Considering his mother died 2 days after tribal I would say it raised the stakes because it was a choice between playing the game or spending time with his terminal mother.

I don't expect this to be TWD, or to have the number of zombie kills but it just needs to be more interesting to watch. The family is incredibly unlikable. From the mom, to the boyfriends snarky son, to the apparently genius sister. I didn't mind Nick, he at least acted his part well (drug addict who saw something…