Craig of the Creek// Review #20

Welcome back everyone!

I hope your year started off great!  

To kick off the first real post of the new year, I wanted to bring your attention to something amazing I discovered recently: Craig of the Creek. 

Craig of the Creek is my new favorite comfort show, and I want to share it with all of you now.

Now, I've been meaning to watch this show ever since my "Fight Night" post about The Proud Family and its reboot. In it, I mentioned that I was disappointed that The Proud Family was the only black cartoon to make a lasting impact on children's animation within the last 20 years. Since then, black cartoons have been far and few between, with even less of them for children/ family audiences. Much to my disappointment, out of all the children’s cartoons on TV recently, the only black show that I was aware of was Craig of the Creek.

A black animator I follow on YouTube, Toonrific Tariq, did a wonderful video on why this is a shame, and why this shouldn't be the case, specifically in the context of Craig of the Creek. I highly recommend watching the whole video, as it covers everything that I felt and still feel on the subject of black animation, all while being funny and relatable.

Toonrific Tariq's video, "How to Black: An Analysis of Black Cartoon Characters"

Nonetheless, I'm glad that Craig of the Creek exists in the capacity that it does today, and I'm so happy that I was able to watch all four seasons of it that are currently available on HBO Max.* 

I want everyone to appreciate this show as much as I do, and so I'm going to talk about it at length until you get on my level.

Let's begin, shall we?

Category 1: Characters- A+

One area where Craig of the Creek shines where other shows (animated or otherwise) may fall flat is their characters.

The three main characters of this show are the titular Craig Williams, along with his two best friends, Kelsey Pokoly, and John Paul "JP" Mercer. They each have their own unique character traits that make them stand out as people, but of course, they all work better as a team. It's crazy that none of these characters are older than twelve, but they all have a lot of personality between them.

Craig is a map-maker, and uses his love of the Creek behind his house as an excuse to explore and document everything he's found in and around it. He helps the other kids in the community and he often likes to go an adventures just to discover what's out there. He's a smart kid, with an eye for math and engineering, but he's a little oblivious sometimes, which can get him into trouble.

Kelsey is a warrior at heart, who is determined to become the hero of her own fantasy novel series. She loves reading and writing fantastical stories about her and her friends, and she's definitely not afraid of a fight. She often hangs around the Creek with her pet bird, Mortimer, and her PVC pipe turned "sword" to fend off any enemies at the Creek.

JP is the heart of the group, and he's also the oldest among the three friends. He's never afraid to get messy in the Creek, and he's not the sharpest tool in the shed. Even though he may not be the brightest in his friend group, that doesn't make him dumb by any means- he has the highest emotional intelligence of everyone around him. He loves monster trucks and going on adventures with his best friends.

JP, Kelsey and Craig

While the main characters of the show are important, and it is good to root for them and like them, I think Craig of the Creek has more than enough side characters to also root for and like. In fact, the supporting characters may be the best part of the show.

In the series, we get to know Craig's entire family- his brother and sister, his cousins, his aunt and uncle, his grandparents. We also get to see all of the kids he hangs out with in the Creek every day after school. And let me tell you- there are a lot of them. 

Left to right: Bryson (Craig's cousin), Craig, Bernard (Craig's older brother), and Jessica (Craig's younger sister)

Personally, I love Craig's younger sister Jessica! She's easily my favorite character. I also love Craig's older brother, Bernard! I love Kelsey's father! I love Craig's mom! I honestly think I love the side characters in this show more than I love the main characters, and that's saying something because the main characters are so lovable.

Some of my other favorite recurring characters are- Sparkle Cadet, Wildernessa, Cannon Ball, Omar (The Green Poncho), Toman (AKA T-Money, AKA the T-Man, AKA the Tomato-Master), The Elders of the Creek (Mark, David, and Barry), Kit, and Bobby. (There are definitely more, but I had to have a hard stop for this list otherwise I would just list everyone in the Creek.)

Surprisingly, I also love some of the one-off characters. I love Paloma, the Jinx-girl. I love Angel, the Creek day-care worker. I love that kid Deltron, from the year 3030. I love the fact that even if some of the characters were only featured in one 11-minute episode, they feel fully fleshed out and real. I still think about Helen, a girl who was homeschooled and never actually showed up in the Creek (I mean, technically).

This is a testament to how real these characters seem. I feel like I know these characters, partially because I knew people like them growing up. These kids make me feel like a kid again myself, and that's pretty special, if you ask me.

Category 2: World-building- A

I'm not an outdoorsy person by any means, but this show makes me want to move to Baltimore, Maryland, and play behind the Creek in my house. A lot of this is due to the worldbuilding within the Creek, and the Creek itself.

This show's worldbuilding is next level for something that is so ordinary as living in the suburbs. Unlike other animated shows with good worldbuilding (like Amphibia or Gravity Falls), nothing all that fantastical or supernatural is happening in the Creek. (At least, mostly, anyway.)

No, Craig doesn't need to be transported to a frog society or attacked by a triangle shaped demon. Craig of the Creek is good at reminding you that every group of kids had their own subculture growing up, and kid culture had lots of little cliques. There were kids you knew with their own little worlds, and their own made-up rules and languages.

Basically, Craig of the Creek successfully captures kid-society.

Within the world of the Creek, there are several different sub-groups of kids that all hang out in areas that Craig and his friends map out as they adventure.

Craig and his friends are known as "The Stump Kids" because they always hang out by an old hollowed out tree stump where they keep all of their stuff. It's their homebase and their clubhouse of sorts. Outside of the main trio, there are several other sub-groups that are all around the Creek.

There are the kids who ride their bicycles around the Creek all the time, trying to do cool tricks (The 10-Speeds), the Horse Girls who like to pretend to be horses grazing in the meadow, the Ninja Kids who like anime and pretend to be ninjas, the Sewer Kids who like to hang out in the open sewer pipes and swim all day, and the Paintballers who play paintball all day. There are also the Forest Scouts, the Tea Timers (who hold tea parties in the Creek), the Elders (high school/ college age dorks who hang out in the Creek), and the Alliance of Science (science kids who conduct experiments in the Creek).

I could go on and on about all of the specific sub-groups within the Creek, but the cool thing about this show is that everyone has their own little clique that they fit in with, or their own role to play in the Creek as a whole. For example, there's Kit, who runs the local Trading Tree, a business where kids trade in various items for snacks that she brings to the Creek every day. Her business is a cornerstone of the Creek, and it serves as a hub for all of kid-society. Choco-rolls and candy are her currencies of choice.

