'IT: Welcome To Derry' Episode Two Spoiler-Free Review

TV & Film

Nov 3

Our second trip to Derry came early this week.

In the aftermath of Welcome to Derry’s immensely successful pilot, the second episode, titled "The Thing in the Dark", arrived sooner than expected. While HBO series typically air new episodes on Sunday, we were treated to the second episode on Halloween. Is there any better way to spend Halloween night than spending it with drunk Navy airmen, pickle jars, concerned parents, and traumatized teenage girls? It may not sound like the best way to word it, but that’s what’s in store for us in this episode.

Any worry that "The Pilot" was a fluke and the rest of the series wouldn’t measure up, consider those worries gone. Not only is episode 2 just as good as episode 1, but it’s also better in many ways. In my review of "The Pilot", I mentioned that the high amount of characters made the plot feel a tad unfocused at times, as not every subplot was equally compelling. However, as I predicted, the excess of characters laid the groundwork for the season's three main storylines: The military uncovering something sinister, Lilly Bainbridge and Ronnie Grogan’s journey into mystery, and the Hanlon Family dealing with being a black family in a lily (or is that Lilly?) white town.

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Like episode 1, the strongest aspect of the episode is downtime scenes with the characters. Due to the series’ 1960s setting, the writers don’t shy away from the realities of real-life horrors of bigotry and racism. The episode shines a brighter light on Ronnie Grogan (Amanda Christine) and her father Hank (Stephen Rider) and their struggles as a black family in Derry. As the police plan to pin the horrors of the climax of the last episode, Ronnie does everything she can to make sure they don’t. Parallel to this is Leroy Hanlon trying to figure out who is responsible for the racially motivated attack on him in the first episode. We’re introduced to his wife, Charlotte (Taylor Paige), and their son, Will (Blake Cameron James), a typical small family trying to find a new life in Derry. Despite appearing as a normal American family, Charlotte, Leroy, and Will are still singled out because they’re black.

I commend the filmmakers for not shying away from the show's themes of racism. And I further commend them for showcasing that racism goes beyond calling people slurs, and there are people and systems in place to make people of color’s lives miserable. And to even FURTHER praise the filmmakers, it’s good to have compelling black characters rather than black characters used solely for commentary. This is further exemplified by the arrival of Dick Hallorann (Chris Chalk), whose appearance promises that future episodes will really dive into the sci-fi insanity of the original IT novel. A brief scene near the end of the episode, involving Ronnie and Will in detention, is very touching. With Ronnie in trouble for cursing in the school cafeteria and Will having a stink bomb prank pinned on him, the two characters bond due to Will’s love of science. The series, so far, has done a good job of showing that the young protagonists are much more than just playthings in horror sequences. Granted, Ronnie is the victim of one of the most batshit insane horror sequences I’ve seen in a long time, surpassing the intense climax of episode 1.

While the black characters take center stage in episode 2, Lilly Bainbridge (Clara Stack) remains the closest thing the series has to a central protagonist. Haunted by the events of the last episode’s climax, Lilly’s reputation as the crazy girl at her high school continues to grow. To the point where her so-called best friend, Marge (Matilda Lawler), begins to make fun of her behind her back to fit in with a group of snobbish popular girls called the Pattycakes. Lilly’s relationship with Ronnie is also tested as the two struggle to decide how to tell the cops the truth. While Ronnie begs Lilly to tell the cops the truth so they don’t take her father away, Lilly doesn’t know what to say to them, so she can avoid being sent to Juniper Hill (Derry’s “loony bin”). Clara Stack continues to deliver a strong performance in this episode. Not only is she a compelling lead to follow on this 8 episode journey, but Stack is proving herself to be quite the scream queen. Should she star in other horror projects after this, she’ll become a horror icon in no time.

In addition to Lilly, Ronnie, Will, and likely Marge, episode 2 assembles the true equivalent of the Loser’s Club. Arian S. Cartaya, joining our group of young heroes, debuts as Rich, a young Latin boy who befriends Will midway through. Rich doesn’t seem to be the brightest star in the North, believing his father’s theory that the sky is blue only because God is a man, but his appearance here sets him up to be the plucky, heartfelt boy of the group. The brief, silent interaction between him and Marge provides a nice moment of levity in an otherwise bleak show. Considering how the episode ends, it’s gonna be interesting to see how the kids come together to uncover what is going on in Derry. Running concurrently with Leroy Hanlon and Dick Hallorann as they try to uncover the same thing, we can hope that the parallel storylines will come together in a very satisfying way by the finale.

Welcome to Derry’s second episode, which is just as strong as the first and is, in a lot of ways, superior. The horror sequences showcase that Andy Muschietti hasn’t lost any of his directing prowess, no matter what his detractors say. The episode opens with a first-person oner taking place during the climax of The Pilot. Combine this with one unforgettable sequence involving Ronnie (which actually gave me nightmares) and another involving Lilly, Andy Muschietti continues to flex his abilities as a highly talented horror filmmaker. It’s very exciting knowing that Muschietti is also directing the next two episodes. And who can forget composer Benjamin Wallfisch? Wallfisch, who has scored every project Muschietti has directed since IT: Chapter One, infuses this episode (as in the first) with the right amount of atmosphere. Speaking of music, major props to the show’s main title sequence. The opening titles, eerily set to the song "A Smile and A Ribbon" by Patience & Prudence, do an excellent job of setting the incredibly somber and sinister tone of the show.

Welcome to Derry delivers another winner across directing, acting, music, and horror, proving this creative team has tapped into this world in ways I couldn’t have expected. The scares get more mindbending, the plot becomes more compelling, and the characters become more relatable. If the remaining six episodes keep the energy up, Welcome to Derry is on its way to being one of the best horror TV shows in quite some time.

Rating: 10/10

IT: Welcome to Derry, Season 1, Episode 2: The Thing In the Dark is now streaming on HBO Max.

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