Content Note: The following contains spoilers for episode 2 of It: Welcome to Derry. The show also deals with child death/harm and mental institutions, so proceed with caution if those are sensitive subjects.
The end of episode 1 of It: Welcome to Derry was a significant shocker, with several kids who seemed like they could be series regulars dying in the final scene. But this is Derry, and children aren’t safe in Derry, so it’s going to be interesting to see where they go from here. What I will say is that Ronnie and Lilly may have made it out of the movie theater, but they are not in for an easy time of it. So let’s dig into episode 2, titled The Thing in the Dark.
After a brief overview of the carnage at the end of episode 1, we finally get our opening credit sequence, which is absolutely fantastic. A simple 1960s Norman Rockwell art style that slowly becomes increasingly horrific over time. Nightmarish and wonderfully effective.
Much of episode 2 is about what is happening to Ronnie’s father, Hank Grogan (Stephen Rider). As the adult manager of the movie theater and a black man, there is concern that the blame will be pinned on him. Her fears lead to a frightening night, where she first must claw her way out of a fleshy sac filled with water, and then is attacked by a monster in the shape of her mother, showcasing some of the frightening movements we have come to expect from director Andy Muschietti.
After her own encounter with the spirit that seems to be preying on children in Derry, Ronnie and Lilly have a heated conversation in which Ronnie asks Lilly why she didn’t fully exonerate her father. Lilly explains that she told the police that he wasn’t there, but she didn’t want to explain about the monster because she was concerned that she would be sent back to Juniper Hill, the mental asylum outside of Derry, where she had spent time after her father’s death. This prompts a loud reaction from Ronnie, who ends up in detention.
The other people we meet in episode 2 of It: Welcome to Derry are the rest of Leroy Hanlon’s family. His wife, Charlotte (Taylour Paige), and his son, Will (Blake Cameron James), have just arrived in Derry and are trying to figure out how to fit in. Charlotte notices almost immediately that there is a mean streak in Derry that the adults seem unwilling to address. And Will, despite lying low, also gets sent to detention, where he meets Ronnie. The two talk until Ronnie sees Lilly being pulled out of school by the police for another interrogation.
Meanwhile, Leroy Hanlon discovers that the man imprisoned for the attack in the barracks is not the right person, and he explains this to General Shaw (James Remar). The general admits that he knows and that they wanted to test if Major Hanlon’s damaged amygdala really did mean that he was incapable of fear. When he realizes that it was so, Shaw tells Hanlon that he will be assigned to a special duty, searching for a very specific weapon.
At the police station, the police chief tells Lilly that if she refuses to suggest that Hank might have been there, she might be a suspect due to her time at Juniper Hill. We then cut to the arrest of Hank Grogan and Ronnie going to the Bainbridge house to confront Lilly directly.
Because she is shaken up by the confrontation with Ronnie and the threats from the police chief, Lilly is incredibly nervous when she heads to the grocery store to help her mother with some shopping. She walks into the store where everything seems normal at first, but as she meanders through the aisles, unsettling things begin to happen. The shelves begin to shift. The store announcements grow more aggressive. People in the background turn to stare at her, and she hears whispers about her.
Eventually, she finds herself trapped in a section of the store, hemmed in on all sides by shelves filled with pickles from the factory where her father worked and had the accident that killed him. The jars begin to shift, and we see body parts in them. The shelves start to shake, spilling the jars onto the floor, where the body parts reconstitute into Lilly’s father. She is shaken to her senses by an employee, but not in time to save her from being carted off to Juniper Hill at the end of the episode.
The Thing in the Dark does have some slight pacing issues with Leroy Hanlon’s storyline. I’m confident that the result will be interesting, but right now, it’s just a lot of setup. That said, the stuff with the kids is fantastic. The two parental nightmares are both horrific and prey on fears particular to the characters. The build-up for the scene with Lilly is truly fantastic and had me very much like the “guy sitting forward on his seat” meme, waiting for the payoff. Body horror is where Muschietti excels, and this episode showcases that remarkably well.
Still no Pennywise, though I predict that he is connected to what Hanlon is doing, so I remain optimistic that we won’t have to wait until the last episode to see him, but that remains a mystery. We’ll check back in next week to see what is going on with the next episode of It: Welcome to Derry!
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.
You might also like…