Craig's map of the Creek

The fact that Craig is a map-maker makes the entire world of the Creek seem much more fleshed out and realized. This is especially true in the later seasons of the show, because soon Craig, JP, and Kelsey discover kid-lore that tells of an overpass that split the Creek in two. Eventually, the group has a whole new side of the Creek to discover.

This is where we discover what happens on the other side of the Creek. (SLIGHT SPOILERS AHEAD) In seasons 2-4 of the show, Craig discovers that there is a king who rules over all of the children on his side of the Creek by pressuring them into being his subjects. King Xavier is a bully, who runs his side of the Creek by weaponizing his rich kid status and promising to give only the best candy and toys to his "best friends."

Without getting into too many spoilers, I'll just say that King Xavier's side of the Creek truly expands Craig's world, not only through the eyes of the characters, but also in the eyes of the viewers. In learning about this entire other community of kids that play on the other side of the overpass, we get to see what life is like for them, and how they view kid-society under the rule of an oppressive bully regime.

There are so many different types of kids who hang in and around the Creek, and that's not even to mention all of the other aspects of the Creek that just make sense from a worldbuilding perspective: like how there is a daycare for the kids who have younger siblings they don't want to look after, and how every Halloween Kit makes all of the kids pay off their tabs at the Trading Tree. There are even things that I'm convinced were just one-off jokes that get fleshed into full 11-minute episodes, like the Baby Casino, where kids bet on baby games like Tic-Tac-Toe.

The entire reason why Craig of the Creek is fun to watch is because of the amazing worldbuilding that's in this normal setting. The Creek isn't a magical place in a realistic sense, but it's magical because the kids think it's magical, and so their imagination colors our viewing of it.

The Creek is just where kids go to be kids, and I think that's pretty amazing.

Category 3: Diversity- A+

In his video, "How to Black" (above), Toonrific Tariq acknowledges that Craig of the Creek was a show that was created by two white men (Matt Burnett and Ben Levin), about a young black boy as a main character as he journeys through the suburbs of his hometown and adventures in the Creek behind his house.

Some would argue that this is a bad thing, or that it's pandering to be more "woke" in today's day and age. I would wholeheartedly disagree.

Everyone should want to be represented in the media they consume; it just so happens that black people have had a long history of being excluded from animated shows, or included in problematic, and often derivative ways.

Again, I highly recommend watching Tariq's video on the subject because it covers the issues of race and representation a little more broadly than I will, however, I will say that I completely agree with the core of his argument, which is that representing another race/ group of people that you don't represent in media needs to be handled with care and grace, without representing that group just for the sake of saying that they're included. 

Representation is, at its core, about the care that it takes to depict someone else as a fully fleshed out person, with real emotions and struggles not solely based on their race or their marginalized background.

I can see how much the creators of this show care about getting their representation right just from how the show presents itself.

All different races and all different ethnicities are included in the Creek. This is especially evident because Craig and his whole family is black. I wholeheartedly love the episodes with Craig's family because as someone who grew up with a black family and watched other shows about black families (see, again, my take on the original The Proud Family), this meant so much to me. There's a Halloween episode where Duane and Nicole, Craig's parents, dress up as Urkel and Missy Elliot, and it made me smile because I understood those references despite not being the target audience for this show. I love the use of black slang when Craig's uncle and cousins drop by. I love the way Craig understands there are certain things young black kids just don't do. I love that Jessica has attitude without being disrespectful to adults (which is a real problem that I have with little black girls on TV nowadays, but that's an issue for another time). Overall, I just love the care that was taken into these depictions of black characters, even though their defining trait isn't that they're black. They just are.

Craig's family at Thanksgiving (sans Craig, his cousin Bryson, and his older brother, Bernard)

There's also not a shortage of black kids in the Creek outside of Craig and his family. There's also Cannonball and Warp-speed from the 10-Speeds, Kit, and Sparkle Cadet, just to name a few. Not to mention, there are so many other examples of kids coming from other racial and ethnic backgrounds in the Creek, such as the Sewer Queen being Filipino and Raj from the Honey Suckle Rangers being Indian. Both of their cultures are explored in individual episodes where we get to know their families and backgrounds outside of the Creek.  

The LGBT+ representation in this show is also incredible because Kelsey is canonically queer, along with a few other characters in the Creek, like the Creek Witches (two teen goth girls who trick the kids into thinking they're witches) and the Honeysuckle Rangers. There are also references to nonbinary characters- the merkid comes to mind- along with Angel, the Creek babysitter, who is also nonbinary.

In the fourth season of Craig of the Creek, the show introduced Jackie, who is a kid who is deaf/hard of hearing and introduced Craig to sign language. The fact that this show bothered to include something as real as sign language (specifically for a kid of color), was truly iconic behavior from the creators of the show. I don't believe I've seen disability representation like this since the animated The Little Mermaid series on the Disney Channel (or maybe Toph from Avatar: The Last Airbender).

Everyone should aspire to be this aware of other perspectives, and to take as much care as possible to represent them as well as Craig of the Creek did.

Category 4: Plot- C+

One thing about Craig of the Creek is that since this show is character-based and not plot-based, there isn't an overarching plot for most of the stories in this series.

Each episode of Craig of the Creek is more of less self-contained, so even if you start watching it in the middle of a season, you can follow along fine. Most of the storylines are about life in the Creek of Craig learning a lesson with his family of his friends. However, in the later seasons of the show, there are episodes that enhance the lore of the Creek, such as (SPOILER) the story arc with King Xavier and his impending invasion. The multi-episode story arc with King Xavier in seasons 2-3 was/is the most cohesive plot in the entire show, as most of the show's plots are one-offs or 1-2 episode arcs. 

Most of the show just revolves around the main trio messing around and growing up. The stakes for most episodes are relatively low, but because the main characters are kids, everything seems like the biggest deal in the world. Everything from wearing a coat that makes you look uncool, to not wanting to try new foods, to wanting to beat your father at video games, all becomes life-or-death situations, despite how all of these issues are fairly common in everyday life.

The animation definitely reflects the severity of these issues to these kids, though.

Which leads into-

Category 5: Animation- A

Craig of the Creek was created by a lot of the same people who worked on Steven Universe (a show that I have never seen, nor do I have any interest in seeing due to the toxic fandom surrounding it), and from what I can tell, it includes a lot of the same themes of friendship and inclusion of people of color and LGBT+ representation. Matt Burnett and Ben Levin, the co-creators of Craig of the Creek, actually used to work with the storyboard artists for Steven Universe before Craig of the Creek was picked up by Cartoon Network.

