Season Review: Infinity Train Book 2

 

Following the breakout success of their first try at this miniseries, Cartoon Network powered up the engine again for another go around on the Infinity Train. And it’s not exactly a surprise as to why, as the first season, or “book” offered numerous possibilities to explore even after it ended. Almost INFINITE possibilities, you could say. I quite enjoyed the first book as I covered it when it aired in the summer of last year, noting its surprisingly mature character development paired well with very inventive and imaginative settings and cast members. But with Tulip’s story pretty conclusively wrapped up by the tenth episode, there was the fair question of whether the series could continue with a new protagonist.

The creators then decided to have their cake and eat it to by both using Tulip…and NOT using her, instead giving the new starring role to her mirror duplicate introduced late in the first book, now called MT, who helps guide a new passenger towards the same goal of emotional resolution while she searches for her own way of proving herself to be her own individual person and not simply a reflection of someone else. Jesse does go through a similar process for development as Tulip, but make no mistake, MT is the star of this show. With the lead being a “denizen” trying to break free instead of simply being another passenger trying to leave, this forces the story to take a critical eye at itself, including the process through which passengers are created and exit and, in a broader sense, making this book about one person’s quest to find independence from the system that created her.

And given that the Chrome Car was easily the most head-scratching part of the last season, it is sure a surprise to me that it managed to balance expanding on that with telling such a compelling story. I mean, whenever they would get back to it or try to add rules to it, all I could do was be perplexed and wait for it to be over so we could get back to the fun stuff, but it actually ends up playing into the major themes rather well for both MT, Jesse, and the obligatory cute mascot character, super deer Alan Dracula. Where MT is searching for ways to break away from being constantly told she can only be the extension of someone else, Jesse faces a similar challenge as he slowly learns to trust his own judgement and values over being simply going along with the choices of another group. By the end, their bond as friends cracks the system of the entire train wide open, answering questions I thought we wouldn’t see answered until at least the next season.

Infinity Train proved itself as a concept long ago with its first pilot, then as a cohesive and concise story with its first series. Now it proves that the concept can survive losing its leads and be told in countless ways, hopefully meaning that the story will return at least a few more times in the next few years. The track will keep going for Infinity Train, to infinity and beyond.