Hello all! Welcome back to my weekly reviews of Infinity Train. Last week we discussed the pilot, this week we get started on the first season – officially known as Book 1: The Perennial Child.

‘The Grid Car’, Season 1, Episode 1 (Premiere Date: August 5, 2019)

Synopsis – Our protagonist from the pilot, Tulip, arrives home from school excited for the game design camp she is planning to attend the coming weekend in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. To her dismay, though, she finds that her recently divorced parents mis-scheduled and neither are able to take her. Angry and frustrated, Tulip sneaks out of the house with the intention of walking all the way to Oshkosh herself. Along the way, she encounters a strange train station in the forest just as an incredibly long train with glowing green windows pulls up. The train flashes the destination as ‘Oshkosh’, so Tulip starts to climb aboard but pauses on the top step. Before her second thoughts can get the best of her, the train sucks her in and everything goes black.

Tulip wakes up in a snowy expanse almost identical to the one she had been traversing previously. Convinced the train was just a dream or hallucination, she treks onward and stumbles upon the spherical robot with dueling personalities from the pilot, One-One. One-One claims to be trying to find his mother, and simultaneously not even knowing what exactly he is. Believing the little robot to be some kind of advanced toy, Tulip continues on until she encounters a giant snowman with a door in its belly. Opening the door reveals, to her astonishment, that the snow-filled plain that she had thought was between her home and Oshkosh is actually the interior of one of a large number of train cars. Filled with excitement, Tulip rushes forward to the next car to find that the walls, floor, and ceiling are covered in a large grid and that simply touching a square causes a succession of cubes to pop out of the surface.

In the midst of having fun with the cubes, Tulip takes off one of her gloves and sees, to her surprise and horror, that there is a glowing number (115, to be specific) etched onto the palm of her hand. At that exact moment, the train lurches to a halt, prompting Tulip and One-One to rush outside and see what is happening. Realizing that something is off about the wasteland surrounding the train, she peeks her head around the side of the car in time to see a beam of light pull a person out of another car and seemingly vaporize them. Terrified, she immediately climbs down the side of the car and rushes off into the wasteland. Before she can go far, however, her boots get stuck in the mud and three monstrous creatures (officially called Ghoms) with the bodies of dogs, wings of insects, and masses of tentacles for heads emerge directly in front of her. Freeing herself just in time, she and One-One manage to flee back into the Grid Car.

Their escape was not perfect, though – one of the Ghoms manages to barge into the car with them. With some quick thinking, Tulip and One-One are able to use the cubes produced by the car to wall off the area around the next door and prevent the Ghom from getting to them. Relieved, Tulip and One-One step out into the area between the Grid Car and its neighbor, with Tulip vowing to find the train’s conductor and get to the bottom of what is going on.

My Thoughts – Here we are, the series proper. This episode is a lot more conventional in its structure than the pilot, beginning with the protagonist (Tulip) in her normal, everyday setting before gradually pushing her into new territory. There isn’t anything inherently better about this approach or the in-media-res introduction of the pilot – each have their own benefits. In this case, seeing Tulip’s home life gives us a much better sense of who she is as a person, what drives her, and what her flaws are. It’s clear from the get-go that she is bottling up her feelings about her parents’ divorce and that it isn’t healthy, as evidenced by the way she lashes out at both her friend from school and her mom. And it is clear that she is stubborn and head-strong – she barely even hesitated before deciding to run away to Oshkosh on her own. All of these traits are perfectly set up for the show to examine and dissect moving forward.

Starting before the action also gives the show a chance to demonstrate one of my favorite aspects, which is this kind of melancholic and lonely undercurrent running beneath everything. Part of this is in the way Tulip acts – how she immediately shuts down when her friend brings up her parents, for example, feeding her sense of isolation. Part of it is in the vast settings that Tulip is moving through – the snowy plain, the wasteland surrounding the train, the train itself. And a big, underrated component of it is Chrome Canyon’s synth heavy, sometimes sparse music. Just listen to the first song we hear in the episode, Bus Stop:

The repeating, echoing notes and short pauses lend it a sense of mystery, but also a hint of eerie loneliness as well. The music in the show is all-around excellent at creating this sort of atmosphere.

