Infinity Train derails with a final, astronomically disappointing season

Infinity Train caught my attention last year as I binged the first two seasons in a couple of days and then watched the incredible third season as it aired on HBO Max. The show astounded me with its imagination, its depth, and its tackling of themes that ranged from silly to dark as pitch. I won’t lie when I say this, but the ending to Book Three left me absolutely speechless and I couldn’t wait to see where the show was going next.

Sadly, I finally got my answer in what is reported to be the show’s final season: A season so lackluster, bereft of anything remotely approaching the emotional level of any of the previous books with only The Cat serving as a tenuous connection to the past season, and two protagonists who go through the entire season being exceptionally boring and unlikeable.

The season features friends, Min-Gi and Ryan, a pair who planned to be a rock band, but found themselves drifting apart as life pulled them into different directions. To be perfectly frank… I not only disliked these two characters, I patently disliked them. Both of them were irredeemably self-centered and selfish, unable to empathize with each other or anyone else on even the simplest level. I thought that maybe the two might grow or change during the course of the season and I would be lying to say that they didn’t, but at the end… I still didn’t like them.

Min-Gi and Ryan are joined by a floating desk bell named Kez who seems to be a much less likeable version of Dory from Finding Nemo and is every bit as grating as you might expect. I just think back to characters like Tuba and Alan Dracula and Atticus and wonder what decision process was involved in deciding to follow them up with Kez and how they actually thought putting two unlikeable characters with a third unlikable and annoying character was a good thing on any level.

As amazing as this sounds, I almost get the feeling that the writers of this series were actually trying to subvert expectations and do something completely different and, in doing so, came up with a season that was of no interest to anyone.

I get that this was probably not planned to be the final season when it was written. I get that. But even if it wasn’t, it would still be a colossal disappointment. Everything seemed dialed back: The consequences, the wonder, the characterization. Heck, even the dangling plot threads of last season are left dangling and forgotten like a game of Hangman abandoned halfway through. Literally nothing about this season felt exciting other than the initial anticipation that quickly fizzled when the pedantic season sucked the life out of what was once an incredible show.

I truly hope that this is not the end for Infinity Train because it deserved so, so, so much better than this. If this is the show’s final stop, this series will probably be remembered in the same breath as Game of Thrones for the most disappointing final season in television history.