Here’s the complete playlist: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5

Infinity Train is a (as of now) mini-series airing on Cartoon Network from Aug. 5-9. For now, it is ten 11 minute episodes. Each night two episodes will air. The show is also available on the Cartoon Network app.

The third episode started out a little confusing. In the previous episode, Tulip is scared by the number on her hand dropping; she believes it means she’ll die. In the third episode, she is actively trying to cause the number to change. It made me feel like there was a missing episode.

The number, however, does not change. Tulip rushes through each car telling everyone she has no time to stop. Finally, she enters the Corgi Car where she is forced to stop because a monster is blocking the exit. During her stay, she learns to slow down and be patient–the answers will eventually come. Once again, once she learns her lesson, the number changes. But, there is more to the episode.

The monster, at first, is a spider who’s shadow is distorted by a glowing orb. Soon they discover that a metal, robotic creature is taking the orbs from sections of the train car. It is shown that the sunny day scene of the car is just a hologram. Also everything in the car, from sunlight to the water, is controlled by the orbs. The “metal spider” seems to be repairing the train by taking out the orbs but doesn’t replace them. The creature is also seen to glitch. It seems obvious that the machine is broken or has a bug.

The creature then notices Tulip and screams, “Take your seat!” before retreating. Sounds like something a ticket taker, or a conductor, would say. Maybe the conductor is faulty and needs someone who likes to program–like Tulip–to fix it.

In the fourth episode, Tulip once again can’t force the “hand number” to change. She states that she has tried everything logical, but it doesn’t work. She is upset at how illogical the train seems to be. In the Crystal Car, she has to sing a song that matters to her before she can leave. It isn’t until she sings a song from her family road trips that she succeeds. The number then drops again.

It seems as if the train is teaching her to open her heart. It seems like she has walled off her feelings, because of her parents’ divorce, and built a barrier of science to block her emotions. I also found it interesting how the number drop seems to correlate to the “importance” or “success” of the lesson. When she yells at One-One, it goes down by one. When she sings the song, it drops by more.

I’m getting this sense that the train, and the world outside the train, is broken. Just like how Tulip probably feels about her family. It isn’t her love of science that frees her from the Crystal Car but her love of her family. The metal spider also seems to be broken. My theory is Tulip needs to fix it and heal herself from what is happening with her family.

I find it interesting that the creatures Tulip encounters seem to know they are on the train but have no interest in leaving it or their cars. None of the other “passengers” seem to have numbers on their hands or paws. Tulip seems to be the only human onboard. The only other passenger that seems to travel the cars is the cat, a con artist.

What are your theories? Is the metal spider the conductor? Why is Tulip the only one with a number? Are all the cars holograms/programs?

And what do you think of the show so far? Good, bad, meh?

Until the next wormhole…thanks for reading.

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