There are a lot more dark elements to this episode as well when comparing it to the pilot. We seemingly see a man get vaporized, Tulip is attacked by Lovecraftian monsters that appear to be able to suck out a person’s life force, and the train is more unknowable than ever. This darkness, balanced out with the moments of humor provided by the side characters (in this case, One-One) is one of the defining elements of the show and a huge part of why I love it.

Episode MVP – Tulip. As mentioned previously, this episode gives us a much better idea of who she is as a person than the pilot does.

My Totally Arbitrary Car Ranking – Grid Car (B), Snow Car (B). Neither are particularly spectacular, but they do have their moments.

My Totally Arbitrary Episode Ranking – A solid B. A good (second) introduction to the world and characters with more background, but the cars weren’t as interesting as the Corgi Car from the pilot or many of the cars still to come.

Cast Additions – First up, a correction from last week – Jeremy Crutchley voices Glad One and Owen Dennis voices Sad One, not the other way around. As for this episode, not too many new cast members here. Tulip and One-One retained the same voice actors from the pilot. The only new characters introduced are Tulip’s parents Megan (voiced by Audrey Wasilewski, a prolific voice actress and frequent guest star on a variety of shows) and Andy (voiced by comedian Mark Fite).

Trivia/Stray Observations –

• The reigning theory for a while was that Tulip is from Minnesota. Several pieces of evidence for this theory are provided in this episode, including the snowy weather and the fact that Tulip seems to think that it is feasible to walk from home to Wisconsin. Perhaps most notably, Tulip makes reference to the North Saint Paul Snowman, a massive snowman statue overlooking Highway 36 in North St. Paul. There are one or two other Minnesota references that I will mention later. At some point Owen Dennis, who is from Minnesota himself, confirmed that Tulip lives in North Branch. As someone with strong Minnesota ties, this makes me very happy.
• I distinctly remember there being a bit of a kerfuffle over on Reddit when this episode aired due to the slight change in art style versus the pilot – particularly changing Tulip’s glasses from circular to more square. From what I understand, this was done to make it easier for the animators as repeatedly drawing perfect circles is tough. Makes sense to me. If you have an opinion on the style change, positive or negative, sound off in the comments below!
• One-One’s ‘wacky chasing song’ that he sings as they are running from the Ghoms is obviously Yakety Sax.
• Owen Dennis has definitively stated that Tulip boarded the train on November 22, 2019. Do with that information what you will.
• Supposedly the original draft of this episode was going to be called ‘The Bliss Car’, and Tulip would instead find a car filled with people staring transfixed at television screens. That sounds quite eerie – I would like to see that.
• Apparently the door that Tulip opens to enter the Grid Car is the only hand-drawn door in the entire show; the rest were produced with CGI.
• Of course one of the first trailers for the show was set to Ozzy’s ‘Crazy Train’:

• This episode introduces the song Running Away, used during the scene where (surprise, surprise) Tulip ran away from home. It also shows up as the end credits theme and acts as the unofficial main theme for this season. It is also one of my favorite TV soundtracks ever. I’ll post it below in case you want another listen:

‘The Beach Car’, Season 1, Episode 2 (Premiere Date: August 5, 2019)

Synopsis – The episode starts with a quick montage of Tulip progressing through multiple cars, each time her efforts almost being foiled by One-One’s refusal to take anything seriously. Increasingly frustrated, Tulip scolds One-One, but does relent somewhat by mentioning that it is okay to have fun every once in a while. As soon as she says this, her number decreases (down to 114). Shocked and terrified, Tulip asks One-One what happens when the number reaches zero, and One-One implies that she would die – which only increases her anxiety and desire to get off the train.

The next car they encounter is a beach-themed one, where the duo finds a sly talking cat trying to rope an amorphous watery blob named Randall into a ‘donut-holer’ business/pyramid scheme. The Cat implies that she personally knows the Conductor, so Tulip rushes to introduce herself. The Cat reveals that a person’s number reaching zero does not in fact kill them, which deepens Tulip’s frustration with One-One exponentially. The Cat offers her a deal, out of earshot of One-One – if Tulip lets the Cat keep One-One for herself, the Cat will put in a word for her with the Conductor. With some reluctance, Tulip agrees, but the Cat has one more condition – Tulip must first help fix the Cat’s magnetic craft that she uses to travel along the outside of the train.

