tess actually believes this is a valid therapy technique. Or maybe she is a good con. They do seem to be very popular these days.
But Rex hasn’t got a lot to say. Odd, since they are supposedly filming an episode for his show.  Perhaps that is meant to suggest his distracted state. Well, I think this adventure would pace better if Rivera cut down on the gag-a-day format for lame puns. They should be dunked!

At last, an actual crisis to deal with. Suddenly the temperature dropped some 30 degrees as the story takes a walk on the darker side. Mark doesn’t seem to understand what the word “volunteer” means with regard to wages. At the same time, Tess exhibits a quick change from politely flirtatious to accusatorily defensive. We’ve seen that anger suddenly flare up before. Meanwhile, Rex must have forgotten that he is supposed to be filming a show. What we have here is failure to communicate.

Now hooooold on there, Baba Looey. . . I mean Mark! Tess might be doing something wrong in the way she runs her Tiger Touch Center, but making eyes at Rex is just biology in action. Same for Rex. Aside from Tess, the only other person doing something wrong is squishy Mark, who so far refuses to film the cubs, undermining why he is there.

Diana Daggers may be giving Mark a story about this place being a covert cult and it could turn out to really be a case of jealousy. It’s possible that Diana may still be recovering from Professor Bee Sharp’s stinging betrayal and fixated on Rex on the rebound. Based on her surreptitious photographing of Mark’s abs while on their boat during the zebra mussel adventure, it’s not too big a stretch to see that she could be interested in Rex. Even Tess has noticed some of Rex’s physical attributes.

Lemme see if I understand this logic:  There is not enough battery life to record Rex holding a cub for a few minutes, yet there is enough battery life to film the rest of the Touch Center? Hmmm, pretty weak excuse, Mark. Is Tess really as naive as you think she is? At the least, I’d expect Tess to suggest “Mark, you’re a pro, right? Just put in your spare battery!” “Uh, spare battery?”  Uh-oh.

Anyway, Mark is clearly a victim of his own self-righteousness by not filming Rex holding a cub. He seems to assume that he really is filming an episode of Rex’s show, rather than filming evidence of possible animal abuse. I would have thought he’d be filming every damn thing he could. But if he continues to avoid filming the very things that are wrong, he might as well go to work at the Hallmark Network. I’m not sure where Rivera is going with this.

As Rex, Tess, and an animal handler conveniently stand in the distance and just stare, Mark gets to film the tiger cubs, who seem to be having a good enough time on their own. I’m not sure where Mark acquired all of this information about tiger cubs and zoos, but we can assume it happened in between the published strips, during times when . . . you know, comic strip characters take care of personal business best not published.

I’m fantasizing public bathrooms for comic strip characters, with waiting lines and cross-strip conversations. That could make an interesting strip all by itself. Anyway…

While on the throne, some comic strip characters would leaf through Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader, while Mark must have skimmed information on roadside zoos from websites. Maybe Rivera was inspired by the Netflix series, Tiger King.  I’m going to go out on a limb and suggest that Tess will not later hire a hitman to take out Mark or Rex. Diana, on the other hand, better watch out!

Yeah, okay. This is a bit weird. I wasn’t aware that lions (or cubs) could show distinct emotions, such as sadness or fear (as in panel 3). They do seem to have some limited facial expressions, from what I could find out, but most of them appear to consist largely of big, open mouths that say “I’m coming to eat you!”

Seems to me that Tess is using her “therapy” more to project her own feelings of loneliness onto Rex. Mark has a point, though, but I’m not ready to call in the ASPCA until we find out about the parents of these cubs and where they sleep.

Just a thought: You think this might wind up like the original Jurassic Park, after the dinosaurs escape?