Poster for Steven Universe (2013-2020)

Outside of Steven Universe, one of the things that I really appreciated when researching this post was that many of the storyboard artists for Craig of the Creek were people of color, specifically black people (some of whom also worked on Steven Universe as well). In fact, Pearl Low, one of the storyboard artists from the Oscar-winning short film, Hair Love, was a part of animating Sparkle Cadet in Craig of the Creek, which I think is amazing! (Watch the reel of her animation here- it's super interesting.)

The fact that this show hired more than one person of color to storyboard their show (Richie Pope, Lamar Abrams, Amish Kumar, and Tiffany Ford just to name a few) speaks volumes to the amount of care the team behind Craig of the Creek put into the show. Too often are animated spaces limited to white animators, further limiting the amount of access that people of color have in the world of animation.

I'm glad that this show not only depicts a person of color, but it also includes other people of color in the animation process, further cementing this show as one of my favorites.

Category 6: Kid-Friendliness- A+

This show was definitely 100% written for kids and with kids in mind. The amount of imagination involved with this show is incredible, and I can say without a doubt that this show is propaganda to get kids to play outside instead of play video games. If I were a child, I'm pretty sure it would work.

Sure, Craig and his friends have cell phones, but they rarely come up, as they spend most of their time playing and imagining fun worlds in the Creek. They run, they adventure, and they hang out with friends. This show is everything it meant to be a kid growing up, and yet it still manages to be so modern and new.

If kids aren't watching this show, they should start. This show is the best comfort cartoon that I've seen in recent years, because even though it doesn't have much of a cohesive plot (most of the time), the adventures the Stump Kids go on are fun and light-hearted. They learn lessons and conquer their fears, they adventure into worlds unknown, and live with imagination in their hearts.

I love this show.

Craig of the Creek is on the same level as another cartoon that I really enjoyed, Amphibia. I do believe I enjoyed this show a tad more, though, due to the fact that the characters are more relatable to me and my family, and it was so easy to binge several 40-episode seasons in a few weeks.

*As of October 2022, Craig of the Creek fell victim to the infamous (and truly heinous) HBO Max/ Discovery + merger, as Cartoon Network, the network that aired Craig of the Creek, has been effectively gutted by this move (see my previous post regarding HBO Max and animated content). Since then, the show's final season 5 order has been cut in half, along with its spinoff, Jessica's Big Little World's, first season being halved as well. There is a Twitter thread about this issue from Richie Pope, a storyboard artist for Craig of the Creek, linked here.

Along with other shows that have been impacted by this merger, such as Infinity Train or Close Enough (which is an adult animated series produced by HBO Max, not Cartoon Network, but stay with me), the merits of these shows are not what is preventing them from sticking around or not being cancelled by Cartoon Network or HBO Max. It is their profitability. Unfortunately, due to this awful corporate merger, there have been several casualties, and Craig of the Creek just happens to be the latest in this long, horrible list.

On the bright side, the co-creator of the show, Matt Burnett, has confirmed that there will still be a Craig of the Creek movie to be released at some point in the near future, presumably to close out the series and to introduce the world to Jessica's limited spinoff series.

Overall, I love this show. It captures the magic and imagination around being a kid, and it allows for a broader audience to feel represented in its animation without feeling cheap or like it's pandering to certain people. Craig of the Creek is a perfect cartoon in my book (an A), and I hope that this show goes on to influence other animators to make shows that also inspire kids and adults alike to dream bigger and create more hopeful, inclusive content.  

Thanks for reading! 

This post was originally released last October as one of the final posts that I had for the early access tier of my Patreon. I want to say that I really appreciate anyone and everyone who read my blog posts on my now defunct Patreon, and everyone who reads them here, now. Thank you for your continued support.

The Swift and Rapid Downfall of HBO Max

(*Sigh*)

So... funny story...

I was wrong when I said that HBO Max was the streaming service for hot, sexy people.

In fact, I was so wrong about HBO Max being the streaming service of choice for young cool people, that I would like to retract my previous statement about "HBO Maxing and Relaxing" being the next big trend, and instead recommend buying DVD box sets of shows and pirating the content you like so that it does not become lost media.

(For legal reasons, this is a joke.)

(“Please do not pirate content on the internet," she said, completely seriously.)

In case you haven't heard, HBO Max basically imploded on itself earlier this year, by deciding to merge with Discovery+ (a confusing and misguided decision if there ever was one), and opting to delete entire projects from their platform. This began with the now infamous Batgirl movie (which was never released despite being completely finished) and quickly snowballed into multiple original shows being removed from HBO Max's catalog entirely. (For a full list of shows that have been deleted and/or erased from the platform, you can read about them here.)

In protest of this terrible decision, I've decided to talk about the shows that I've enjoyed on the platform, despite the nonsense that is happening with the company merger. With corporate cost-cutting comes the loss of jobs, the loss of creativity, and the loss of motivation to make things that are as wonderful and unique as I'm about to mention here. It's not fair to punish the creators of these shows just because the platform hosting their content decided to screw them over. In a lot of cases, they'll miss these shows more than I or anyone else ever could.

So, I'm here to lay flowers on the grave that is HBO Max, and to give more flowers to the creators of these wonderful shows. 

So- in no particular order- here are the wonderful shows that HBO Max produced before the deadly merger was announced.

10. Infinity Train

In case you weren't aware, I love Infinity Train.

There's already a review of all four seasons of this show on my blog, however, thanks to the HBO Max merger, the entirety of the show has been effectively wiped from streaming services. Now, you're lucky to find the first two seasons in DVD collections that are being sold by price gougers on Ebay. 

For specific details about why this show was so amazing and revolutionary, I recommend reading my initial review, however, there were some additional things I wanted to say about Infinity Train, considering that it is on the verge of becoming a piece of lost media along the lines of ABC's Selfie.

Infinity Train was a Cartoon Network original show about a series of kids getting lost on a magical train that was transitioned to an HBO Max Original midway through its four-season run. It was one of HBO Max's most popular original series on the platform in 2020, according to Observer. However, due to the HBO Max/ Discovery+ merger, it is no longer available to watch through Cartoon Network or through the HBO Max streaming service. 

In fact, as of September 2022, Infinity Train is only available to watch in a paid capacity if you purchase certain episodes or seasons from Amazon Prime, Google Play, or YouTube (among other pay per season services). 

Even more troubling is the account from the creator of the show, Owen Dennis, that no one who worked on Infinity Train was alerted to the show's removal before it happened, and no one was made aware of the reasoning behind its removal. For more insight, I sincerely recommend reading Dennis's thoughts on this entire merger on his blog post regarding this incident. He has some interesting thoughts on the nature of the entertainment industry and the value of pirating entertainment in an age that is increasingly ruled by monopolies.

