Okay thinking back on it a little bit, I’ll give this a try. As a somewhat possible explanation for Alains “character assassination” this episode, assuming Alain is actually gonna stick around with the champions to watch the rest of the M8 happen, does anyone think it’s somewhat possible that Alain seemed “cold” to ash and didn’t interact with him this episode because Alain was on a “one tracked mind” here to win the tournament? To clarify, this isn’t to try justifying the overall mishandling of his character but rather try explaining the seriousness he displayed here and the lack of interacting.
If there’s one thing about Alains character that remains the same, its how one tracked focused he can be about battling and winning, most especially against opponents comparable to his level and people deemed as threats. The M8 fits this category to a T, more than anything Alains ever faced before by a country mile, when here he’s facing the 8 strongest trainers in the world. The atmosphere here for this tournament is extremely intense, hence why all of the champions besides Ash and Iris had those cold looks we saw when surrounding each other. Even Leon, whos basically an adult Ash, had an uber-focused “angry” look on his face before the battle started that made Ash and Iris surprised on what they walked in on.
On top of that, since Alains first opponent was literally the world champion, it’s obvious that Alains gotta give his absolute A-game, 110% full effort, no holding back in any conceivable way, if he wanted any chance of winning. One slip up and it’s over from his perspective. So exclusively focusing all his time and energy on the battles and not interacting with anyone seems logical from that standpoint.
So while this does not give reasons for mishandling his character overall, anyone think it is possible this is what they were going for? That Alain didn’t interact with Ash or the other champs because he was just super focused on getting through his own battles? Again, this assumes Alains gonna stick around after his defeat.