After getting the requisite part from an underwater city filled with Randalls, Tulip fixes the craft and hands over One-One, much to One-One’s dismay. The Cat leaves with One-One in her craft, but Tulip’s guilt at giving away the only friend she has made so far ends up getting the better of her. With Randall’s help, Tulip catches up to the Cat’s craft and Randall short circuits it, allowing Tulip to free One-One. Furious, the Cat drives off, vowing that this won’t be the last they will see of her.

My Thoughts – This episode is a fun one – and perhaps the most whimsical so far, what with the underwater city and the variety of wacky cars in the opening montage. It also introduces two of my favorite side characters on the show, The Cat and Randall. Slyly charming and highly manipulative, it is clear to us from the get-go that the Cat doesn’t have Tulip’s best interests at heart. She oozes personality, from her fashionable vest to the pitch perfect voice acting from Captain Janeway herself, Kate Mulgrew. Although she seems calm throughout most of the episode, it is clear by the end that she does have quite a temper when crossed. What exactly her end goal is at this point, we don’t yet know.

In contrast to the Cat, who is clearly an antagonist, Randall’s purpose is to serve as more of a comic relief character. His obsession with starting a business, to the point of splitting himself up to create his own sales team, is a strange quirk for an amorphous blob and makes his various interactions with Tulip all the funnier. The even-keeled vocal performance from Rhys Darby doesn’t hurt, either.

As discussed above in my ‘Grid Car’ review, we can really see Tulip’s character arc starting to take shape in these episodes. She is stubborn and strong-willed, and while that has served her well in getting to this point, it has also made her single-minded to the point where she is willing to hand off One-One to a shady person she just met on the off chance that it could help her get home. To be fair, One-One was being quite annoying this episode (a clearly intentional choice by the writers), but it still doesn’t reflect well on Tulip. Luckily by episode’s end she appears to be on the path toward changing for the better.

Episode MVP – The Cat. Our first real antagonist besides the Ghoms, she is wonderfully manipulative and voiced perfectly by Kate Mulgrew.

My Totally Arbitrary Car Ranking – Pinball Car (B+), Beach Car (B+), Crossword Car (B), Angry Wizard Car (B-). A pretty fun bunch this time around.

My Totally Arbitrary Episode Ranking – A strong B+. Fun cars, fun antagonist, fun side character, and a lesson well-learned.

Cast Additions – Only two additions this episode, but they are both great. The Cat, as mentioned previously, is voiced by Kate Mulgrew (Star Trek Voyager, Orange is the New Black). Randall, meanwhile, is voiced by Rhys Darby (Flight of the Concords, Our Flag Means Death).

Trivia/Stray Observations –

• “Hop in my body. It’s not as weird as it sounds.”
• I don’t know why, but Randall seeing right through the Cat’s pyramid scheme always makes me laugh. Same with the whole Team Randall scene. And the mini Randalls trying to sell the Cat a donut-holer in the middle of the chase scene. Basically, I love everything with Randall.
• The Cat’s magnetic craft looks so cool. I wish I could have one.
• If you look very closely at the pic above of Tulip looking out at the ocean, you can see a giant Randall face.
• The Randall city scene was one of the most difficult moments to animate in the entire show, due to all of the Randalls warping the surroundings behind them.
• Apparently, according to the DVD commentary, Kate Mulgrew had a very fun time recording her lines. I’m happy to hear that.
• Supposedly if you look closely when Tulip is talking about her birth you can see her number very subtly changing. I completely missed that.
• Let me just say, I love the Cat’s theme:

That’s it for this week! We’ve got the ball rolling on Book 1, and next week we are off to the ‘Corgi Car’ for a pilot redux and then the ‘Crystal Car’.

Please share any thoughts about these episodes below. Make sure to spoiler tag any references to future events in the series in case anybody is stumbling across the show for the first time, and follow all of the Avocado’s rules and guidelines.

Thanks for reading!