The one good thing about Infinity Train is that it was already canceled by executives that believed a fifth season had "no child entry point" way back in 2021 (yes, I'm still bitter). Even before this merger, there was really no hope of this show being revived. However, not being able to rewatch the show without pirating it or buying it from a less than trustworthy tech conglomerate (I'm looking at you, Amazon and Google) also does not bode well for the future of not only this show, but streaming exclusive content as a whole.

9 & 8. Minx & The Sex Lives of College Girls

Ironically, I wrote about these shows a few months ago, when they were on a platform that wasn't on the brink of imploding. I stand by my reviews of these shows, though, and I really think that they should continue on the platform, despite this merger. 

Both Minx and the Sex Lives of College Girls are alike in their sex-positivity and their quirky sense of humor, and I really adored both of them when I watched them earlier this year. Minx follows a feminist magazine editor in 1970s California as she teams up with a sleazy porn editor to print salacious magazines for women readers interested in men. The Sex Lives of College Girls follows... well, the sex lives of college girls in a fictional university. Go figure.

I still highly recommend both shows, in case you couldn't tell.

As of September 2022, both Minx and The Sex Lives of College Girls have announced they were renewed for a second season, however, neither have received release dates for those seasons yet, and it is uncertain whether the platform will survive long enough to provide us with a third season of either show, considering the platform's falling market capital.

However, I'm hopeful they can weather the storm and remain on the platform even after the merger. 

7. Harley Quinn

HBO Max's Harley Quinn is actually one of the best depictions of the character put to screen, animated or otherwise.

Harley Quinn is an adult animated series that follows the titular Harley Quinn after she decides to break up with her notorious boyfriend, the Joker, and go on a journey to become her own supervillain. Along the way, Harley teams up with other baddies such as Dr. Psycho and Poison Ivy, along with some lesser-known supervillains, such as Clay Face, King Shark, and (my personal favorite) Kite-Man.

The third season recently ended a few weeks ago (and while it was still enjoyable, I would definitely recommend the first two seasons over this past one), and it followed Harley in her new relationship with her best friend and girlfriend, Poison Ivy. Without spoiling anything, I'll just say that it also provides a lot more insight into Bruce Wayne as a character, which was interesting to see.

Unlike a lot of the other shows on this list that have been axed or discontinued due to the merger, Harley Quinn actually did get a fourth season greenlit on HBO Max, much to the new showrunner's (and my) surprise.

I sincerely hope that this show can survive whatever comes next for this HBO Max/ Discovery+ merger, but as of right now, only adult animation seems to be safe from the axe.

6. F-Boy Island

As someone who typically isn't into reality TV, (let alone reality dating shows) I'll be the first one to admit that I had my suspicions about F-Boy Island. However, let me be the first one to tell you that this show is bananas, in the best way possible.

F-Boy Island is a reality dating competition show that follows three eligible women who are on an island with 24 men, and they are on a mission to find a match in order to win $100,000. The only catch is: 12 of the men on the island are "Nice Guys," while 12 men on the island are self-proclaimed "F-boys." If the women can't weed out all of the "F-Boys" in the batch to find their match, then the women risk not only having their heart broken by an "F-Boy" on television, but the F-Boy gets to keep the full $100,000 instead of splitting it with the women.

The concept sounds insane on paper, but the execution of it is actually a lot messier, if you believe that. I never watched a single episode of The Bachelorette, but I have a feeling that it's something like this, only somehow tamer, because there was no money on the line.

This show has everything: dramatic reveals, twist endings, surprise appearances from candidates that you thought had been eliminated... If you like drama and experiencing secondhand embarrassment, then this show is your bread and butter.

This reality show was unhinged in both seasons that it aired, however, as of September 2022, this series has not been renewed for a season 3 yet. I would assume that this has something to do with the show's budget, as it is significantly higher than other reality shows of its type (a la Love Island, or Love is Blind). In a corporate merger where every dollar counts, I wouldn't be surprised if F-Boy Island got axed, despite being a delight to watch.

5. Hacks

I've mentioned Hacks briefly in my review of the forgotten show, Selfie (2014), but this show is definitely one of the better offerings on HBO Max.

Hacks is a comedy-drama series about a washed-up comedienne, Debra Vance, as she attempts to get her career back on track after losing her Las Vegas residency. In an effort to do this, she has her agent hire Eva, a millennial writer who was struggling in Los Angeles. Together, the two are a real odd couple, but they work together to change Debra's set in an attempt to rebuild her career.

For me, this show is more fun the longer it goes on. Season two was released in May of this year, and I really loved it, even more than the first season. Debra and Eva have a complicated mother-daughter dynamic that works, while they also work to make each other funnier. This show has a crazy amount of heart, and I'm glad that this has earned Jean Smart two Lead Actress Emmy wins in the past couple of years.

As of June 2022, this show has been renewed for a third season, which surprised and excited me, because I was sure that the show would be canceled after this past season ended earlier this year. 

It cannot be overstated, however, that I think this show was renewed because of the audience's response to the show, and not because it was so good that it couldn't be axed. According to the head of original content at HBO Max, "We are overjoyed at the audience and press response to the new season, and glad to give viewers more of this gorgeous, hilarious, moving show” (Variety, par 3). This leads me to believe that the show was only renewed because of its successful viewership and its ability to generate awards buzz for the (now sinking) platform, when they desperately need to hold on to one shred of respectability.

Nonetheless, I am glad to get a season 3 of this show, as I really enjoyed season 2, and I'm excited to see where the writers take each of the characters in the future. I highly recommend it if you haven't already seen it.

4. The Other Two

I've recommended this show before, and I still think that this show is amazing.

In case you didn't know, The Other Two is about a pair of siblings, Brooke and Carey Dubek, as they attempt to rise out of the shadow of their famous teen heartthrob brother and their Ellen-inspired mother. While their brother and mother rose to fame practically overnight, Carey and Brooke seem to be barely holding on.

The Other Two started out on Comedy Central when it initially aired in 2019, but then it was picked up by HBO Max for its follow-up, and now tertiary season. This show is a heartfelt, satirical comedy with a solid premise, and I still recommend it to anyone who hasn't seen it yet. 

Now, I don't have much to say about The Other Two that I haven't already said, but I will note that as of September 2022, this show is still shooting its third season, presumably for release sometime next year. Hopefully this show remains on HBO Max when airing its third season, and it manages to secure another season from the streaming service in the future. But if not, I'm hoping I can still watch it on another network, like Comedy Central.

