Infinity Train

In my opinion, Infinity Train is one of the best cartoons of the modern age. 

Infinity Train is the long-awaited 2019 Cartoon Network series. The series started in 2019 and has three seasons. It was originally a short, but it was popular enough to be greenlit and made into a miniseries. The first season of Infinity Train follows Tulip, a young aspiring game programmer, her mercurial robotic sidekick, 1-1, and a talking Corgi, as she tries to navigate through this seemingly infinite train, each carriage carrying a different world with a puzzle to solve, and to get back home. She must also find out why there is a mysterious glowing number on her hand.

After the original short, the show gained a fandom. An audience was drawn to the character potential and creative settings that the premise allows. The premise allows for a lot of magical and creative worlds for Tulip and her friends to venture and explore. It’s rife with potential, especially in regards to the mystery aspect of why Tulip is on this train to begin with. Tulip is lost and this difficult situation she finds herself in has the capacity to fuel intriguing character development. Tulip must face her personal issues. A coming-of-age story encapsulated within a fun romp; its coming-of-age components juxtaposed against fantastical story elements.

And the series generally lived up to its potential. At ten twenty-minute episodes, each season can be watched fairly quickly.

Like Twelve Forever (a Netflix series that originated from Cartoon Network), the concept allows for the imagination to go wild. Fantastical and whimsical worlds that all ages can appreciate. Their fantastic nature helps this contrast against the more serious drama going on. Tulip's parents are recently divorced, which sparks her finding the train in the first place and is a prime source of angst. Eventually, she learns to accept it. She learns how to deal with change and how to accept it.

The series generally delivers on its concept. The world of the train and each carriage is fantastical and contrasts nicely with the more serious elements of the series. There's a world of mirrors, a world of music, a water society exchanging goods, tapes that tell your entire life story, etc. Tulip is a well-done character, with a sufficient character arc. The supporting characters are enjoyable too. The series talks about death, divorce, change. Despite this, it doesn’t feel as if the serious subject matter removes the humor from the show or that the humor feels out-of-place. Things are given space.

The series also kind of feels like Stranger Things in that it’s a nostalgic look at the past. The aesthetic of tapes is incorporated in the series. There’s that nostalgic and old-timey distortion effect. Additionally, the concept itself feels like going through many different genres in one series. Each train is like its own mini-movie.

SPOILER

The reveal of the first season is that the train functions as a kind of therapy. The train picks up people who have emotional problems. The train then forces people to work through their issues. The denizens (such as the talking Corgis) help people on their journey. The number that Tulip and other ‘passengers’ have showcases their progress; the closer to zero the better and getting zero takes you off the train.

At the time, I found the conclusion of season one to be slightly substandard. A regular villain backstory and an unfulfilling ending to Tulip's journey, one that leaves a lot of unanswered questions. Tulip gets back home, but we do not see how her parents reacted to her missing.

The show skips over the ending and it results in a lack of closure. It would have been good to see how Tulip’s parents responded to her coming back, and how she now deals with having no shadow. It would be good to see her using her matured viewpoint to deal with the situation. Instead, it’s just all glossed over.

After watching it again, I have a greater appreciation for the villain. She’s a tragic figure who despite that, is a dangerous obstacle for Tulip. The antepenultimate episode is well-done in its tense energy.

Despite my problems with the ending of the first season, it was overall still strong.

Season one was followed by season two and three, both of which I watched. Both continued the imaginative streak of the series. Additionally, both improved on the first season. In the following seasons, the show has greater confidence in itself. Each season, the main character changes, making the series an anthology series, although the characters are linked to each other in some way. This is a fantastic way to mix up the show. It also furthers one of the messages of the show, which is that change happens and things cannot stay the same forever.

Season two follows M.T., a reflection of Tulip created in the first season. She joins forces with 

Jesse, who’s another passenger, and a quirky shapeshifting deer named Alan Dracula, intending to help Jesse off the train. In the meantime, she is hunted by mirror enforcers who seek to destroy her. They view her existence as an aberration and she must be killed to “preserve the balance.”

It’s a great metaphor. M.T. is someone who just wants to live her life, but she is persecuted under arbitrary rules of authority.

As I watched this amazing character, I felt her arc of self-discovery having similarities to being LGBT. Jesse is a realistic character. He’s a nice person, but he has understandable flaws.

I found Alan Dracula a good foil and well-done comic relief to the two main characters. His hijinks are wacky and allow for some funny contrast against the serious issues presented in the show.

Having the mirror enforcers mixes up the formula, with the characters being on the run from these enforcers. The enforcers are fun to see.

