Hello all! Welcome back to my weekly reviews of Infinity Train. Last week we made some progress in Book 2 with ‘The Map Car’ and ‘The Toad Car’. This week we continue onward with ‘The Parasite Car’ and ‘The Lucky Cat Car’.
‘The Parasite Car’, Season 2, Episode 5 (Premiere Date: January 8, 2020)
Synopsis – M.T. and Jesse enter a car filled with fields of flowers and make their way toward the exit, Alan proving to be more of a hindrance than a help. More of a hindrance, that is, until all of a sudden he starts following their commands and talking. Shocked, Jesse and M.T. look into his mouth and find a parasite with a bow tie attached to Alan’s tongue. The parasite calls himself Perry and begs them to let him stay in control of Alan, claiming that Alan can be a much better team player that way. M.T. and Jesse are initially reluctant, but the idea of a less random Alan Dracula tempts them and they agree.
The trio make their way through a series of cars, but as they go along Alan’s powers become more and more erratic and it is clear that Perry is struggling for control. Eventually M.T. and Jesse demand that Perry leave, telling him that Alan doesn’t want this. At that moment Alan begins to grow out of control, causing Perry to become stuck in place. With some quick thinking, M.T. and Jesse are able to use one of the flowers from the previous car to make Alan sneeze, dislodging Perry from his mouth. Perry begs for M.T. or Jesse to allow him access to their mouths but, annoyed and frustrated by the parasite, the trio abandons him and moves on to the next car.
My Thoughts – This is probably the closest we’ve had to a ‘filler’ episode up to this point in the series. It has very little bearing on the overarching plot of the season, nor does it provide much character growth for either M.T. or Jesse. Some people could even call it skippable, although I think that would be a mistake. It might not be vital story-wise, but it is a fun episode in a season that is generally darker than Book 1. It is a nice change of pace, a breather before the second half of the season, and as such I think it is definitely worth watching.
One of the best things about this episode is that Jesse and M.T. are finally on the same page. After the events of ‘The Toad Car’, there are no longer any massive secrets between them. Their friendship is in a much healthier place – we see them joking together, laughing together, singing together, and solving the problem of Perry together without any significant arguments. It is great to see, and it helps to give the episode a lighter tone despite the Alan Dracula body horror.
Another unique thing about the episode is that it is one of the few where the action spans more than two cars for a significant chunk of the runtime. We have seen multiple cars in a single episode before (notably in ‘The Corgi Car’), but usually those are just shown as short snippets as part of a larger montage. This is different, and it does end up making the episode feel a bit unfocused at times. Having the plot revolve around Perry and the others’ reactions to him does help to mitigate this, however, and provide a throughline. (It is a bit unfortunate, though, that two of the three cars seem to amount to just ‘walk straight from the entrance to the exit.’) If nothing else, it is worth it just to see the animators going all out on Alan’s various transformations.
Episode MVP – Alan Dracula. We get to see him both showing some really wacky powers and transformations and trying his hardest to get rid of Perry. This episode would have been impossible without him and his enigmatic nature.
My Totally Arbitrary Car Ranking – Food Pyramid Car (B), Runway Car (B), Flower Car (B-)
My Totally Arbitrary Episode Ranking – A solid B. A fun, but not spectacular, standalone episode.
Cast Additions – Perry the Parasite is voiced by Bill Corbett, best known for playing Brain Guy/Observer and Crow T. Robot during Seasons 8 – 10 of cult classic comedy Mystery Science Theater 3000. Sashay is voiced by BeBe Zahara Benet, winner of Season 1 of RuPaul’s Drag Race.
Trivia/Stray Observations –
- “Okay, question time’s over!”
- “There’s no rhythm in the song which makes it very, very dumb.”
- “Come on, Casanova!” “Hey, I said it was someone else!”
- “One of my amazing superpowers, I guess. Or magic or science, one of those things.”
- “Saying you’re cute doesn’t make you cute.”
- “We’re like brain roommates.”
- “That’s not how perspective works!”
- “But you said ‘no adult hands’.”
- “Hey, strong hands! Do you work out?”
- “Now who’s mouth am I hopping in next?”
- Some interesting new info regarding Mirror World society – Flecs are former reflections who chose to keep their memories rather than be wiped and given a new prime when their original prime died.
- As confirmed by the Adventure Time clip I posted a couple of reviews ago, deer with hands are creepy.
- Sashay and the Runway Car as a whole are a clear homage to RuPaul’s Drag Race.
- The writers were very divided over whether to produce this episode in the first place, as some weren’t happy about the episode’s lack of connection to the main plot. The possibility of doing all sorts of weird things with Alan Dracula ended up winning them over.
- Show writer and director Madeline Queripel, a massive fan of MST3K, wasn’t aware of Corbett’s casting until he walked into the studio. Starstruck, she was barely able to say anything to him.
- Owen Dennis instructed Corbett to voice Perry like a slimy used car salesman, to which Corbett responded, “The role I was born to play!”
- Perry referring to Jesse as ‘Giles’ was actually a holdover from earlier in the writing process when Jesse’s name was going to be Miles. They realized it still worked, so they left it in.
