Pennywise (Bill Skarsgård) makes his debut on IT: Welcome to Derry in an episode that takes the action into the sewers below “Neibolt Street”.
There are multiple storylines at play in episode five, which should increase the tension when the players move into the sewers. Alas here it proves distracting as Brad Caleb Kane‘s teleplay keeps having to cut from the action in one location in order to check on the others. It makes sense for setting up the climax, in which Leroy (Jovan Adepo) – who has already hallucinated (and shot) Charlotte (Taylour Paige) – doesn’t believe Pauly (Rudy Mancuso) and nearly shoots his own son, Will (Blake Cameron James).
Alas this is also the most predictable thing that could happen. As soon as Leroy reminds Pauly not to trust their eyes and shoot anything out of the ordinary, it’s obvious that someone unintended will be shot (at minimum) or killed. And since IT: Welcome to Derry isn’t about to kill Will, it makes sense that someone like Pauly would sacrifice himself to save the boy.
It’s not bad, but it’s also not surprising. And since we’ve barely spent time with Pauly outside of the first episode and the aerial survey with Dick Halloran (Chris Chalke) in episode 3, it feels like this episode has brought him back in order to kill him off.
The child side of the storyline likely worked better for me. Sure, we’ve known since the first episode that Matty (Miles Ekhardt) didn’t survive that car ride, but when presented with the image of an ashen boy who interacts with Ronnie (Amanda Christine), Marge (Matilda Lawler), Hank (Arian S. Cartaya) and Lilly (Clara Stack), it suddenly seems possible that he’s alive.
Far less likely is the tall tale the missing boy spins, including the suggestion that Phil is still alive in the sewers. Regardless, it’s easy to understand why the kids would go along with this, as well as why the only adult they confide in is Ingrid Kersh (Madeline Stowe) from Juniper Hill.
So while most of the sewer antics play out as expected, it’s all in service of a) putting the kids in danger; b) killing *someone* (because the series is overdue to for a fresh death); and c) getting the dagger into one of the kids’ hands.
Still, Taniel (Joshua Odjick) getting shot at by impulsive Army men seems like a wild escalation and, as only a casual reader of King, Halloran’s glowing mind-box looks cool but doesn’t offer much else, which makes the entire bathroom battle with his Grandpa feel drawn out and anti-climactic. None of it is bad per se, but the series is still working best on a scene by scene basis. Some of these moments sing, but as a whole hour of TV? It’s only fine.
Other Observations:
- I’d be curious to hear from folks who have been eagerly waiting for Pennywise’s arrival: was the pay-off worth the wait? Skarsgård’s portrayal of the iconic character remains a delight, though the clown isn’t pretty much doing the same old, same old here.
- With that said, the moment Pennywise freezes before Lilly with its enormous open mouth, full of what appears to be hundreds of razor-sharp teeth, is a pretty great beat.
- Ditto the back of Matty’s head splitting open.
- I appreciated Leroy getting pissed at General Shaw (James Remar) for bringing him and his family into the battle zone without properly confiding all of the pertinent details. I’m assuming that I missed the detail that the base is outside of the pillar/hunting zone and that’s why it’s safer to live on base?
- Similarly, Rose (Kimberly Norris Guerrero) doesn’t fall for any of Shaw’s reassurances or excuses. It feels like there’s still more story to mine from this relationship, but it’s unclear how much the show wants to go there. Especially now that Taniel barely escaped from Shaw’s trigger happy men.
- Apologies to Marge for the snippy comment last week questioning whether she would tell the truth about Lilly and her eye injury. We learn here that she did try to come clean; it’s just that Derry wants to believe the worst in Lilly no matter what.
- Not gonna lie: I’d already forgotten that Hank (Stephen Rider) was having an affair with a married white woman, so it was a genuine shock when he and Ingrid kiss in the woods. Her willingness to believe outsiders (like Lilly) makes a bit more sense: she doesn’t buy into the town’s usual BS.
- Also: Derry (and Stephen King stories) sure do love an abusive husband, don’t they?
- The riot as Hank is escorted to the Shawshank bus is a tense moment that (re)confirms how racism, like fear, has completely infiltrated the adult population of the town. I love that we can’t tell if the grinning guy scratching his head with the baton is a manifestation of Pennywise or merely a racist goon working for the police who’s content to see a Black man shot in the streets.
- Sidebar: I would have liked this sequence even more if it hadn’t been almost completely spoiled in the trailers for the show. Ah well…
- Finally: Stowe’s wig. Why so bad?
IT: Welcome to Derry airs Sundays on HBO
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