Mark discovers a flaw in this supposed covert plan when he realizes he should have gotten briefed on how to use a video cam, first. Or perhaps my own off-the-cuff hypothesis is shedding its few layers of plausibility, and all of this is really just ad-hoc chaos. But if that is the case, it seems unnecessarily foolish. We know that Daggers deliberately asked Mark to help her save (rescue) Rex. Why would she deliberately do something dumb that puts Mark into an untenable situation?
On the other hand, Tuesday’s strip ended with a decent-enough pun. But moving on . . . .

Seems to me if Mr. Know-It-All Mark Trail knows the separation age for tiger cubs, he should also be able to tell their age. Call me befuddled, but I’m not sure how Mark suddenly became multi-tasking when a few “moments” ago, he wasn’t even sure how to turn the video camera on.

I suppose that the raised eyebrow stare Mark displays in panel 4 is only supposed to provide us a symbolic confirmation of Mark’s sly plan, and we should not assume it is an actual expression, as it would be something that Tess Tigress could easily see. She might then respond “Mark! Are you trying to imitate Jack Nicholson? Ming the Merciless? Or are you planning something sneaky?”

Well, I can’t say I’m impressed with the layout of this place so far. Looks amateurish. A fair clue this place could be a scam.

We’ve already had a week of Mark and Rex at the gate to the touching zoo, and we’re still here. You’d think somebody would, at least, have had to go to the bathroom. Unlike the sober, straight-forward Mark Trail of Sunday, we’re back to the Kramer version of Mark Trail.

Well, I think I already planted my flag in the hypothetical ground that Diana’s expulsion was deliberately staged and this danse des imbéciles of Mark’s is just a pose to fool the zoo staff to overlook his actual undercover investigation. So, we’ll see who turns out to be the real fool here.

Okay, I’m sure you all saw this coming. Diana was play-acting—after a fashion—as a troublemaker, in order to deliberately get ejected and ensure Rex had to rely solely on Mark. Mark can then save Rex from what looks like a one-sided infatuation.

Clearly, this pose didn’t take much effort on Diana’s part. She must have learned enough about Tess Tigress to know what would get her angry. And so far, Rex hasn’t tumbled to the true motive for Diana’s ejection. Well, we’ll get back to this story in a week, but after Sunday, it’s time to return to Lost Forest and the Mystery Rash.

As this plays out, Diana ups her role as the sarcastic, cynical sidekick to the point where Tess starts slipping out of her hippie-dippie animal spirit guide persona to something more resembling angry members of the Sunny Soleil Society.

Well, how will this “tiff” get resolved, Mark? Do you quit acting like a city boy on vacation and save the project from sinking? Will Rex step in to calm things down? Again, is this play-acting or did Mark and Rex overlook Diana’s personality (again)?

Here I was, thinking this was going to develop into a classic piece of théâtre de l’absurde, or at least a faint echo. Instead, it seems to be dissolving into just another staged reality TV show. Again, these contrasting and conflicting attitudes could just be a ruse to hide the actual purpose of their visit, so I’ll try to keep my composure intact and reserve judgement. Yeah, right. I can do that…!

I am curious, however, about what is “behind” that floral gateway prop. It looks as if there is nothing but bare ground all around. However, I’m thinking that this vague staging is a deliberate setup by Rivera and that we will see The Big Touch Center Reveal within the next two days.

Mark continues to play the rube. He acts surprised they arrived at the very place they were driving to. Why?

Diana’s role seems to be increasingly limited to playing “the sarcastic sidekick.” However, I can certainly see why Diana has some concerns about Rex, as he looks smitten with Tess. Okay, then. We’ll let this little show play out some more to see how much of this play-acting is really just acting.

That is, will Mark eventually (as in “the nick of time”) shed his Gomer personality and get serious? Will Diana be ready to unlimber her concealed Glock?

Finally, a few remarks on the art. Overall, it is of a consistently decent quality (in spite of the fact that it does not look like Elrod’s old-school art. Panel 3 is curious: Diana’s pose as she approaches Tess is really well done, with a display of relaxed counterpoint that we don’t see so much. On the other hand, Mark’s expression in panel 3 looks like some old geezer who got asked a science question.