The End Of Infinity
Back on February 17, 2021, it was announced that Infinity Train would be returning to HBO Max for the fourth book of the anthology series. Now, we’ve received the first look at the upcoming season with a trailer that HBO Max recently released. The news was revealed by EW, and you can check out their article here. You can also watch the trailer below. The trailer also gave us a release date of April 15 and also came with the unfortunate news that this will be the last season of the show.
*Pauses to wipe tears off my keyboard*
If you peeped my Cartoon edition of “Black Characters I Loved in 2020,” that I did back in January, then you know I have immense love for Infinity Train. I think it is one of the best and most unique television series I’ve seen, not just among animated content, but television period. The announcement of this last season is really bittersweet for me because, originally, I was sure that Infinity Train wasn’t even returning for a book 4. After seeing a few tweets from Owen Dennis saying that he was out of work and the crew members of Infinity Train had moved on to other work, as well as an Instagram post of an Infinity Train Yearbook that had “2017–2020” on the cover, I was convinced it was all over. But, when the word came in mid-February that book 4 was coming… I don't even think there’s a word strong enough to describe how happy I was. But to know, now, that this is the last season really stings. I think there’s so much potential that’s being left on the table with cutting Infinity Train short.
Originally, Owen had mentioned that he had wanted to get out 8 books for Infinity Train. If lived out for those 8 books, I think there really would’ve been a fantastic story laid out. Infinity train shows itself to be a well-told, mature story that gives me the middle ground in animation that I so desperately long for. I’ll probably do a separate piece on this topic but mature animation for the young adult crowd is something that is lackluster, even though there is an evident audience for that subset. And Infinity Train hits on that, especially after season 1. But I digress. I’ll go all day just talking about that. Let’s go ahead and get into some of my thought points for Book 4 of Infinity Train.
THOUGHTS ON THE TRAILER
The trailer was *chef’s kiss* Magnifique. Since this is an anthology series, I wasn’t too surprised that it was a whole new set of characters, however, I was surprised to see no continuation of previous characters that we’ve been introduced to, as had been the case with the previous books. In book 2, we had Lake as a co-main character after being introduced to her in book 1. In book 3, we had Grace and Simon as co-main characters after being introduced to them in Book 2. I had assumed that book 4 might’ve been a focus on Amelia and Hazel and the two of them trying to figure things out with Hazel but, instead, we get two brand new train passengers. But that’s not to say we won’t get some continuation. This is, after all, just the trailer.
Our new passengers are Min-Gi (voiced by Johnny Young) and Ryan (voiced by Sekai Murashige). We also have a new denizen in Kez (voiced by Minty Lewis). The denizens are always my favorite because they can literally be anything, so I love seeing new denizens and their unique qualities. Kez will definitely be a hilarious partner for Ryan and Min-Gi. I get like a light-hearted, goofy, frivolous vibe, but she’ll definitely drop some gems of wisdom throughout her time with the boys.
Ryan and Min are childhood friends that have grown up making music together and are now trying to be global rock stars, but they’ll have to make it through trials on the train before they can continue that dream. It also seems like there’s definitely a budding romance between the two of them. If the two aren’t already together when they get on the train, I think they’ll come to realize their feelings for each other after going through it together on the train. Infinity Train has done a great job with representation throughout their previous seasons and this final season is no exception. Ryan is Japanese and Min is Korean and I would love it if they actually are a gay couple. I also think it’s a very interesting twist to have this story be focused on two people who got on the train at the same time, whereas all the other characters had got on the train by themselves and had to navigate this new setting all alone. This creates a whole new dynamic in navigating the train.
Another thing that people have pointed out is that Ryan and Min don the same jumpsuit that Amelia is seen wearing when she was on her atonement journey. This has led to speculation that this season will take place in the past before Amelia had overthrown One-One as the conductor, which kind of makes sense. The trailer did have a kinda older feel to it, and the jumpsuits could’ve been a standard for passengers before Amelia’s takeover, which may be why Amelia went back to wearing it after One-One regained control: As some type of symbolic gesture or something.
