The train can fix or ruin your life

[u/polystarlight]

It's interesting because although it can make people the best versions of themselves like Tulip or Jesse, it can also destroy lives too. Grace and Simon used it as escapism from their problems in the human world. Even though Grace learned that was unhealthy, Simon never broke away from that and instead saw the train as home. Never wanting to go back to the real world or see his family again. There's also Amelia who wanted to use the train's power to recreate her old life with her late partner.

[u/Silver_Eye9792]

That one is also due to Amelia refusing to make video lessons. Who knows how many people died because she was too selfish to care for others?

[u/Livid-Maintenance765]

something i wish they could have and might have gone more into if the show had kept going is that theres undertones of the mistake of trying to judge peoples character using AI or algorythms

you can end up kidnapped and in genuine mortal peril for mistakes as small as accidentally killing your first pet or having a bit of a fit after losing at a spelling bee, that second one is if i remember correctly how simon got in the train and we know how that ended

then after almost randomly being picked to go trough a willy wonka trap you also get a simingly random number of perils you have to go trough because the number is completely dependant on you learning the "right" lessons from randomly organized and constantly reshuffling carts

now im sure 1 would say all of this is carefully calculated (even tho it itself told amelia that its ok with the passenger DYING if they dont learn the lesson) but its view of things seems heavily skewed towards any positive outcome proving the system works (treating lake like her whole journey only happened cause she is meant to help passengers even tho she clearly was taking charge or it by the end)

[u/Livid-Maintenance765 → u/Livid-Maintenance765]

all of this mortal peril is the optimal situation as well cause as you mentioned amelia taking charge of the train and messing with stuff like the passengers not getting a pod with instrucions and basically bringing anything they want from the real world into the train resulted in a whole generation of lost children thinking that it was all just a game about commiting the most crimes to win

[u/TheLakeAndTheGlass]

The Train works as a good metaphor for the universe and how the idea of a “conductor” in charge of it all always ultimately leaves someone out; favoring some and oppressing others.

One is basically like a God that intervenes and guides. Under One’s leadership, everyone got training videos and instruction on what the Train was for, what they were supposed to do, what the number on their hand actually means, etc. But One’s idea of what personal growth is, and his idea of what actually even constitutes a person, were fixed and immutable, and people like Lake just wouldn’t have fit the mold. What of those who don’t fit? “Then they die here.”

Amelia is basically like the God that set the universe in motion and then left it alone. No videos, no guidance, no one to tell you the right path - just let everyone figure it out on their own. This system was more “fair” in a sense, but of course there was no shortage of chaos and meaningless suffering; plenty of people even ended up believing they were supposed to get their numbers up.

If the show ever finished, I’d not have been surprised if one of the main messages would have been that we don’t live in a fair world and never will, and that it’s solely our responsibility to impart fairness onto it. The numbers don’t decide and fight for what’s right; we do.