This so-called survival school story has devolved into a weird morality play, where Mark plays a macho-man who eats raw meat and talks with his hands, only to eventually fail through his own arrogance. This is the kind of character that the prior Mark Trail would normally enjoy taking down. But I’m not sure what Rivera’s motivation is. Frankly, this does not seem in character, even for the Rivera-era Mark Trail.

Unless Mark, not knowing how to teach, is channeling a TV persona of what he thinks guys want to see in a fishing instructor.