In this season, Jesse and M.T. briefly meet the Apex, a group of passengers on the train. The two leaders of the Apex are the protagonists for the third season. I found this to be yet another creative way to mix up the show and keep things interesting.

The Apex are reminiscent of Lord of the Flies, and an inversion of Peter Pan’s the Lost Boys. These lawless youth fall more into unethical behaviour in the absence of authority. The Apex believe that numbers should go up instead of down, and that the more transgressive acts they commit, the stronger they are. They believe that the denizens of the train are not truly people and therefore not deserving of rights. The show’s focus on empathy is a timeless message. The Apex shows the dangers of lacking empathy.

Season three follows Grace and Simon, the leaders of the Apex. They’ve been on the train for years, with no hope of getting off. They’re separated from the Apex and meet a mysterious young girl, Hazel. They want to take Hazel back to the Apex, but are also forced to take Hazel’s protective denizen guardian, a talking gorilla named Tuba. Grace and Simon agree to travel with both of them, both to keep Hazel happy and because Tuba is a powerful creature. However, they secretly plan to somehow separate the two. As they journey, the ideology of Grace and Simon is put to the test.

Grace and Simon are likeable and interact well with each other. At the same time, the audience is made clear about their harmful attitudes. Hazel’s innocence is played against Grace and Simon’s plotting.

The ending of Season three is dark. It leaves you unsettled, but slightly hopeful. As always, I appreciate pushing the boundaries of children’s media. There’s challenging material, but it never gets gratuitous.

I made some notes, some of which include spoilers. Spoilers can be read by highlighting the text.

• Amelia was a parallel/foil to Tulip and the other passengers. Tulip accepted change, but Amelia could not (of course, their situations were different, Amelia representing an extreme.) Amelia was what Tulip could become later in life without learning how to deal with change.

• I appreciate how, after everything she’s been through at Amelia’s hand, Tulip still wishes Amelia well and hopes that her number will go down. Kindness and empathy over revenge and anger.

• I felt that M.T. was a jerk to Jesse initially. I wasn’t expected her to be so aloof. However, it makes sense and allows for her to defrost as she befriends Jesse. Their relationship is fast, but feels natural at the same time. I don’t want Jesse and M.T.’s relationship to be viewed as romantic, I personally prefer a platonic friendship. I find that more meaningful.

• They have that scene where M.T. hijacks that poor old man’s pod so that she can get a number. The old man runs off without his number, on the top of the train. I disliked the scene because I spent the rest of the otherwise good episode wondering what happened to that guy. It seemed most likely that, without a guide, he perished. However, knowing that M.T. killed a man through neglect, albeit unintentionally, overshadows the emotions of her journey.

• After two seasons of moral protagonists who make good choices, it’s more interesting to see characters who don’t do that; characters who make bad choices or struggle with doing the right thing.

• Simon’s rejection of redemption is excellent. Sometimes the only people that can help people are themselves.

• It’s such a complex thing and the emotional harm of what’s happened can never be truly undone. Grace is partially responsible for Simon’s downfall. However, he also made his own choices. Both truths exist simultaneously, despite seeming contradictory.

• The sequence where Grace sees a vision of Hazel is very powerful. Because the vision of Hazel imagined by Grace is completely right. No euphemisms, no skirting around, no escape. “YOU killed Tuba.” Not directly, but she’s nonetheless responsible. And she has to live with that. Live with the consequences of your actions.

• Grace yelling “because you were going to kill her!”, in response to an apparition of Simon questioning her decisions, was similarly intense and real. Speaking of intensity, Simon’s mad laughing when he thought he killed Grace was so haunting. Well-done.

• I liked how Amelia was monstrous in season one, only to then be less monstrous by comparison to Simon and Grace in season three (partially because of her efforts to reform).

• I appreciate how they gave Simon his hobbies; he writes books and has his miniatures; it makes him feel more like a real person. In addition, his miniature hobby works well as a metaphor, showing how he wants to control people. Just as the Cat, Samantha, said.

• Hazel made the right choice going with Amelia. Wise beyond her years.

• Tuba’s death was very sad. Even more so with the knowledge that her children have either died or grown-up.

• It’s a great struggle that Grace is going through. She knows she has to change, but she doesn’t know if she has enough courage.

• I think the scene of Tuba’s funeral was where Grace finally saw an example of a healthy relationship. Furthermore, it was a healthy parental relationship, something sorely lacking in her life. It was what she wanted to be with the Apex, what she wanted to be with Hazel.

• Each season tries to outdo each other in their horrific imagery. They succeed. I cannot believe that they got away with the scene where M.T./Lake kills Officer Mace. It’s lucky his blood is grey because it would have been completely different if his blood was red.