In the first season of the Cartoon Network series Infinity Train, viewers were introduced to 13-year-old Tulip Olsen, who found herself aboard the mysterious titular train, with a glowing green number on her hand. As she explored the train, solved problems and tried to figure out what was going on, this number counted down to 0, and she was able to finally able to return home. During her journey, Tulip ended up in The Chrome Car, where she met her reflection, Mirror Tulip (Ashley Johnson), who managed to escape from her Mirror World, with hopes of living her own life.

As Infinity Train: Book Two opens, MT is on the run from two Reflection Enforcement police officers, known as Flecs. Special Agents Mace (Ben Mendelsohn) and Sieve (Bradley Whitford) will stop at nothing to capture her. The Flecs can travel through any reflection, and so MT has armed herself with a can of black spray paint to block out any reflective surface. While being chased through the train, MT finds herself in a car with an unusual deer that has the ability to change its color to camouflage itself, and she is able to use the animal to hide from her pursuers. However, shorty afterwards she runs into a new passenger to the train, a 14-year-old boy named Jesse Cosay (Robbie Daymond), who has a glowing number 32 on his hand. Jesse has befriended the same deer, who he has named Alan Dracula (or AD for short). Jesse claims the animal can shoot lasers out of its eyes. After arguing over whose friend the deer really is, MT and Jesse discover they both are—and that their four-legged buddy appears to have an endless supply of superpowers. MT reluctantly agrees to help Jesse get his number to 0 so he can exit the train and then she can carry on with AD (though she hates that name).

While Jesse may seem like a happy-go-lucky guy, who’s popular with every group at his school, wearing his letterman jacket proudly and always having a fun travel song to sing, he also has some regrets. Jesse wasn’t the nicest person to his younger brother Nate, succumbing to the peer pressure of his bullying friends, and getting his brother hurt, both physically and emotionally. So if he’s going to be able to leave the train, he’s going to have to learn from and correct his past mistakes. Meanwhile, MT is struggling with her sense of identity. She had always been Tulip’s reflection and shared her same memories. Now she is going to have to forge her own identity, and this reluctant friendship with Jesse may be just what she needs. However, Jesse is unaware that MT is a wanted criminal, and that they are being pursued by the police.

Like the first season, this second season plays out like one long feature-length story. Each 11-minute episode flows right into the next as the trio finds themselves in strange new cars with someone to help, someone who wants to do them harm, or some new wrench that gets thrown into their plans. This season feels a bit less structured than the first, where it was more of a mystery with each episode focusing on a new car with a new puzzle to solve as the group advanced its way towards the front of the train. While there is some of that, there isn’t necessarily a single car or problem per episode. This new group already knows what the purpose of the train in and what numbers on the hands mean (there’s even an intro video from One-One at the opening of the season to catch new viewers up), so the season is less of a mystery, and more of an adventure. Special Agent Mace sums up the season when he says, “Sliver girl, human boy, and super deer! Going from car to car, learning lessons. What an adventure.”

This series is more of an anthology, changing up the characters with each season. New viewers can still fully enjoy this second season even without having seen the first, though there are some fun callbacks to and run-ins with some of the side characters from the first season. I thought I was going to miss Tulip and One-One from the first season, but with MT, there’s still a strong connection to Tulip as they are voiced by the same actress, and Jesse and the ever-powerful deer make for fun traveling companions. There’s a lot of humor in this series, but this season also deals with topics like bullying, peer pressure and identity. The season makes for a satisfying and easy 2-hour binge. I found it to be an excellent follow-up to the first season, and I look forward to seeing where the show goes next.

The second season is broken down into ten 11-minute episodes, and there are some talented voice guest stars that pop up across the season. Here’s a breakdown of the second season:

