WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Infinity Train Season 4, now streaming on HBO Max.
Over the past four seasons of Infinity Train the show has introduced plenty of antagonists. There are the ghoms, the Flec agents, the Steward and plenty of other dangers, but the latest season introduced one of the show’s most horrifying creatures. In Season 4, Episode 7, “The Art Gallery Car,” Min-Gi and Ryan, along with their denizen companion, Kez, move forward, entering the titular car after seemingly having a breakthrough in “The Party Car,” but a strange monster threatens to undo all this progress.
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The car is set up like an art gallery; however, unlike most cars, there doesn’t appear to be any denizens here. The car is also unusually cold, at least for Min-Gi, who is the first one to fall victim to the gallery’s monster, which hides in the shadows. While Min-Gi and Ryan are friendly at first, the more time they spend in the car, the colder Min-Gi gets, and he lashes out at Ryan before distancing himself from the others. This behavior brings their numbers back up.
As he goes off on his own, a shadow of a hand appears on his head, and Min-Gi continues to externalize his pent up issues about Ryan. This behavior has more hands cast themself on him, and his negative attitude affects Ryan, who starts to feel colder and talks down about Min-Gi to Kez. Like Min-Gi, there is a shadow hand on Ryan’s head. These hands appear to be influencing their behavior to the point that they fully turn on each other until Kez is able to briefly break them out of this toxic trance, but the creature doesn’t let up.
Min-Gi is more prone to its influence, as Ryan decides to be proactive while Min-Gi stews in his hopelessness. This leads Ryan to the exit, but Min-Gi is left behind. All alone, the monster finally comes out of the shadows, revealing it to be a creature made up of disembodied arms and hands. Ryan cannot reenter the car, so he watches in horror as the creature torments his friend. Ryan also realizes this creature was intentionally turning them against each other. Even though Min-Gi is now alone in the car, the monster continues to influence his emotions, causing him extreme emotional duress as it wraps itself around him.
A subtle yet disturbing trait is that some of the hands have numbers on them, so there is the possibility it is made up of old passengers who could not get off the train. Afterall, it is not a guarantee that one leaves, and One-One even mentioned in Season 4, Episode 1, that a passenger can die on the train if they do not work through their issues. While he was likely talking about dying of old age, ghoms can kill passengers too. With the introduction of this monster, it appears the denizens can also kill a passenger, or perhaps worse, they can turn them into something more horrific, just like Amelia was able to turn a denizen into a ghom.
While Infinity Train has handled dark themes and subject matter before, this monster truly is one of the most horrific things in the show. Its design alone is haunting, and its ability to influence passengers’ emotions to the point of exhaustion and duress is terrifying. Plus, if it is indeed made up of the passengers who could not escape the car, then this monster could be one of the most tragic and dangerous characters on the train. Even if it doesn’t kill or absorb passengers, it can set a passenger back on their journey, making them think it’s impossible to ever leave. It’s unclear what it was going to do Min-Gi exactly if he hadn’t found the door, but whatever the monster had in store would have certainly been a gruesome fate.
Created by Owen Dennis, Infinity Train stars Ashley Johnson, Jeremy Crutchley, Owen Dennis, Ernie Hudson, Kate Mulgrew, Lena Headey, Robbie Daymond, Bradley Whitford, Ben Mendelsohn, Kirby Howell-Baptiste, Kyle McCarley, Isabella Abiera, Diane Delano, Johnny Young, Sekai Murashige and Minty Lewis. Book Four arrives on HBO Max April 15.
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