- As a huge MST3K fan, I geeked out so hard when I realized Perry was voiced by Corbett. Brain Guy has always been one of my favorite MST3K side characters, and of course Crow is great too. This gives me the opportunity to post this duet with Mary Jo Pehl’s Pearl, so I’m going to take it:
He is one of only two alums of the original run of MST3K that I have seen in another role, the other being MST3K creator and original host Joel Hodgson as the voice of the well-meaning but big-headed and somewhat incompetent Mayor Dewey in Steven Universe:
‘The Lucky Cat Car’, Season 2, Episode 6 (Premiere Date: January 8, 2020)
Synopsis – Jesse, M.T., and Alan Dracula arrive in a car containing a giant maneki-neko (‘lucky cat’) sitting in a field of grass. Passing through a doorway in the cat’s stomach, they find themselves in a carnival run by none other than the Cat herself. The Cat reveals that in order for them to move on to the next car, they will need to buy access to the door by winning 1,000 points from the various games. Claiming that she is generous, she says that she will allow Jesse and M.T. to get the door if they collectively win the total rather than having to each separately win that many points. At the same time, however, she points out that another passenger – a cloaked figure with a gold mask – is also trying to win the door and that there can only be one winner each month.
Jesse and M.T. rush to get the required points as soon as possible, but are hampered by the fact that Train denizens like M.T. are given fewer points than Passengers are given. M.T. is greatly frustrated by this, but Jesse tells her that it doesn’t matter because he is planning on taking her off the Train with him once his number gets to zero. This admission causes his number to drop all the way to four. Emboldened, the pair is able to get 1,000 points before their rival but are thwarted when they are forced to search for Alan Dracula, who has become obsessed with the fake grass in a crane game. Their opponent cashes her points first, opening the door and letting in a swarm of kids who proceed to terrorize the residents of the car. The Cat recognizes them as a group called the Apex, with the masked figure being their leader, a girl named Grace. Grace offers to help Jesse with his number back at the Apex’s base so, without much choice, Jesse and M.T. let themselves be led out through the exit.
My Thoughts – This is something of a table-setting episode, shifting both the character and plot focus as we hit the back half of the season. There were a string of quite Jesse-focused episodes during the first half of Book 2 (“The Family Tree Car,” “The Map Car,” and “The Toad Car”), but we are now seeing the focus start to swing back toward M.T. For one thing, it gives her something concrete to work towards through Jesse’s offer to take her off the Train with him. This is a pretty big development, as up to this point she hasn’t really had an endgame in mind beyond ‘hang out with Alan Dracula’. For another, the episode underlines her struggle to be seen as an individual person by the way the points are allocated during the carnival games. Passengers are automatically given more points due to their more urgent need to get off the Train. Is this fair? You can definitely make an argument that it is, given that the Train essentially kidnaps the Passengers, but the important thing here is that it doesn’t feel that way to M.T. To her, it is just another example of the way the Train’s denizens are treated like dehumanized props for the Passengers.
On the plot side of things, we get introduced to a new group of Passengers – the Apex, led by Grace. We don’t have too much information about them yet, but it is obvious that they aren’t particularly interested in getting their numbers to zero. They ransack the whole car, taking what they want and destroying what they don’t. If that’s not a surefire way to get your number up, I don’t know what is. Just look at Grace herself, whose number covers her entire arm – the largest number we’ve seen since Amelia’s. Speaking of Amelia, the sine wave design drawn on all of the Apex members’ faces bears a striking resemblance to Amelia’s Conductor exoskeleton. What could the significance of that be? We’ll have to see. In any case, the Apex are set up to play a big role in coming episodes.
Episode MVP – M.T. and Jesse. They worked well together, getting to 1000 points collectively before Grace, and would have ultimately beaten Grace to the door if not for Alan Dracula’s obsession with fake grass.
My Totally Arbitrary Car Ranking – Lucky Cat Car (B+)
My Totally Arbitrary Episode Ranking – A solid B. It’s a fun episode with some good gags and cameos and some important plot and character developments, but it does feel like more of a transitional episode.
Cast Additions – One major new cast member this time, with Kirby Howell-Baptiste (The Good Place, The Sandman, Killing Eve) debuting as Grace. We also get the return of Kate Mulgrew, Rhys Darby, and Owen Dennis as the Cat, Randall, and Terrance the Toad respectively.
Trivia/Stray Observations –
- “It’s not alive, ding dong.” “You don’t know that.” “Eh, fair point.”
- “Why do your blood cells look like tiny inner tubes?” “Because they’re in a liquid and that’s how they float?” “Wait, is that true?”
- “Please pay to kick me.”
- “Wait, your name was Terrance this whole time?” “No.”
- “She’s a world-class con artist.” “World-class entrepreneur, thank you.”
- “I don’t think that was a real bow. I think that was a sarcastic bow!”
- “Ooh! While we’re on the subject of commerce, want to buy a donut holer?”
- “I’m gonna smash that crane game to the ground.”
- “All losers, please report to the Debtors Prison booth.”
- Early on in the episode Jesse mentions going to pow wows with his family. This was the only direct reference to his heritage that Dennis was able to slip into the show.
- A lot of cameos in this episode – Terrance the Toad, Nancy the flower lady from the Straight-Up Italy Car, Khaki Bottoms from the Ball Pit Car, the crystal dude from the Crystal Car, the cross-eyed ducks (as plush prizes), the angry wizards, and, of course, Randall.
- Jesse’s number dropping to ‘4’ is a reference to there being only four episodes left in the season.
- An early draft of the episode involved Alan Dracula getting stuck on a roller coaster.
- An editor’s timer could briefly be seen when the crystal guy was on the screen during the episode’s original premiere. Although it was removed in subsequent airings, it is apparently still present in the iTunes version.
That’s it for this week! We’re now halfway through Book 2, and next week we are off to ‘The Mall Car’ and one of my favorite episodes of the series, ‘The Wasteland’.
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Thanks for reading!