1. The Black Market Car (11:22)
   Mirror Tulip is on the run from the police and befriends a super-powered deer and a 14-year-old passenger named Jesse.
2. The Family Tree Car (11:21)
   Mirror Tulip and Jesse are stuck in a literal family tree, and the bickering and family squabbles seems to be making their situation worse.
3. The Map Car (11:21)
   A wind cloud named Marcel (Wayne Knight) asks Jesse to help find and restore the pieces of his tattered map, but he may have some ulterior plans.
4. The Toad Car (11:21)
   After being chased into a new car by the police, Mirror Tulip and Jesse find themselves in a dilmma—in order to open the door, they need to kick a toad, but doing so would increase Jesse’s number.
5. The Parasite Car (11:21)
   After Perry The Parasite (Bill Corbett) infects Alan Dracula, Jesse and Mirror Tulip are better able to communicate with their four-legged friend, but the parasite starts to have his own ambitions. Meanwhile, the group finds themselves in a Drag Race like competition run by the glamorous Sashay (Nea Marshall Kudi).
6. The Lucky Cat Car (11:21)
   Jesse and Mirror Tulip find themselves in a carnival car and must compete in carnival games in order to earn their exit. The Cat (Kate Mulgrew) and Randall (Rhys Darby) both make guest appearances.
7. The Mall Car (11:21)
   Jesse and MT are guests of the The Apex, but soon discover that the group’s leaders, Grace (Kirby Howell-Baptiste) and Simon (Kyle McCarley), don’t really have the best of intentions.
8. The Wasteland (11:21)
   After a run-in with the police, Mirror Tulip finds herself in the wasteland outside the train, and must find a way back.
9. The Tape Car (11:21)
   Mirror Tulip goes on a mission to the belly of the train to learn how the numbers are assigned.
10. The Number Car (11:21)
    Mirror Tulip fights for her own identity and future.

Though the characters and tones of each season are slightly different, I thoroughly enjoyed this second season just as much as the first. While the series originally aired in HD on Cartoon Network (and now HBO Max), there is no Blu-ray release, just DVD. That said, the SD picture quality of the DVD is still very satisfying. While it isn’t quite as sharp as an HD picture, and have some minor moments of aliasing, I didn’t really notice any glaring issues as I watched. In general, animation like this seems to be a bit more forgiving when released in SD. The disc contains a stereo, which provides clear dialogue and a pleasant soundtrack, but it’s missing that more-immersive feeling you get with a surround track. The DVD is loaded with bonus material, including very entertaining audio commentaries for all ten episodes, an art gallery, and full episode animatic versions of four of the season’s episodes. The DVD disc comes packed in while keepcase, with a cardboard slipcover.

What’s Included:

Episodes: (1:53:38)
• All 10 episodes of the second season:
  “The Black Market Car”, “The Family Tree Car”, “The Map Car”, “The Toad Car”, “The Parasite Car”, “The Lucky Cat Car”, “The Mall Car”, “The Wasteland”, “The Tape Car”, “The Number Car”
• 480i / Anamorphic Widescreen 1.78:1
• Audio: English Stereo 2.0, Spanish Stereo 2.0
• Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish* (on extras only)

Extras:

• Audio Commentaries
  Series creator Owen Dennis, supervising director Madeline Queripel and various writers provide really fun audio commentaries on every episode. They share lots of interesting and entertaining behind-the-scenes stories about where some of their ideas came from, how the stores and characters evolved, and things that were cut. The pure joy and happiness of the participants really comes through, making these a really fun listen. I just wish there had been a Play All option.
  • The Black Market Car (11:22) – writer Justin Michael
  • The Family Tree Car (11:21) – writer Lindsay Katai
  • The Map Car (11:21) – writer Alex Horab
  • The Toad Car (11:21) – writer Justin Michael
  • The Parasite Car (11:21) – writer Justin Michael
  • The Lucky Cat Car (11:21) – writer Lindsay Katai
  • The Mall Car (11:21) – writer Alex Horab
  • The Wasteland (11:21) – writer Lindsay Katai
  • The Tape Car (11:21) – writer Justin Michael
  • The Number Car (11:21) – writer Alex Horab
• Art Gallery (5:13)
  Slideshow of production artwork auto-advances every 3 seconds.
• Animatics
  Animatic versions of four of the episodes. These contain rough animation and audio. Select from:
  • The Tape Car Animatic (11:12)
  • The Number Car Animatic (11:13)
  • The Lucky Cat Car Animatic (11:11)
  • The Black Market Car Animatic (11:11)

Final Thoughts:

I really enjoyed this second season of Infinity Train. This is such a wildly imaginative and fun series that also has some positive lessons at its core. It’s interesting how they change up the characters each season, but also keep the show feeling familiar. While each season is its own thing, and you don’t necessarily need to have seen the first season in order to fully enjoy this second one, I still recommend starting at the beginning as it’s such a great series. The DVD features solid picture and sound, and comes with some highly entertaining bonus material, that make this a must own for any fan of the series, and highly recommended in general.