Comic relief from cholla thorns

In a painful comic survival beat, Elliot gets cholla cactus stuck in the worst possible place. Sam and Ethan use two rocks like tweezers to pull the thorns free while Elliot howls, protests, and tries to stay brave.

This moment matters because the story needs humor before the darkness deepens. It shows family closeness, frontier absurdity, and the desert’s ability to hurt them in humiliating ways.