Infinity Train (Season 4): WHY WAS THIS CANCELLED?? – HBO Max Review

Infinity Train’s last season goes back in time to show us why it’s such a great show.

SUMMARY

Min-Gi Park and Ryan Akagi (Johnny Young and Sekai Murashige) were best friends from a young age who aspired to be in a musical group together. Unfortunately, before their first gig, Min-Gi has a panic attack and the two end up separating. While Ryan goes on the road in a van, Min-Gi works and plans for college according to his strict parents’ wishes. A while later, Ryan returns home and the pair reunite, only to find themselves drawn onto the Infinity Train, a place where people dealing with problems can work through them. They quickly become acquainted with Kez (Minty Lewis), a sentient concierge bell (yes, really) that has a terrible relationship with most of the other denizens of the train. Together, the trio have to figure out how to get through a train that is hunting them… and that is about to become under new management.

END SUMMARY

I’ve mentioned this show repeatedly as one of the best examples of animation in recent years. While I don’t know that I put it up with Gravity Falls or BoJack Horseman, it’s not much below that. The show has a strong agenda compared to many shows, but it’s an important one: You can always work through things. This doesn’t just apply to the myriad puzzles on the train but to the emotional problems facing the people who get brought onboard. Yes, the show skews more towards children, but children are the ones who most need to hear that lesson. Once you’re set in your ways, you likely won’t be changing unless you’re forced to, unless you are raised to accept changing yourself. 

I will admit that the fact that Season 4 of the show is a prequel actually makes it all the sadder that the show is ending. After the first three seasons kept building on the events of the first season, which is to say the fall of Amelia, this show actually takes us back to immediately before Amelia overthrows the train and we get a picture of the ways in which the train was different beforehand, including that One-One might not have had a split mind back then. Unfortunately, this also means that the shocking end of Season 3, in which ***SPOILERS*** Simon has his life force sucked out by a ghom is basically the furthest we’ve gotten in the series. No idea if Grace ever gets off the train or what happens to Amelia long-term. 

This season, though, did focus on the best thing about this show, that the train is a mechanism for introspection. This is the first time that two people have ever known each other before entering the train and their fates are apparently tied together, making it even more crucial that they work through their issues. Ryan represents the boundless drive to shoot for the stars while Min-Gi represents safety and practicality. They both have their positive and negative points, but the key is that they each have traits that they justify against their own better judgment and they can each work on them. There’s also Kez, who is the epitome of a person who runs full steam so that her past can’t catch her. She basically has the biggest amount of character development at the end and it’s very satisfying.

Overall, solid season of a solid show, and I really hope it gets brought back. Also, J.K. Simmons plays a giant Pig Baby.