3. Gordita Chronicles

I feel kinda bad for Gordita Chronicles, because they were never really given a fair shake.

Much like many other family sitcoms taking place in decades past (The Goldbergs, Mixed-ish, Fresh Off the Boat), Gordita Chronicles followed an immigrant family from the Dominican Republic as they moved to Miami, Florida in the 1980s. The nuclear family includes two daughters, Cucu and Emilia, and their parents, Victor and Adela, as they try to assimilate while integrating their Hispanic heritage into their new American lives. 

Now, I'll be the first one to admit that this show started off a little rough for me. As someone who had seen the formula done to death on several other TV networks (see ABC for all of the aforementioned nostalgia-based sitcoms), I was a little skeptical that this show would leave an impact on the already bloated marketplace. After the first three episodes or so, I was convinced the show was a bit of a dud.

However, after giving the show a fair shake and watching the initial 10-episode season, I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed it. Gordita Chronicles put me in the mind of Fresh Off the Boat and The Goldbergs in a pleasant way that highlighted both the time period that the family was in and the family's cultural struggles to blend in with American culture. To top it off, it was produced by huge Latina actors Zoe Saldana and Eva Longoria, and so it was bound to make a big splash.

But then... the show got axed.

Now, I understand that not every show gets renewed for more seasons. This could be for ratings reasons, or just because the network had to make budget cuts (or in the case of Julie and the Phantoms, literally for no reason at all!!), but either way, it's a shame that this show was canceled shortly after it's June 2022 release date.

However, it is very clear that Gordita Chronicles was canceled because HBO Max could see the Discovery+ merger coming down the pipe, and they wanted to jump the gun in terms of "curating content."

According to a statement from HBO Max, printed by Variety, “Live-action kids and family programming will not be part of our programming focus in the immediate future, and as a result, we’ve had to make the very difficult decision to end ‘Gordita Chronicles’ at HBO Max" (par 2).

Despite the terrible news of cancelation, I think Gordita Chronicles was a show that would benefit from having additional seasons. The beginning of the show is admittedly slow, but with time, it begins to develop into a loveable story that could easily become someone's comfort show. 

As of September 2022, the first season of the show is still available to watch on HBO Max, but who knows if the Discovery+ merger will have any bearing on this show's removal in the future.

I honestly feel horrible for the creators of the series who poured their heart into the project, only to be told that "they're not the company's focus" anymore. I especially hope the showrunner, Brigitte Muñoz-Liebowitz, and the creator of the show, Claudia Forestieri, can manage to sell Gordita Chronicles to another network (possibly ABC?) so that the show can continue, but more likely is that the show is just dead in the water, which is a complete shame. 

2. The Rehearsal

The Rehearsal is a baffling show- not only in theory, but also in practice.

I'll try to explain: The Rehearsal is a comedy docu-series that follows comedian Nathan Fielder as he attempts to help people "rehearse" for upcoming events in their lives, in order to prepare for the outcomes.

Now, as someone with a certain level of anxiety, this show sounds like the perfect way to prepare for intimidating social interactions or major life events that would be scary to deal with without preparation. However, in practice, this show is... messy (and amazing, but we'll get there).

Nathan Fielder is well known for his Comedy Central show, Nathan For You, in which he would help struggling business owners by pitching them insane ideas in order to make their business better or more marketable. As someone who has never seen that show, I can only imagine that it's only a fraction as insane as The Rehearsal.

Here is an example that show how insane this show is: Nathan attempted to help a Christian woman prepare for having a child by paying a series of child actors to emulate her fictional son, Adam, as he grew up over the course of 30 days. He also then decided to participate in this rehearsal in order to practice being a parent, only to then confuse a real life six-year-old actor who was convinced that Nathan was his actual father. 

The show is wild because it's truly hard to tell what is a "bit" and what is part of the actual rehearsal. Some of the show seems incredibly heartfelt, until you realize that the entire scene was rehearsed and none of it was real. If you're curious about the full insanity of this show, you should read the episode descriptions on Wikipedia for season one. Although, if you don't like meta-commentary in your media, this show probably isn't for you. I personally found it incredibly enjoyable, if not a little unhinged. 

I suppose the good news is that in August of 2022, it was announced that The Rehearsal would be returning to HBO Max for a second season. This leaves me feeling a little bittersweet, though, because I enjoyed the show immensely, but I'm not sure if I wanted a second season. The first season ended perfectly, in my opinion, and so I would have actually been okay with that being the final episode of the show altogether.

Nonetheless, I am glad that more good content is being put into the world, even if it is a little unorthodox.

1. Made for Love

Made for Love was a lot different than I thought it would be when I started watching it.

Made for Love is an HBO Max original drama-series about Hazel Gogol, the wife of billionaire tech mogul, Byron Gogol (which seems like a thinly veiled play on Google, but if HBO Max's legal said they could get away with it, go off, queen). Hazel has run away from her husband after having a chip put in her brain against her will and being held hostage at his tech compound. She is able to escape, but through the chip that her husband implanted in her brain, Byron is able to see everything that Hazel sees and hear everything that she hears. Eventually, the two come to an agreement about their marriage, and the chip is removed.

Now, I didn't want to get into too many spoilers with this show, because I think this show is a lot more nuanced and interesting than I've seen people give it credit for. I also glossed over major plot details in the series that happened in both the first and second seasons of the show, but if you're interested in them, you should definitely watch Made for Love for yourself.

This show is bizarre and uncomfortable, but also insightful and incredible in its discussions of what abuse can be and what it looks like. It feels like an extended episode of Black Mirror sometimes with how dystopian some of the concepts are, but it's still got a surprising amount of humor in it, too.

Season two of Made for Love ended on a cliffhanger, where (SPOILER for season two of Made for Love) Hazel ends up taking over Gogol's company and becoming pregnant with Byron's child, while Byron seems to have been trapped in a virtual space, presumably as revenge for putting the chip in her head, along with other abuses (as I mentioned, this show gets a little dystopian). We do not get to find out anything more about this, however, because unfortunately, the show was canceled shortly after the season ended.

As of yet, no official reason was given for canceling the show, but I can't help but be a little upset that the show didn't end in a satisfying way. For now, I guess I'm just grateful that the series is still available to watch on HBO Max, despite feeling a bit unfinished.

Well, that's the end of the list. Now, I love all of the shows I listed, and I highly encourage people to check them out while they are still available on HBO Max. If they aren't and have already been removed, please check them out wherever they are available (I tried to include links to where to find the shows now).

