Amidst all the chaos in animation right now it feels fitting to return to some of these works to sing their praises. Infinity Train, created by Owen Dennis, is one such show. A fascinating animated anthology, Infinity Train is a sci-fi series in which characters find themselves upon the titular Infinity Train, an endless train with each car holding a completely new environment. People are pulled onto the Infinity Train at random. A portal opens up to people in unique emotional distress and when they arrive at the train they find a glowing green number on their hand. The value vaguely represents how much improvement they have to do. The higher the number, the more work they have to put in. As the characters make their way through the cars, think through their troubles, and grow emotionally the number goes down until the traveler can eventually return home having come to terms with whatever issue they are facing. Infinity Train is an incredible show that defies expectations. This is accomplished through its complex way of handling self-actualization and the mature manner in which each season handles its particular journey.

Tulip Olsen (Ashley Johnson) is the protagonist of Season 1 and has the most straightforward journey to emotional growth. She’s a middle schooler whose parents are going through a divorce and the stress of the new situation has led them to neglect Tulip in some ways. Tulip runs away from home and ends up on the Infinity Train. Tulip struggles with the anger she feels toward her parents for what’s happened and over the course of the season Tulip is able to process her emotions and also confront her own flaws. Ultimately, while her parents were not faultless, Tulip was also acting selfishly, unable to acknowledge that her parents were suffering too but, on the train, she helps countless people and learns to be more selfless. This in turn helps her process her anger, channeling her emotions into something constructive and gaining the emotional insight to understand that the people she sees as villains are still people too. Through being able to confront her own flaws, Tulip becomes a more compassionate person and though the circumstances back home are still unresolved she’s far more emotionally equipped to handle them.

Infinity-Train--1-1

RELATED: The Best Cartoons Removed From HBO Max & Where to Watch Them Now

Season 2 gives us two characters to follow: Lake (Ashley Johnson) and Jesse (Robbie Daymond). Lake was originally a mirror of Tulip that existed on the train that Tulip helped escape in Season 1, now Lake is trying to figure out their own identity while on the run. Jesse, on the other hand, is a normal human brought onto the train over a crisis of identity. Both are trying to figure out who they are outside other people. Over the course of their time on the train, they grow to be great friends. The journey this season takes accepting oneself a step further, arguing that defining oneself is an important step in self-acceptance. Lake is constantly pursued by authorities trying to take her back to the Mirror Car. As a denizen of the train, they believe Lake’s purpose is to stay here and help the “real” Tulip, but Lake knows that she’s her own person. Though she’s constantly made to doubt herself, through her connection with Jesse, she’s able to hold onto a firmer sense of self and eventually leave the train altogether.

Jesse is similarly struggling to define himself. He’s torn between being himself or being the person his friends expect him to be. It’s a typical trial of adolescence: stand up to your mean friends and risk ostracization or laugh along with them and betray your values. By seeing Lake be so authentically and defiantly herself, Jesie gains the confidence to embrace his own self in spite of others as well. Though he wouldn’t even help his own brother against the scorn of his friends before boarding the train, by the end of the season he’s made a complete 180. When Jesse’s number reaches zero he’s forced to leave the train, but he finds a way back on, so he can get Lake off the train with him as well, showing how he’s grown into himself enough to not only stand up for his friends but willingly sacrifice himself for them as well. This was always the person he was, but the train has helped to bring these parts of him back to the surface and truly value them.

Infinity Train -2

Season 3 follows long-time Infinity Train dweller, Grace Monroe (Kirby Howell-Baptiste). Grace along with her friend Simon (Kyle McCarley) are founders of the Apex faction, a group of kids who (without the guidance of the train) have decided the goal is to wrack up as many points as possible. Their group thrives on chaos and hates the denizens that inhabit the train but over the course of the season, Grace comes to understand that the truth of the train is not what she and Simon believed it to be. And after befriending a girl who turns out to be a denizen, Grace begins to doubt everything she thought she knew. We already know from Lake that the natural inhabitants of the train are full-fledged individuals and the little girl, Hazel (Isabella Abiera), helps to prove that to Grace. Through the friendship and journey across the train, Grace is able to see how flawed her perception of the train and its inhabitants was. She begins to grapple with the feelings of disappointment and anger that led to her finding the train in the first place.

