IT: Welcome to Derry picks up where last week’s cliffhanger left off: it’s time for the notorious fire at the Black Spot.
Missed a review? Episode 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6
“The Black Spot” is approximately one hour, so there’s plenty of time to let things unfold at their own pace. The first ~12 minutes are set in 1908 and introduce Bob Gray (Bill Skarsgård) the human avatar that Pennywise will adopt after realizing that “children seem to be drawn to” him. It makes sense: the routine that we see Gray do as “The Dancing Clown” to a small, but rapt audience runs the gamut between broad physical comedy, pathos, and low-fi visual trickery (courtesy of several assistants and levers).
There’s a nice creepy moment when a child with glowing eyes approaches Bob while he’s out smoking after dark. The discovery of his bloody handkerchief, as presented to young Ingrid, as well as the fact that he had only just invited her to join his act as Perrywinkle, her mother’s stage name, helps (a little) to explain why adult Ingrid (Madeleine Stowe) continues to hold on to (obvious to us) fallacy that the clown is her father.
Naturally when she approaches IT after Pennywise has killed and consumed her butcher husband Stan (Larry Day) the illusion disappears pretty quickly. Alas writers Jason Fuchs & Brad Caleb Kane only allow for a brief moment of understanding from Ingrid before she’s dazzled by Pennywise’s deadlights (the first of two times in this penultimate episode). Considering that the last episode focused so heavily on Ingrid’s ties to IT, this is simply another instance of the prequel series delivering an expected outcome rather than something new.
The same can obviously be said for the fire, which has been teased and referred to in several different texts. The outcome here is a foregone conclusion, so the question going into the episode was simply: who was affected and in what fashion?
Credit to the show for once again having the gumption to kill off a child, as Rich (Arian S. Cartaya) – along with 22 other victims – perish from the smoke, the flames, and the bullets of the racist perpetrators. Admittedly, this death lands quite a bit differently than the three kids who died in the theatre in the premiere; that set piece was purposefully subversive because the series wanted to establish its stakes by shocking audiences.
Here it’s more about the emotional toll. Welcome to Derry has been building up Rich and Marge (Matilda Lawler)’s relationship, inching them closer to romance (see: the knights & pirates conversation in the cafeteria) over the last few episodes.
That deepening of their bond is top of mind here, so it’s not exactly a surprise when Rich makes the decision to sacrifice himself and save Marge by Titanic-ing himself. Let’s not quibble with why the box itself doesn’t go up in flames, or why Rich’s body only looks artfully singed when firefighters arrive on the scene.
The reality is that Rich’s sacrifice is an emotional moment and it only works as well as it does because Cartaya has been a bright light among the younger members of the cast. It is worth noting is that the character is also unabashedly uncomplicated; both Clara Stack‘s Lilly and Amanda Christine‘s Ronnie are messy and moody, whereas Rich was relentlessly quippy and plucky. Obviously if anyone was going to die, it was always going to be him.
Still, it’s something of a surprise that with only one episode left to go, the series is down to four core kids (more on the indulgent “cliffhanger” involving Blake Cameron James‘ Will getting deadlight-ed below). As we move into the finale, the series has done a decent job of setting up a reasonably exciting climax, albeit one built on the back of a lot of expected developments (including the fire at the Black Spot here) as well as more than a few eye-rolling narrative developments, nearly all of which involve the military’s plans.
Other Observations:
- Let’s get to this nonsense with Leroy (Jovan Adepo), General Shaw (James Remar) and that other bland enforcer out of the way. This is the stupidest plot line of the series, so it’s no surprise that the explanation of why they want to remove the pillar and melt it down makes absolutely zero sense. Shaw argues that violence subsides after peaking (ie: no riots after the Black Spot fire) and Leroy pointedly questions if his superior wants to turn the whole of the US into Derry but it’s all dumb, dumb, DUMB.
- I love a long take, but I can’t give Andy Muschietti credit for including one – or rather an attempt at one – during the fire. The FX on the victims moving in and out of the smoke looks bad and the camera is constantly moving into the darkness and smoke to hide the edits. Rather than feeling epic, this sequence feels desperately showy and obvious.
- Contrast this with something like the deadlights, which (as mentioned) appear twice: once on Ingrid and once at the end with Will. Both times it looks great, perhaps because Muschietti perfected the look in the films? Still, shout out for the solid use of slow-mo as Ingrid ascends into the sky.
- Also: points for the graphic gore when Pennywise bites into Stanley’s head after cleaving off the top half. Looks great.
- Love the inclusion of the morning radio news the morning after the fire. It highlights the propaganda arm of Derry (Stephen Rider‘s Hank is listed as dead; faulty wiring is blamed; and no mention is made of Rich dying). This pairs nicely with Charlotte (Taylour Paige)’s observation that her racist neighbours won’t even notice that Hank looks nothing like her husband so long as he’s dressed in fatigues.
- The moment when the three girls hug the day after Rich’s death is a genuinely nice/tragic.
- That beat when the episode continues after showing Pennywise wake early from slumber just so we can pretend that Will is in danger in the family’s kitchen? Unnecessary! Know when to end the episode, folks!
- It’s hard not to judge Rose (Kimberly Guerrero) and the other members of her group when they celebrate the end of another 27 year cycle wherein <checks notes> 17 kids died.
- Dick Halloran (Chris Chalke) saves Ronnie and Hank from the Black Spot after listening/following the spirit of an Indigenous woman wearing a bear skin to a secret exit. It’s an intriguing bit, but the remainder of the episode simply finds Dick struggling with the noise of demanding ghosts. I would care if this were an original character, but this all just feels like Easter Eggs for The Shining. I still like what Chalke is doing with the role, but the reality is that Welcome to Derry can barely manage to balance its own characters and storylines, never mind those from a whole other King novel!
IT: Welcome to Derry airs Sundays on HBO
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