MBTI Type: ISTP

Malorie is an efficient problem solver easily able to put aside her feelings in the moment in order to ensure the survival of the kids and of herself. She makes competent use of her various systems—thinking that a bell could be used to identify a child in trouble, figuring out how to row them all to safety downriver, using cords and ropes to get them from place to place safely, etc. The problem is, she’s so brutally fixated on making sure they make it out alive, she forgets to be kind to the kids. She’s opportunistic and quick-reacting. When someone bangs on the front door, while the other people are arguing about whether to let them in or not, she snatches up a shotgun and levels it at the door. “Let her in,” she says. She quickly volunteers to make a supply run, and takes it upon herself to do that ever after. Seeing that Olympia has become infected, she demands and begs to hold the baby just for a minute to protect her. Malorie breaks into people’s houses and steals whatever they need, from Pop Tarts to clothes. She manages to get the kids down the river, protect them from a crazy man in the woods (by stabbing him, kicking him, and shooting at him), and then convince them to keep on their blindfolds once she “senses” the presence that wants to steal her kids. Malorie doesn’t waste much time thinking about the future, but does have a sense that things are going to get bad very quickly. Malorie is clueless about their feelings and often inconsiderate, barking orders at them and reducing Girl (a sensitive child) to tears. She feels uncomfortable with emotional displays, and excuses herself when Olympia wants to bond and talk, but then gives her a keychain stolen from the store later to comfort her. She eventually apologizes to the kids and gives them names; she had refrained from doing so, perhaps to guard her own heart in case any harm befell them. Malorie sometimes resists facing reality, assuming she can “deny” something and make it not true (if she doesn’t act like she’s pregnant, she won’t be; and if she ignores her contractions, the baby won’t come).

Enneagram: 5w6 sp/so

Malorie does nothing without great thought and caution; she does not trust or open up to other people easily, and her sister even complains at the start of the film that Malorie has not left her house or spoken to another person in months, not since her boyfriend abandoned her. She’s holed up in her studio, doing nothing but painting all day long, and ignoring the outside world to such an extent, she hasn’t even heard about the chaos sweeping the globe. Whenever others try to bond with her, she pushes them away in favor of brutal objectivity. Malorie is safety-first minded, and can come across as callous and cold, unfeeling to the children in her determination to survive on whatever they can find. But her 6 wing is willing to rely on other people, to open up and let in Tom, and to be occasionally warm to others when she tries to bond in the household. She’s afraid to lose them, but not afraid to “be alone” (her sister complains that she should care more about not being alone).