This list is not comprehensive, by the way. There are several other fantastic and wonderful shows that face an uncertain fate as HBO Max has essentially pulled the rug out from under them. Other wonderful shows that I didn’t mention on this list include shows that air through the BBC, which may or may not be available on HBO Max anymore. These are shows such as Ghosts (UK) and Starstruck.

Poster for Starstruck (starring Rose Matafeo): A romantic comedy show about a normal girl falling in love with a celebrity and navigating this complicated relationship. (It’s a lot less fan-fictiony than it sounds, I promise)

Not every show listed above is in danger of being removed from HBO Max, either, as some of the show's I've listed here are some of the most popular series on the platform. (We have Emmy winners and nominees on this list for crying out loud!) Also, some of these shows have already been canceled by the network, even without the corporate merger. However, the fact remains that whatever security we felt with streaming no longer exists.

The format of having a movie or a show disappear from one streaming service only to appear on another one weeks later has somehow desensitized us to what can happen when a piece of media is just... gone.

For example, in the days following the Batgirl announcement where Warner Bros. pulled the movie from its streaming schedule, they also quietly removed several other movies from their platform, including one I had seen, called Moonshot.

Poster for Moonshot (2022) starring Lana Condor and Cole Sprouse.

Moonshot was a 2022 HBO Max original romantic comedy that starred Lana Condor (of All the Boys I've Loved Before fame) and Cole Sprouse (from Riverdale). The plot follows Lana and Cole's characters as they stowaway on a rocket ship to Mars to meet their respective significant others who have colonized the planet. However, like any other rom-com, the two leads fall in love along the way.

As you can probably tell, I didn't have a lot of strong thoughts about this movie. When I watched it the first time, I thought the movie was completely... fine. It wasn't offensive (unlike The Royal Treatment), and it wasn't genre defining. It was just... okay. It was a good way to kill time if you're bored on an afternoon.

However, in the months since it premiered in late March, the movie has been scrubbed from HBO Max's platform, and it is only available on streaming on-demand services like YouTube or Amazon Prime, where you can purchase it digitally.

This feels like a shame for more than one reason.

Firstly, this movie was dubbed an HBO Max original movie from the beginning of its inception, and now... it's not. The movie is no longer available on the platform that produced it, which sets a bad precedent for streaming services down the line who would like to offload their unwanted content. For example, if Netflix removed half of their original movies today, we would risk losing more than just the infamous Tall Girl series, we would risk losing the iconic To All the Boys movies, or Marriage Story. 

If a streaming service can just decide to get rid of the content that it helped to produce because it no longer serves their bottom line, that is a bad sign for all of us. 

This is how lost media is created.

Erasing Moonshot isn't the end of the world in a literal sense, but it does very much feel like a canary in a coal mine. It is a sign of bad things to come, and bad things that have already happened. Infinity Train and Moonshot are no longer available to watch unless you know where to look for them and are willing to pay to watch them. 

Eventually, there will come a time when no one will remember these things even existed.

As someone who conducted a review on a piece of media that quietly disappeared, I can't help but feel a similar emotion when I consider the future of so many streaming shows, on this list and otherwise.

I'm not trying to say that everything is lost, but it seems like this HBO Max merger has broken the system that we believed was the end-all-be-all of entertainment. Streaming seems to be dying out slowly, and the only response that I have for this issue is to make sure you preserve the shows you love in any way that you can (Again, I'm not *directly* advocating for piracy).

In a lot of instances, this simply means supporting the artists of the things that you like. Because as bad as this is for us as consumers, this must be truly heartbreaking for them.

I believe that the worst part about this whole incident is that the creators (specifically animated creators, who were especially shafted by this merger) never get to see their shows develop in the way that they dreamed they would when they agreed to have their shows stream on HBO Max. They have been disrespected in favor of a quick buck or a company merger that is actively going to make the streaming service worse in the eyes of the consumer. I think the creator of Infinity Train, Owen Dennis, said it best in his blog post about the HBO Max/ Discovery+ merger:

Across the industry, talent is mad, agents are mad, lawyers and managers are mad, even execs at these companies are mad. I can’t think of a single person who works in...entertainment that, when you bring this all up, doesn’t say “What the fuck are they doing? How do they plan to have anyone ever want to work with them again.”

...What is the point of making something, spending years working on it, putting in nights and weekends doing their terrible notes, losing sleep and not seeing our families, if it’s just going to be taken away and shot in the backyard? It’s so incredibly discouraging and they’re definitely not going to be getting their best work out of whoever decides to stay.

We’re working at the intersection of art and commerce, but the people in charge have clearly forgotten that they’ll have no commerce without the art. (par 24-26)

I hope that Owen Dennis can go on to create another hit show for another network that doesn't remove his content without explanation (or better yet, doesn't remove it at all). I hope that the creators of all the shows that were cancelled or discontinued continue to create great art, despite this horrible business failing. I will continue to support the shows that I love and the artists behind them, because as an artist myself, I know just how much that means.

RIP to HBO Max. It was nice knowing you while you were cool.

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Thank you for reading. Consider supporting your local artist during this trying time.

Stay blessed.

Infinity Train // Review #9

 

So I finally got around to watching Infinity Train, a show that I've been meaning to check out for a while. To be honest, I had completely forgotten I had been meaning to watch this show until I logged into Twitter and saw that everyone I knew was talking about it for some reason.

I think it's because the fourth and last season of the show just premiered on April 15th. Ever since then, the internet has been all abuzz because of the conclusion to this mysterious show. In light of all of the hype, I recently watched the whole show on HBO Max, and... I have some thoughts, to say the least.

Infinity Train originally aired on Cartoon Network back in 2019 before it was canceled by Cartoon Network after its second season and picked up by HBO Max  in mid-2020. The show was created by Owen Dennis, one of the guys behind Regular Show, which also aired on Cartoon Network before being moved to streaming on HBO Max last year. Keeping that in mind, it honestly makes so much sense that the two shows have the same creator, because despite the subject matter being wildly different, the two shows have a very similar vibe. They're both slightly offbeat and out of the box in a creative way- with funny scripting that make the characters feel real. I wasn't exactly a fan of Regular Show, but I was familiar enough with it to support its weirder ideas. Infinity Train is definitely its spiritual successor, and as such, it's a lot of fun to watch.  

And so, as someone who hasn't consistently watched Cartoon Network since they stopped airing the original Powerpuff Girls (sue me, I'm old), I was interested to see what all of the hype was about regarding this new show. And so I binged all four seasons in the span of two days.