Grace has the challenge of understanding her flaws on a structural level, the way that she’s not only harmed herself but the numerous kids she and Simon have brought into the Apex under their false assumptions. Grace tries her hardest to convey her new understanding to Simon, but he’s been too indoctrinated by their own propaganda and, in the end, they come to blows. Grace gets to see the brutal cost of their failures in the loss of her closest friend. The proof of her wrongdoings glow in bright green numbers up her arm and now able to finally recognize this, Grace sets out to help the kids of the Apex get their numbers down and to get off the train. The Apex reveled in their ability to be selfish in this place without clear rules or adults, but Grace learns to accept the truth, herself, and with that, the responsibility she has.

infinity-train-grace
Image via Cartoon Network Studios

Season 4 is all about self-acceptance through the other. Ryan (Sekai Murashige) and Min-Gi (Johnny Young), two best friends that have become incredibly out of touch with each other and themselves. They’ve been best friends for years but now at the beginning of adulthood, they’re split in half with Ryan attempting to chase his dreams and Min-Gi trying to be practical. The growing rift between them is enough to pull them onto the train. Both of them still care about each other a lot but the stresses of daily life have strained their friendship to the breaking point. On the train though, all they can really do is keep moving forward and work together. In doing so both boys are able to reach a sort of breaking point wherein they realize their own flaws through each other. Ryan is impulsive and often clever but his unique way of doing things is unconventional and can lead to trouble but Min-Gi is judgmental and too much of a busybody half the time to get much done on their own. They clash repeatedly but are reminded time and again that they work best together when they can balance each other out.

At the end of the day, both boys were dissatisfied with where they were in life even when they were acting the way others thought was necessary but in truth, they’re both at their best just jamming out together in a cramped bathroom. It’s a journey wherein, by observing each other, both Ryan and Min-Gi figure out who they want to be. Min-Gi is overly cautious, but he’s also jealous of how easily Ryan will jump into things. Ryan is often too impulsive and this leaves him feeling lonely and inadequate. Together they help to realize these things about themselves but also point out how they can balance each other out. By the time they’ve reached a new equilibrium with each other, they’ve both been able to give each other more grace and accept how important they are to each other. The self-acceptance in Season 4 is just as important as the acceptance of another and that acknowledgment allows both Ryan and Min-Gi to live more happily and authentically when they return to the real world. They now have the confidence in their senses of self to allow them to start a new journey on the same page this time.

Infinity Train-Book 4-The Iceberg Car

The main villain of the series, Amelia (Lena Headey), is also on a journey of self-acceptance. She’s been on the train for years, racking up points rather than whittling them down as she tries to turn the train into her own world. Having lost the love of her life, Amelia can no longer cope with the real world and is trying to recreate a facsimile of the life she had on the train, destroying others in the process. It’s only as she sees these other passengers overcoming not just the obstacles of the train but the ones she’s created as well that she is able to learn to shift her worldview bit by bit. Like Grace, we never get to see Amelia leave the train. Her journey is still ongoing because she has done so much she needs to atone for before she can recenter herself and face reality again. Amelia had to reckon not only with what happened before the train but the harm she has caused since, only by acknowledging her faults can Amelia go on to become a better version of herself and fix the system she destroyed.

The Infinity Train does not fix problems, it doesn’t even fix people. It’s simply a conduit that helps people help themselves (even if the system is flawed). The train is a liminal space in which these troubled people are allowed to release their emotions and actually think about themselves and what they want outside the influence of daily life or other people. The train helps people who are struggling with their own sense of self, who feel abandoned or directionless, and helps them center themselves. The world outside remains the same, but the characters are now better equipped to handle the challenges ahead of them have finally come into their own. Infinity Train wants its characters and its viewers to look at themselves as they truly are, warts and all, and in doing so be able to stand confidently as their true selves and face the world head-on.