Recap / Infinity Train S1E10 "The Engine"

This is the last stop on this train. Thank you for riding.
Credit: Storyboard artist Kellye Perdue

Written by Lindsay Katai
Storyboarded by Jacob Winkler & Jessie Wong

Tulip, One-One, and the cat have reached the front of the train, where they can see the beginnings of a new train car being formed. Tulip thanks her for doing the right thing in helping her, and the cat bids Tulip and One-One farewell. Tulip grabs the container containing Atticus and hides her robot companion in her backpack, working their way through the new train car to get to the engine. There, Tulip confronts Amelia, who questions why Tulip hasn't left the train if her number has zeroed out. Tulip traps the woman within her video tape in order to buy time to find the transformation cannon and figure out how it works, but is only able to do the former before the Steward manages to destroy Amelia's tape and free her from its thrall.

In retaliation for being forced to relive her memories, she sends Tulip's portal home to the far end of the train, before ordering the Steward to attack her. The Steward knocks the cannon back into the new train car, so Tulip unleashes Ghom Atticus on the Steward while she goes back to retrieve it, additionally ordering One-One to do anything he can that will also help her out. Amelia follows Tulip into the new car, where the latter realizes that the woman has been trying to build a car that matches her old life. Amelia offers to do the same for Tulip and create a world where her parents are together and happy. Tulip rejects the offer, instead breaking the casing of Amelia's Conductor suit with a metal pipe, revealing that Amelia is now a middle-aged woman.

As Tulip looks for a control orb that corresponds to corgis, Amelia states that this was never about Tulip, but about keeping One-One away from the engine: he is the real conductor and his "mother" is actually the train's motherboard. Tulip manages to find the correct orb needed to fix Atticus, just as One-One subsequently connects with the motherboard. As the train returns to normal operation, Tulip shoots Atticus and the canine regent returns to his corgi self, who finally destroys the Steward by beheading her. After admonishing her for her actions, Tulip tries to comfort a crying Amelia, urging her to accept her husband's death. Amelia states learning to moving forward is pointless for her now, as she has committed so many misdeeds and her number is so high that she'll in all likelihood die on the train. Despite this, she silently promises Tulip that she'll try regardless, before voicing concern about the location of Tulip's portal. One-One quickly solves the issue by using Tulip's number to recreate it in the engine room, allowing him, Tulip, and Atticus to share a tearful farewell hug before she leaves.

Seven months later and back on Earth, Tulip has a more positive relationship with her parents. Tulip's father has come to pick her up for that year's game design camp, and as she walks to the car, the audience sees that she now lacks a reflection, confirming that everything that had happened on the train was real. When asked if she's ready to head out, Tulip happily replies "I'm ready for anything."

---

Tropes:

• All for Nothing: In the end, all of Amelia's actions (overthrowing One-One as Conductor and taking control of the train, all the cars that she made in an attempt to recreate her old life, and attacking Tulip and friends) only increased her number to the point that she doubts that she'll ever be able to leave the train.
• And This Is for...: Tulip remarking that her pipe is "a donut holer" is most likely in response to the Conductor trying to kill the Cat.
• Anti-Escapism Aesop: Tulip tells Amelia that she can't stay in her past or her fantasies, but rather to move on with the changes in their life, no matter how horrible they can be. Notably, when Amelia tempts Tulip with a car where her parents never got divorced, Tulip points out that it wouldn't be real and that Amelia herself has done a very sucky job in making cars herself.
• Bookends: The first thing One-One asks Tulip is "Are you my mum?" When he reaches the motherboard all he does is whisper "Mum".
• Brick Joke:
  • One-One describes his Mum as either very big or small like a "nurturing bagel". It turns out that his mum is both: she's a giant motherboard and he fits into a small round slot.
  • Back in the "Beach Car" episode, one of the cars that Tulip entered was the Pinball Car, where One-One falls into another round slot. He states that he almost found his mother that time, which, again, reflects to the reavel here.
• Chekhov's Gun: The donut holer Tulip got from Randall back in "The Beach Car" becomes a makeshift weapon here.
• Continuity Nod: Tulip is still without a reflection in the mirror in her house.
• Crazy-Prepared: Amelia rigged her mech with an alarm just in case she was ever disabled by her own tape, summoning the Steward to destroy the tape and free her.
• Create Your Own Hero: It turns out that Amelia created Atticus, who has been Tulip's staunchest ally. She also sent trials at Tulip that made the girl determined to defeat her.
• Early-Bird Cameo: Both Grace and Simon have their pictures in the database, before they're introduced in season 2.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: Tulip is, after all of her trials on the train, finally able to return home, and has a much healthier relationship with her parents as a result.
• Evolving Credits: The Cartoon Network ending card for the first nine episodes shows Tulip's hand as her number cycles. In this episode, the number hits zero and there's a flash of light.
• Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap!: When Amelia tells Tulip she was trying to stop One, Tulip begins to repeat the phrase in confusion...before she realizes Amelia is talking about One-One!
• Fantasy Keepsake: Even after escaping the train, Tulip still has a Missing Reflection from freeing her mirror self, showing her time on the train was very much real.
• Final Battle: Tulip confronts and battles the Conductor/Amelia to save Atticus and free the train from her influence.
• The Final Temptation: Amelia offers to make Tulip a car with a perfect life, where her parents never got divorced and are still Happily Married. Tulip shoots her down quickly, pointing out that not only would Tulip always know it was just an illusion, but Amelia has repeatedly failed to make a car based on her own perfect life.
• Foreshadowing:
  • Both Grace and Simon (among other passengers) are first shown here with a "...." before their number, highlighting how there are bigger numbers that even the computers can't scan so easily.
  • The engine room, while otherwise completely mechanical, also contains a bed and a sink. This foreshadows that the conductor is just a suit, piloted by Amelia, who still has human needs.
• Heel Realization: Amelia had one of these and reconciles with Tulip... but her number is massively high, so it only goes down a little bit rather than free her. Years of unhealthy mental and psychological issues don't disappear after just one realization.
• Insistent Terminology: When Amelia remarks how Tulip carries a pipe in her backpack — the same pipe from "The Beach Car" — she replies, "It's a DONUT HOLER!"
• Laser-Guided Karma: Amelia outright admits she got hit with this. Everything she's done has caused her number to go up an absurd amount, meaning at best she'll likely be stuck on the train for a very long time.
• Locked Out of the Loop: Atticus spent the entirety of "The Past Car" turned into a Ghom, so he's missing a number of details of the story and is confused at points towards the end of the episode.
  Atticus: I'm very uncomfortable with how much I've missed.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain:
  • It turns out that Amelia created the Corgi car and created Atticus by accident. If she hadn't turned Atticus into a Ghom, then Tulip would have had no reason to hunt Amelia down to get the cure. Most ironically, the challenges she threw at Tulip helped the latter get her numbers down at a relatively quicker rate.
  • Had Amelia not tried to kill the Cat, the Cat would never have revealed Tulip her memory tape, get Tulip to recognize herself and come to understanding of her pains and emotions, and then subsequently get Tulip to hop towards the Engine to save Atticus and put an end to her schemes.
• Off with Her Head!: Atticus destroys the Steward by decapitating her.
• Readings Are Off the Scale:
  • The number on Amelia's hand has climbed so high, it went off her hand and now reaches all the way up to her neck.
  • This also applies to a number of the train's other passengers, as in the log several of the numbers are shown to be prefaced by dots, implying the number is higher than what the bar can show.
• Replacement Goldfish: Invoked; Amelia has been trying to recreate a train car with her memories where a version of Alrick is alive. She breaks down when it sinks in that no matter what she does, she can't bring him back.
• The Reveal:
  • Perhaps the biggest one in the series: One-One is the real Conductor.
  • Amelia has been making cars that replicate her fondest memories of her late husband Alrick, in hopes that she might one day produce one that had him in it. The cars with the Corgis and the turtles were previous unsuccessful attempts.
  • Computer displays in the control room show that there are other passengers on the train beside Tulip, as was implied in "The Cat's Car".
  • Under her coat, Amelia's number has gotten so high it has gone past her hand and up to her neck, meaning that her chances of leaving the train anytime soon are unlikely.
• Rule of Symbolism: From within her mecha suit, Amelia continues to be cruel and unsympathetic towards Tulip. It's only once she careens out of her suit that she opens up about how she did all this to bring back Alrick. This marks the moment she becomes vulnerable.
• Sadistic Choice: In an effort to get Tulip to leave, Amelia threatens to send the Ball Pit Car, and Tulip's portal home along with it, so far down the train that Tulip will die of old age trying to reach it. Tulip refuses, so Amelia makes good on her threat. Fortunately, One-One is able to summon up a new portal once he's in control of the train again.
• Shut Up, Hannibal!: When Amelia states she'll make a car for Tulip where her parents didn't divoce, Tulip retorts that Amelia couldn't even make a car "without any turtles in it!" and slamming the end of her donut holer in the Conductor's shell to expose Amelia herself.
• Spell My Name with a "The": The cat tells Tulip to refer to her as "THE Cat" when they part ways at the start of the episode.
• Stealth Pun: One-One's Missing Mom is revealed to be the control panel of the engine. Also known as, the motherboard.
• The Stinger: After its initial airing, prior to the credits roll, a short clip of One-One proclaiming his happiness at being the conductor again is shown, alongside a message that "Infinity Train will return".
• Taught by Experience: Tulip's parents a few months later have learned to coordinate their schedule so Tulip can go to coding camp as promised.
• Time Skip: The last scene takes place seven months after Tulip's return on the Train.
• Tomato in the Mirror: One-One is delighted to find that he is the conductor, which means he can take charge and help Tulip get back home.
• Wham Line: When One-One looks at the control panel on the engine for the first time, he can only utter one word:
  Glad-One: Mum.
  • Prior to that, Amelia notes that she was "trying to stop One". When Tulip repeats it, she realizes that Amelia is talking about One-One.
• Wham Shot:
  • Amelia pulls off her cloak to show her number has gotten so high, it grew off her hand all the way up to her neck.
  • When Tulip leaves the house, she passes the hallway mirror... and she has no reflection.
• "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue: The final scene with Tulip and her parents takes place seven months after she leaves the train.
• "Will Return" Caption: The surprise message at the very end that "Infinity Train Will Return".
• Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Amelia isn't some tyrannical monster or heartless robot. She's a woman grieving the loss of a loved one and is unable to move on.
  Amelia: Don't you get it? I don't want a life without Alrick!

---