Now, for the uninitiated like me, I'll just say that this show is... a lot, to say the least. The show itself is very creative and weird, and yet still very much grounded in some very serious topics like divorce and humanity and finding yourself.

When I first went into this show, I honestly had no idea what to expect. This is mostly because the entire first season of the show is setting up the mystery of the show's premise: what is the infinity train, and why is it the way that it is? After that initial season of discovery, the rest of the show goes DEEP into developing its respective characters and making you care for them in a way that will leave you laughing and heartbroken all at the same time. It was honestly an emotional rollercoaster, which wasn't what I signed up for when I agreed to watch a show about a magic train.

Nonetheless, the whole series was a success for me. Overall, I would say that some seasons worked better than others, but they all managed to stick the landing at the end of their 10-episode run. Since Infinity Train is an anthology series, each season is a self-contained story about an individual set of characters, which made it really interesting to see where they were going to go with it. You don't necessarily need to watch all of the seasons in order like I did on order to enjoy the show, but it definitely helps to have context about the previous seasons when watching them, just to be sure that you fully understand what's happening.

In order to conduct my review, I will do as follows: I'm going to give a brief synopsis of each season, explaining generally why I think they worked, and why I think they didn't. I will also list each season's best and worst episodes in order to explain my thinking on the subject. 

LIGHT SPOILERS FOR ALL FOUR SEASONS OF INFINITY TRAIN: 

Season 1: Tulip- A

Tulip, joined by One-One the robot, and Atticus, the King of Corgis

The first season of Infinity Train follows the main character, Tulip, as she is dealing with her parent's recent divorce very poorly. She wants to go to video game design camp, but due to circumstances out of her control (and due to her parent's poor planning), she is unable to go. After running away to get to her video game camp herself, she finds the Infinity Train and hops on.

When she wakes up on the train, Tulip finds that she is in a mysterious train in the middle of a pocket dimension, and each car on the train leads to mysterious lands. She also realizes that she has a number stamped on her hand, which can go up or down. However, she doesn't know what the number signifies, or how to get off the train.

 Tulip's Number Going Down

Tulip's season of the show is very important, because not only is it an introduction into what the train is about and how it works, but it also sets up the premise for the remaining seasons of the show. A human passenger is joined by a companion who is a part of the train car, and they are there to assist them with getting their number down- which (SPOILER) is how they get off the train. The train is both literally and figuratively a person's path to self-improvement. Once the passenger's number reaches 0, that means that the passenger has resolved their issues in the real world- either with themselves or with those around them, and they can go home.

The best episode in this season is probably Episode 5, "The Cat's Car," because not only was this where we begin to build some of the lore of the train, but we discover more about Tulip and how her parents' divorce affected her. It's so amazingly animated and such a clear and honest way to look at how Tulip was feeling that it made the whole season better for me to watch. I had already been invested by this point, but this sucked me in even more.

Each episode of this show is only 11 minutes long, but honestly don't let that deceive you into thinking that the show doesn't go deep into what's bothering these people.

That being said, the worst episode of this season was probably the one directly before "The Cat's Car," "The Crystal Car." This episode wasn't bad so much as it was... unnecessary. I liked this episode if only for its use of "Word Up" by Cameo, but otherwise, this episode didn't really reveal much about the train, or tell us anything new or interesting about Tulip. I thought it was a decent episode, but if you're willing to skip episodes of content, this one definitely seems more like a filler episode.

I will say, though, that this season was definitely a good way to set up an anthology show, with all of the endless possibilities in each car, and all of the unique, fun characters that were in them along the way. I didn't even mention the recurring cast of characters such as Amelia, the "evil" train conductor, One-One, who is very reminiscent of Marvin from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (if he was cheery every once and a while), and The Cat, Samantha, who are very present in this season, and the follow up seasons in this anthology.

The Cat, Samantha (who is morally ambiguous at best)

Overall, by the end of Tulip's story, I was confused but intrigued as to how they were going to follow up this story in the next season.

Cut to- 

Season 2: MT/ Lake- A+

MT, Alan Dracula, and Jesse

This season started off somewhere where I didn't really expect it to- it started off with a minor character from season 1- Mirror Tulip (MT), who was released from the Mirror Realm in the season 1 episode, "The Chrome Car." This entire season is about her following up with what she planned to do in the first season, become her own person, and discover who she was without having to reflect someone else.

I really like this season, and I think it's the best season of the whole show. I think it's much darker than the first season in terms of themes, but in the best way, because it made me laugh and cry and feel about the characters more than I did in season 1. Season 1 was lighthearted until it neared the end and revealed the truth of the train, but this one starts off a little more intense, as MT is running from those attempting to capture and kill her for daring to be different, until she is joined by her friend Jesse and their magical pet deer, Alan Dracula.

Now, after I saw this season, I saw some people on Twitter say that MT was queer-coded as trans, and while I'm not saying that I don't see it, I am saying that this wasn't what I got when I initially watched the show. I read this season as more of a take on humanity, and what we value as "human." While I can see how that can be interpreted as wanting to come out as trans, I don't necessarily think that's what the creators were going for (although I very well could be wrong, IDK). 

In my mind, MT just wanted to be recognized as a person who could feel and think and believe in things herself, which honestly put me more in the mind of something like Blade Runner (or the book it was based on, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?). It was a little trippy and meta to consider that this person who doesn't look like a human being is only trying to stake her claim to what the rest of humanity has to offer. I was definitely thinking more along the lines of that game: Detroit: Become Human while I was watching this season.

I really loved the last five episodes of this season. "The Lucky Cat Car," "The Mall Car," "The Wasteland," "The Tape Car," and "The Number Car," are all perfect episodes to me, because they run the gambit of emotional depth and have some deep philosophical questions in them that left me literally in tears at some points. I think this season had the best episodes, and honestly some of the best dialogue. I especially appreciated the interactions that MT had with Jesse and the Reflection Police in these episodes specifically.

MT and Jesse being separated in Episode 7, "The Mall Car"

The worst episode in this season is probably the "Family Tree Car" but only because I eventually got sick of Jesse and MT fighting all the time without getting anywhere. As I mentioned before, each episode is only 11 minutes, but sometimes if nothing is happening for too long, the episodes can feel like they're dragging. Even still, this episode is fine, as by the end of it, both Jesse and MT form a truce that they're going to work together to get Jesse off the train so she can be left alone with the deer. 

Jesse petting Alan Dracula

Season 3: Grace and Simon- B

Grace, Hazel, Simon and Tuba

My goodness. This season was a DOOSY.

