I have been a Stephen King fan since high school. And despite its numerous questionable aspects, It has remained my favorite of his novels. The screen adaptations have had varying levels of success, and Andy Muschietti, along with Bill Skarsgård, did a great job of updating Pennywise for a new generation. Now that version of Pennywise is back in It: Welcome to Derry on HBO Max. In this, I am going to do a deep dive into episode 1, so be warned, lots of spoilers ahead.
The episode starts strong. It is 1962, and we open in a movie theater (classic It setting), eventually panning to a young boy who is entirely too old to be sucking on a pacifier. We realize that Matty (Miles Ekhardt) didn’t pay for his ticket and is chased out of the cinema, only to be saved by Ronnie (Amanda Christine), the manager’s daughter.
Matty leaves the cinema and hitches a ride with a family who seems to be heading out of Derry. They ask where they can drop him off, and he explains he wants to go anywhere that isn’t Derry. Everyone seems nice, but as they drive, things slowly begin to unravel. The son, on a spelling kick, asks his mother for words to spell, and they become increasingly macabre. Matty grows uncomfortable, but it becomes clear that something is wrong when he sees the family returning to Derry, even though moments ago, he saw the sign showing that they were leaving.
He asks to be dropped off, but the father begins driving faster and faster, until Matty grabs the wheel and then accidentally smacks into the mother, who is pregnant. She goes into labor in the car, while the entire family chants “O-U-T,” seemingly urging the creature inside of her to be born. The monstrosity is a grotesque flying gargoyle that batters around the car until it eventually crashes through the window beside where Matty is seated, leaving a spray of blood and launching his pacifier into the river that runs into the sewers of Derry.
We are then introduced to Major Leroy Hanlon (Jovan Adepo), landing at the Air Force base just outside of Derry. They call attention to the Special Projects restricted area on the base, and are introduced to the others there. Major Hanlon encounters some racism from one of his underlings, who refuses to salute him, but brushes it off as part of what happens in a small town. Later in the episode, Leroy is attacked in his bunk by two masked assailants wanting information about the plane he flew in on. He is rescued by his friend Captain Pauly Russo (Rudy Mancuso).
As much as adults are part of It: Welcome to Derry, and the Hanlon connection to the main story is going to be fun to watch, the show’s focus is on the children of Derry. It is now four months after the disappearance of Matty, and we are introduced to the few people who were his friends, insomuch as he had friends. Phil (Jack Molloy Legault) and Teddy (Mikkal Karim Fidler) were classmates who missed his birthday party, leading Teddy to blame himself for Matty’s disappearance. They eventually meet Lily (Clara Stack), a girl whose father was killed in a freak accident, who believes that Matty reached out to her, literally, from her bathtub.
The three of them go to the library to try to figure out what might have happened to Matty and if there is any way they can rescue him. They realize that he was last seen at the movie theater, so they go there to see if they can find any more information. Ronnie explains that the police questioned her father relentlessly about the disappearance, and then she tries to run them off, but Lily tells her Matty sang a song from “The Music Man” to her from the drainpipe. Ronnie shares that she, too, had heard voices of kids from the drainpipes, and the kids agree to meet at the cinema to watch the movie to see if they can decipher any message from Matty in the film.
They begin to watch the movie, only to see Matty on screen, part of the crowd. The kids begin to shout at the screen, hoping to catch his attention, and eventually he looks up and sees them. He walks toward them, carrying something wrapped in his arms, and accuses them of being the reason why he is stuck in this nightmare world. He buries his face in the parcel, and when he looks up, he has a crazed smile on his face and throws the package that now carries a giant version of the monstrosity from the beginning of the episode through the screen, killing everyone but Lily and Ronnie.
It: Welcome to Derry has a really strong pilot episode, managing to incorporate aspects of the source material while avoiding recycling too much. There is a fair bit of humor incorporated throughout, giving us moments of levity before the next horrible thing happens. Obviously, if seeing children in peril is a no for you, you will not want to watch this show, because that is how things work in Derry. It was shocking to see so many kids who I thought were going to be in the show murdered in the pilot, but it does remind us that no one is safe when Pennywise is around.
Speaking of the clown, he does not make an appearance in the pilot. I don’t mind us not seeing him yet (though I sincerely hope he shows up before the finale), but I do wish the monster had used more of the clown imagery. One of the consistent things from the book and the movies is that nearly everything has some clownish element to it. I would have loved that with the monster. But that is a minor complaint for a gripping opening episode. I guess we’ll see who the new losers are next time!
It: Welcome to Derry airs weekly on HBO MAX.
Learn more about the show, including how to watch, at the official website for the title.
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