Infinity Train has had a rough time on HBO Max. Though the show has gotten four seasons, it underperformed and, per Vulture, managed to get canceled after its fourth. For those fans who have stuck with the show since season one, when it initially aired on Cartoon Network, the cancellation has been a considerable blow, as there’s nothing quite like it on TV. Similar to shows like Amphibia or Owl House, Infinity Train has been canceled despite being an exceptional television show.
With Owl House soon to finish after its own season 3, and the Netflix series Dead End promising to be the next Gravity Falls, now is a perfect time to get into the realm of surprisingly excellent cartoons. While Amphibia, Owl House, and Gravity Falls would be good places to start, Infinity Train is perhaps a perfect place to watch premium animated television. Here are some reasons why this show is a great watch. Considering the uncertainty around HBO Max itself, now would be a good time to start watching. Here’s why.
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4 It’s Fun and Whimsical
Via Warner Bros
Infinity Train takes place in an alternate dimension where there is a massive train. That train has multiple cars and each has self-contained pocket universes sometimes much larger than the train car itself would suggest. Put simply, each train car is its own world. The train as a whole is designed specifically for passengers to learn lessons by traveling through the cars. The train attracts those with particular problems and helps them work through them.
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
This situation means that each of the worlds can be whimsical and fun. Infinity Train intentionally calls to those surreal children’s stories like Alice in Wonderland or The Wizard of Oz. One of the train cars in season one is a city ruled by a race of talking Corgis. One train car can only be exited when someone kicks a small toad at the center of the room. Another car is made entirely out of crystal. Cars can have generally anything you can imagine, and those cars are often populated with weird and wacky creatures called Denizens. One season focuses on a duo who are joined by a super powered deer who can shape-shift in almost unlimited ways.
3 It’s Dark and Weird
VIa Warner Bros
At the same time, there’s a lot that’s dark and disturbing about the world of Infinity Train. It’s never clarified why the train exists, where it’s going, or even why it was originally made. The world it drives through is a barren wasteland filled with dangerous creatures called Gohms. These black tentacles beings walk on all-fours and can literally suck the life out of a human being.
Seasons 2 and 3 deal with this darkness directly. One of the main characters, a denizen who calls themselves MT, is confronted with an existential question: Did the car create her simply for her to impart lessons onto train passengers? That question, and the humanity of the Denizens, is further explored in season 3, where a group called Apex takes that question to its logical extreme. The denizens are there to serve the needs of the human passengers, the Apex claim, and therefore their lives don’t have meaning outside that relationship. Apex end up doing some truly reprehensible things, killing denizens and destroying their cars.
2 It’s Dramatic and Sad
Infinity Train deals with trauma and flaws, and how people deal with those flaws or trauma. Tulip, the main character of season 1, has to deal with the divorce of her parents and reconcile the fact that, though their marriage is over, they do still love her. She also has to deal with her own tendency to isolate herself from others. The main characters of each of the seasons have to deal with some sort of trauma or personal flaw by going through the train. This often leads to sad moments, like when Tulip has to confront the fact that the marriage between her parents was never as ideal as she imagined it. The show is not afraid to get into the meat and bones of why a character acts the way they do. Many villains are humanized by the show, even if they have a long road to redemption.
Seasons 2 and 3, again, deliver the most gut-wrenching twists and moments of sadness. Neither season holds back when it comes to making the characters suffer. Infinity Train is also not afraid of killing off characters for dramatic moments in these two seasons, which is surprising for a cartoon show. One of the main themes of the show is recovering from trauma, which is ironic as we see many characters traumatized on the train itself.
1 It’s Different and Unique
Infinity Train seems, on the surface, to be a straightforward show in the genre of typical kids TV or childhood books, where a kid gets sucked into another world and meets colorful characters who help them learn lessons about themselves. This is what Infinity Train is in season one, as Tulip’s journey is more about her own personal issues. However, seasons 2 and 3 both have wider aims and themes. Both seek to deconstruct and analyze the stories they’re based on. One of the great things about Infinity Train is the fact that it’s not afraid to ask deeper questions about its own premise. Are denizens human, or do they exist merely to help the development of the humans on the train?
Watching Infinity Train will be a unique experience. The show has the guts to go weirder and more surreal than most other TV shows, which makes it visually very distinctive. Though many cartoons can be dark, few confront their own darkness in such a philosophical and psychological way as Infinity Train. Each season is character-driven, focusing on a different story, which gives it the ability to delve deep into a character each season. More than any of that, of course, Infinity Train feels unique because of its themes and because of its commentary on similar stories. It’s unlikely that the show will ever get a fifth season, which is a shame as there was still so much ground to cover. However, if more people are interested in the show, it’s entirely possible we may get something similar, if not a revival.
