Infinity Train (2019)
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"Various people get trapped on a mysterious train with an endless number of cars, each one being its own universe, and they must resolve their psychological trauma and emotional issues in order to get home in this animated anthology series."
- IMDB
Many many moons ago, one of my favorite youtubers, Skywardwing, made a video about the pilot short for Infinity Train. I feel like the show was just getting picked up, but between Sky’s hype, Ashley Johnson’s voice acting, and the interest I piqued from the actual short itself, I was kind of sold and put the show on my list. Infinity Train ended up lasting a few seasons, whether it was canceled, concluded, or both. I finally got to it so here’s my review of Infinity Train and why you should watch the show for yourself.
Season 1
The first real episode gave me all the feels. I don’t know, I just felt like I was on the cusp of greatness. We got a real beginning for Tulip and was introduced to One One - One One is like a dual personality voiced by a guy sounding like he’s trying to do impressions of Taika Waititi and Alan Rickman and I absolutely stan. There were some interesting concepts introduced to us this first season. Um.... like those vhs memory tapes.... yeah, we totally see how those are made later, it’s honestly so weird.
Going into the unfinished turtle car was all sorts of confusing especially as we were really starting to get confused about one-one's purpose. The mirror car really accelerated the pacing of this adventure with the intense introduction of mirror tulip and the mirror police. The play gym car was all sorts of menacing and ended with the beginning of the climax with the "conductor reveal" and ATTICUS IS TURNED INTO THE WIERD BUG THING. Like what ever were those things for real!!!
I really don’t want to spoil much of this series to you. It’s so short, so these climactic episodes at the end of every season are extra special. In the end, Tulip sorts out her problems, as one does on this train, and goes home as a better, more whole person. I will say, as interesting as future characters are. I love Tulip. I have such an attachment for one-one, I think he’s one of the funniest characters on the show, the best dialogue for any character on the show, and I really cherish the time he was a supporting character. I missed him the most as went through the series.
Season 2
Beginning with Chrome Tuilp with her cool redesign. This is a cool character and I loved spending a season with her. It also gave us an extra season with Ashley Johnson, so I couldn’t be happier. MT’s supporting crew is Jesse and Deer. Jesse is more of another main rather than support, but his arc and friendship with MT was adorable to watch. Deer is literally the coolest creature on the entire show. They created this shape shifting deer and applied no rules to it at all. The possibilities were endless.
Infinity train, every season, is full of adorable quirky adventure that focus on personal growth of the passenger, but it’s fun and games until the last few episodes.
Jesse finally found his true self unlocking his door and accidentally leaves MT behind since she is not allowed to leave. The Dramaaaaaaaa. This kind of reminds me of Kingdom Hearts when it comes to the Nobodies. Nobodies like Roxas and Namine were not supposed to exist in a way the so called nulls on the train are considered nothing. MT is just not allowed to exist in Jesse’s world. That scene where they are separated is truly heart breaking.
The story of MT and Jesse and their journey off the train together was heartwarming and interesting. Just so much lore comes from the final episode alone. Now that both Tulip’s are gone, how do we follow this?
Season 3
We start season 3 with a random musical number in the background as we see a montage and return of the Apex crew. I was wondering if Apex would be more crucial for the season 3 as MT, or Lake, was to the Season 2 lead. Every new season has some sort of follow up from the previous season, right? Turns out that’s partially correct, but once again, this show surprises me. The leaders of Apex seem to be the new leads. Like, okay, I’ve seen this before. We meet these a-hole characters and then have to spend time with them when they become the new main characters. They did this with Abby in the Last of Us and it didn’t work. But Abby’s story at least had Lev. And Simon & Grace at least have Hazel, who has a non glowing number and large gorilla friend.
The compelling writing on this show has yet to fail me at this point. Tuba’s death, Grace’s decreasing number, Simon and his pesky cat friend, the Amelia reveal - Now that was hilariously ironic.
I still ended the season disliking Grace and Simon, but in the end, I liked Grace a little less and hated Simon even more.
The last few episodes left me tense the entire time. Simon was in his villain era, his numbers were like on his forehead bro. He ended being dementor-ed by those bug things and Grace was left behind to help the kids of Apex to learn the truth. While Grace has not been my favorite lead, her story was amongst the heaviest. This season is low key so heavy. I finished season 3 and just sat there thinking. Because this show is so short in every way possible, so much is thrown at us at a single time. It’s overwhelming in the best way.
Season 4
And the final season gives us what could’ve been an Asian gay love story.
I’ll tell you, seeing the memories, the split screen segments, all the way to Amelia and the Conductor discussing this two-in-one special..... seeing the title screen was so satisfying. Though... it was ultimately not as satisfying in the end. The 4th season just did not hit the same. The story of these two lifelong friends didn’t have as much depth as I thought it would. There was also a lot of things going on behind the scenes that we never learned anything about.
I think my biggest disappointment is the disconnect between season 4 and the rest of the seasons. Season 1 starred Tulip and introduced Lake. Season 2 starred Lake and introduced the Apex. Season 3 starred the Apex and introduced Hazel. Season 4 should have starred Hazel and introduce something else. Literally the most interest character and we never see her again or know what happened between her and Amelia. I felt that betrayal in my soul more than what ever betrayal drama that was going on between... well literally everyone in season 4.
Overall thoughts - My biggest recommendation is that you don’t approach Infinity Train like a show. Every season has 10 episodes and every episode is 10 minutes, so my advice is to watch every season like a movie. Maybe keep it a trilogy because I just don’t feel any redeeming qualities from 4, honestly. The rest of the show is ingenious. The concept of the train cars, they were basically able to anything they wanted and it was always fascinating. All the characters had depth to them, even my least favorite, there were always layers to unpack. As I’ve said before, every season is fun and games until the last few episodes. You get hit, like hit hard, with so much story, emotion, action, surprises. I was never ever prepared for the season endings.
Please please please watch this. It’ll literally take you 6 hours for the superior 3 seasons. It’s so worth a watch and deserves much more recognition. This was storytelling and animation at it’s finest and it’ll be an experience I think about for years to come.
My Rating: ★★★★★★★★★☆