Infinity Train (Book 1)

Infinity Train has had a rocky history these past few years, starting out as a five-night-event, only to be revealed to be an anthology series with eighth seasons planned. It got cancelled and brought back several times over only to be officially cancelled with Book 4. With the show about to end, I decided to finally give it a watch, starting with the first book.

Infinity Train is an anthology series about a mysterious train in a deserted wasteland where every car has some sort of weird gimmick. It's a solid premise that allows for a lot of different stories with a lot of different characters, realistically you can make as many episodes as you can come up with different cars in the train. Book 1 of Infinity Train is a pretty great pitch for this premise, centering around a teenager named Tulip who tried running away from her house to game design camp only to stumble onto the titular train, kickstarting a short ten-episode season where she tries to get to the engine and find a way to escape. I was initially concerned when I discovered that each episode is around ten minutes, and the first episode, while pretty great, was incredibly overwhelming and fast-paced. I think that was on purpose though, and the pacing slowed down a bit as the season progressed, as we learn more about Tulip, the train, and its quirky set of inhabitants. And by the end of the season, everything manages to be tied up in a satisfying and thoroughly surprising ending. I still wish the episodes and season were a bit longer just to see more cars and spend more time with the cast, but Book 1 was definitely a completely story and its movie length also made it feel like no time was wasted. 

Speaking of which, the characters are pretty great, especially Tulip! The concept of a kid dealing with divorce isn't anything new, but Infinity Train manages to explore how Tulip was affected by it in ways I haven't seen in many other kid shows. Tulip is abrasive at the start of the show because she still hasn't come to terms with her parents' divorce, she rushes through the train and initially finds everyone on it to be a bit of a nuisance. However, her character development as she learns to accept change and her parents' divorce is incredibly compelling and well-done. The other characters, like One-One and Atticus, are also very enjoyable and while they might serve as comic relief at first, they do have their important roles to play in the plot. But while I like the characters, the train itself is the real star of the show. There's a ton of inventive cars, memorable inhabitants (like the Randalls and crystal dudes), and intriguing mysteries set up in the pilot, and the show strikes a perfect balance between giving the viewer answers and just leaving certain bizarre moments unanswered. The animation is also pretty solid, the characters and well-drawn and expressive, but what I really like is the synthwave background music that really gives a surreal and mysterious vibe to the show.

While most of the episodes were at the very least solid, these were some of the highlights:

The Cat Car: For me, The Cat Car was definitely the first showcase of how emotional this series could get, revolving around Tulip forced to confront some of her worst memories. We already knew from the pilot that she didn't handle her parents' divorce well, but this episode shows how in denial she was about it, and while she does end up accepting what happened, it doesn't make it sting any less. It's an inventive, gutting, and oftentimes creepy episode that really won me over.

The Chrome Car: This episode was an absolute trip, the titular mirror-filled car led to a ton of unique visuals and trippy reflections. But easily my favorite part was Mirror Tulip herself, she had a really interesting conflict and I like how through her years of being Tulip's reflection, she ended up knowing her better than even she did. 

The Ball Pit Car: Talk about Mood Whiplash. This episode lures you into a sense of security with its goofy ball pit antics, only for the Conductor to appear and ruin everything. The second half of this episode was insanely intense and devastating, as the otherwise happy car is slowly destroyed and characters are presumably killed. While Atticus getting turned into a bug wasn't great, it says a lot that I genuinely believed they killed off the dog.

The Engine: This was a pretty great finale to the first book of Infinity Train, bringing everyone's storylines to a satisfying conclusion. I knew there was something special about One-One, but him being the train's original conductor still surprised me. The final battle was fun and utilized a lot of plot points from the past season, the reveal of Amelia's number was genuinely chilling, and the hook for Book 2 with Tulip's reflection still being missing left me excited.

Overall, Infinity Train's first book was pretty great. It's a strong self-contained story with an interesting hook, great characters, and a solid ending. The only issue is that I wish it was longer, but hey, that's what the next books are for, right?

4/5 Stars