Following the same format as the previous season, this season follows characters that were already introduced by way of the other characters, Grace and Simon.

Grace and Simon are the leaders of a group of kids on the train known as the Apex. They don't care about breaking the train's rules or killing the magical creatures, because they're not people- they're nothing, according to them. In fact, the whole point of the Apex is to achieve the highest number on the train. Soon Grace and Simon are separated from their pack, but on their way back to the rest of their group, they run into a little girl named Hazel who is being protected by a magical talking gorilla named Tuba. Soon after they learn Hazel's secret, things go awry.  

Even though I may not have ranked this season as high as the first or second season, I definitely think that it's worth checking out. Without too many spoilers, I'll just say that this season definitely follows the philosophical ideas of the second season and runs them into the ground. (Not in a bad way, just in a way that might make you go, "OH MY GOD.") Out of all of the seasons of this show, I would say that this season was the darkest, and it's the most insane season because of it.

(SPOILERS AHEAD) I'm not going to lie to you- Hazel made me bawl my eyes out. At the beginning of episode 9 when Grace was crying after Hazel left with Amelia, I was ugly crying exactly like her. When Hazel was singing Tuba's song at her funeral, I was literally sobbing just like Grace. I mean, how can you not? Listen to the song, OMG:

"No need to worry baby" sung by Hazel at Tuba's funeral

By the end of this season, I liked Grace's arc, especially when compared to Simon's opposite arc. It has a real Zuko and Azula energy to it. Speaking of Zuko and Azula, I have to say that it was nice to see Grace be humanized after her horrible actions in season 2 and the beginning of season 3, however, when we see Simon after he left Grace for dead, it seems like he went incredibly evil entirely too quickly. I wish they had taken more time to flesh out him going fully over the deep end on his own. Because of this, I will say that Infinity Train's villain arcs are not nearly as effective as the villain arcs on Avatar: The Last Airbender, but they are very reminiscent of it.

The best episodes of this season are probably the darkest, which would be, "The Color Clock Car,"" The Campfire Car," "The Origami Car" and "The New Apex." All of these episodes are surprisingly heavy to watch, but in a good way that reveals something about each of the characters. I honestly respect the hell out of this season for having the balls to do something this intense in a cartoon aimed at children.

The worst episodes of this season are probably "The Musical Car" and the "Le Chat Chalet Car." Both of them are fine episodes on their own, but compared to the other episodes in this season they stood out as weaker than the rest to me. I liked elements of them fine- like how it was clear that Simon and Grace did care about one another, and they would've protected one another despite everything because they had a relationship. It was clear from these episodes that Grace and Simon loved each other, which is why the ending of this season hits a little harder than normal.

Overall, I would say that this season was solid, but I felt like it could have been a little better. For one thing they could have explained what happened to Grace once she learned her lesson in the end. The result is alluded to, but never shown, which I found to be a little disappointing.

Nevertheless, that leads us onto the fourth and final season of Infinity Train:

Season 4: Men-Gi and Ryan- C+

Men-Gi and Ryan

When I saw the first episode of this season, I was... disappointed, to say the least. I thought we were going to get a follow-up of Hazel from the previous season, just like what happened with MT in season 2 and Grace from season 3. I think one of the main reasons why I didn't like season four nearly as much as I liked the previous seasons was that it felt so loosely connected to the original cast of characters who had left or were going to leave the train. It felt like the show was making me start all over again with brand new characters, which didn't exactly click for me. 

I was hoping that we would see what was going on with Amelia and Hazel from season 3. I would've been interested to see if raising Hazel would have brought Amelia's number down significantly, as she had the highest number on the train. I was even hoping for perhaps some more backstory regarding Tuba, or even how Amelia's number got to be so astronomically high. In the end of that season, I think it would have been cute to have Hazel grow up and take over the train with One-One (if it's even possible for her to grow up, all things considered).

Instead, what we got was the story of Men-Gi and Ryan, two boys from British Columbia, Canada, who want to be rock stars. They both came onto the train with the same number. This is strange, because that doesn't happen, (or so they say at the beginning of the season) but it's never exactly explained why they have the same number. Their lives are displayed as parallel in the beginning of the season in episode 1, but the show doesn't exactly dive deeper into why they are so alike, yet so different.

One of the worst episodes of this season was episode 2, "The Iceberg Car," because the episode not only revolves around these two guys bickering (which grew tiresome very fast), but an unlikeable bell character named Kez explaining the rules of the train to them- which we, the audience already knew. As someone who had binged the previous seasons of this show before this one, I was annoyed that they were rehashing this information and starting all over. It felt like I was wasting my time re-learning all of this information with the main characters.

In the showrunner's defense, I'm assuming that they did this purposefully in order to remind people of the stakes of the train since this was the final season, and it was premiering so long after the third season, which ended nearly eight months ago. However, I found this annoying, nonetheless.

To be honest, it took me at least five episodes to get into this season, as I wasn't truly invested until "The Astro-Queue Car," in which Men-Gi and Ryan are stuck trying to figure out how to get into a space themed club, only to discover that both of their ideas were bad, and that they should be kinder and more patient with one another. I really liked this one, because for me it was one of the first instances of actual forward momentum in the season. From there, things really seem to kick off, and the season gets better. 

Overall, I liked this season fine, but it pales in comparison to the other seasons, for multiple reasons. (Also it bugs me that we never revisit Amelia and One-One in this season after the first episode. Amelia pops in periodically to help- I think- but it's never quite clear what she's doing exactly, and we do not see either her or the real conductor in person past episode one. Also, we never see Hazel again, which kind of bugs me, no lie.)

I will say that one of the best things about this season is the ending song that they perform: "Train to Nowhere," which is honestly a pretty good sendoff for this season and the show as a whole.

Men-Gi and Ryan singing "Train to Nowhere" in the show's finale

Overall, I'm sad to see Infinity Train go, since it's been confirmed that this fourth season was it's last season. HBO Max didn't want to pick up a fifth season of the show, even though the show's creators had more planned, including a season starring Amelia and Hazel further down the line (which I was hoping would be season 4, but I digress) and a movie explaining Amelia's backstory (which is also something I wanted).

My final opinion on the matter is that Infinity Train was a good show, and somehow it feels bittersweet that it didn't get to last more than four seasons. I knew it couldn't go on for infinity as its name suggested, but I am happy with the four seasons that we ended up with. I would highly recommend you checkout this show on HBO Max if you have it. I would give this show a solid B+ for how creative, edgy, and fun it is to watch.

Thanks for reading! Stay safe everyone!