WHAT I WOULD LIKE TO SEE
I mentioned before that I was expecting some storyline of Amelia and Hazel, so, for sure, I want to see some Amelia and Hazel content. Coupling that with the idea that this might be set in the past, I would love to see if a side story going on is Amelia overtaking One-One as the conductor and the impact that has on the rest of the passengers. We know Hazel was made during Amelia’s attempts to recreate her life with Alrick, so we could possibly see Hazel come to life in real-time and what, exactly, went into that. And, if the series is instead set in the present time, following the events of Book 3, then I would love to at least see Amelia and Hazel in passing, possibly ending up in the same car as Ryan and Min, trying to unlock an exit.
Going back to the topic of this being set in the past, it would be cool if Ryan and Min are explained to be someone that we’ve actually met in the previous books, but didn’t know their origin story. I saw someone speculate that Ryan and Min might turn out to be Mace and Sieve, the mirror police that was chasing Lake in Books 1 and 2. I think that would be quite the plot twist, but I don’t think it's really plausible, though not impossible. This did get me thinking of who else they may be, though I haven’t gotten any quality assumptions yet. The downside of this, though, is that it would mean that Ryan and Min would have to die or be stuck on the train for a long time, which is certainly well within the realm of Infinity train.
As far as Ryan and Min’s relationship goes, if they are a gay couple, I want that to be made evident from the jump. I don’t want them to sugarcoat it or wait for some end-of-season, final episode, final-minute reveal. The LGBTQ representation in animated content has seen an upward trend lately, and many cartoons have quite literally risked it all to get to a point where shows can showcase love between LGBTQ characters in cartoons. I really want all that work and effort from past series to be realized and actualized in current series, so to have it confirmed and showcased from the start of the season would be a big step in the right direction. Plus, it’s the last season. What have you got to lose?
I would also like to see more of Samantha The Cat. Samantha’s character intrigues me because she’s so cunning and sly, but shows a caring side and that she does have a heart sometimes. If this is set in the past, it would be cool to see just how Samantha became the sly lil denizen that she is. Maybe even get a glimpse at young Samantha and Simon traveling together. If the season is set after the events of Book 3, I would like to see what Samantha’s up to. I believe that last we saw her, she was chilling in a cabin with Randall creating a snowy landscape. And I believe the last thing Samantha did was show Simon how to trap Grace in her own tape. What has she been doing since then? Is she up to good? Partaking in more devious schemes? Inquiring minds want to know.
This last one may be far-fetched, but BRING BACK TUBA!!! I want to know more about her. How she lost her children. How she and Hazel met. I just need more Tuba content. Tuba’s a top 2 denizen, and she’s not 2. Anything else that happens in the series will just be a pleasant surprise for me.
INFINITY TRAIN FUTURE??
It seems like this may be Infinity Train’s last season, but some tweets from this animation connoisseur that I follow, @ AwestruckVox on Twitter, got me thinking that, maybe, if the fans really rally behind this season and show HBO that this show is a gold mine, Infinity train may be brought back for another season or, at least, a movie. You can check out the tweet thread below. I really implore anyone reading this who hasn’t seen Infinity Train go and check it out. Even if you do just a free trial on HBO Max, that’s more than enough time to watch all three books that are already out and, also, enough time to watch book 4 if you wait for that to come out. You won’t regret it. If you have already seen Infinity Train and love the series, make sure you run it up when book 4 drops and help make it an even bigger success than book 3 was. If there’s any chance to keep the show going, I definitely want to do anything that I can to ensure that that happens.
But these are just my thoughts. Let me know what you all think by leaving a comment here, replying to me directly on Twitter @ ChatTheMan, or replying to the blog Twitter @ IgotTimeBlog.
