IT: Welcome To Derry: Season 1 Episode 2 – Recap and Review

As Leroy’s family joins Derry, Lilly and Ronnie try to deal with the aftermath of what happened in the first episode.

ByAmari Allah Hours Posted on

Spoiler Alert: This summary and review contains spoilers.

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Episode 2 “The Thing in the Dark” Details

Episode 2 “The Thing in the Dark” Storylines/ Recap

Wrong Place At The Wrong Time: Leroy, Charlotte, Will, General Shaw, Chief Clint Bowers, Lilly, Ronnie, Rich, Marge, Dick, Hank

Leroy’s family, his wife Charlotte, and 12-year-old son Will finally get to Derry, and neither has the easiest first day in the town. Charlotte, who finds good trouble with ease, finds herself an outlier not only due to her race but also for not being willing to ignore “Boys being boys.” Will? Well, despite being a bookworm, he gets in trouble for being at the wrong place at the wrong time.

You see, while talking to Rich, a Hispanic kid who has a crush on Marge, of all people, a stink bomb rolls down the hallway, and as Will runs, he knocks down a teacher who puts him in detention, where Ronnie is as well. Now, how did she end up in detention? Well, because Ronnie confronted Lilly about being a bit too ambiguous about what she saw in the movie theater, which gives the pressured Chief Bowers the reasonable doubt he needs to arrest Hank, her father.

Ronnie, with her mom seemingly dying during childbirth, doesn’t want to lose her dad too, but with Lilly deathly afraid of ending up back at Juniper Hill, she is trying to avoid doing or saying anything that lands her back there – damn Ronnie, their friendship, and Hank’s freedom.

But, as all that goes on, Leroy learns he isn’t the only special negro on base. Dick, who seems to have a sense for finding things, senses where an item, a weapon, General Shaw says, that can induce fear might be found. It’s all very complicated, but after Leroy figures out the whole attack was a test and confronts General Shaw, he is let in on this top-secret thing about finding beacons hidden around Derry, which is supposed to lead to a weapon.

Based on assumptions, it sounds like the weapon could be Pennywise, but only time will tell.

Another Stint At Juniper Hill: Ronnie, Lilly, Hank, Louella

Refocusing on Hank’s situation, because of Lilly, he does end up getting arrested and Louella, Ronnie’s paternal grandmother, is not only embarrassed but upset her boy got hauled in for the deaths of Teddy, Susie, and Phil. Ronnie, naturally, bangs at Lilly’s door and gets no justice, but with Pennywise pushing Lilly to the brink at a grocery store, Ronnie gets vicarious revenge and Lilly ends up in Juniper Hill despite her lies.

New Cast and Characters

Charlotte (Taylour Paige)

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  • Character Summary: Charlotte is Leroy’s wife, who is known for getting into good trouble, often in the form of being an activist for civil rights.

Will (Blake Cameron James)

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  • Character Summary: Will is Leroy and Charlotte’s 12-year-old son who loves science.

General Shaw (James Remar)

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  • Character Summary: General Shaw is the head of the Derry, Maine Air Force base, who is investigating a potential weapon that could be used to end the Cold War.

Chief Clint Bowers (Peter Outerbridge)

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  • Character Summary: Clint is the Derry sheriff, an elected sheriff who is tasked with finding a reason to bring in Hank, who the whole town thinks killed the kids in the last episode.

Marge (Matilda Lawler)

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  • Character Summary: Marge is Lilly’s circumstantial friend who desires to be a social climber, but, in trying to be a part of the popular kids, she will throw anyone under the bus – especially Lilly.

Rich (Arian S. Cartaya)

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  • Character Summary: Rich is one of Will’s first friends in Derry, who is Hispanic and, for some reason, has a crush on Marge.

Dick (Chris Chalk)

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  • Character Summary: Dick is a soldier who seemingly has a talent for finding the beacons that may lead to finding Pennywise, or the source of Pennywise’s power.

Louella (BJ Harrison)

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  • Character Summary: Louella is Hank’s mother, Ronnie’s grandmother.

Hank (Stephen Rider)

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  • Character Summary: Hank is a projectionist who loves films and instilled that love into his daughter, Ronnie.

Review and Commentary

Highlights

Complicated Feelings Towards Lilly [85/100]

Lilly was going through it this episode. Ronnie, perhaps the only person who understands her latest trauma, was mad at her for not saying the right thing in a high-pressure moment. Something that could lead Ronnie to lose her father, and maybe things becoming hard like Lilly experiences. But what can Lilly do?

Clearly, Lilly, for the rest of her life, will have been sent to Juniper Hill dangling over her head like a guillotine, and as shown by what the sheriff did, any adult can manipulate her. So as much as you may want to be mad she didn’t vindicate that Hank is innocent, at the same time, she is a girl with no stable friendships; the ones she was building got snatched from her traumatically, and who knows what her relationship is with her mom.

Altogether, it felt like there was a lot of effort, which paid off, to make it so Lilly wasn’t this girl you always just felt bad for, but could have a handful of different emotions towards. Which, to me, made it so she couldn’t indefinitely fit any mold, and could be flawed, beyond whatever mental health issues she is working through.

Will’s Role In Things [84/100]

What I like about Will is that he seems like he has leadership qualities and could bring everyone together. He’s in Lilly and Rich’s class, it seemed like Ronnie could enjoy his company, and he could maybe make his parents, Dad especially, someone you don’t mind seeing because of their connection to him.

Now, with Welcome To Derry setting the tone of killing off kids you thought would be around for the long term in the first episode, who knows if Will may make it to the season finale. But, having that worry, seeing how important he can be, it is what makes his life matter, interesting, and get you invested to the point of crossing your fingers and toes over him being spared.

Things Got Creepy In The Grocery Store [82/100]

Episode 1 focused more on gore and the supernatural side of what Pennywise can do. I feel like what we were looking for from episode 1, we got in episode 2, with Lilly being put into a maze of whispers and creepy faces. It brought on that, Tracey Morgan “Nope” .gif type of feeling with each smiling face, each wall put up, and Lilly’s freakout not only worked in terms of entertainment, but also in understanding her trauma.

I’d even say, while it can often feel like the kids shake it off, treat things as a nightmare, I feel like Lilly is one of the few examples of someone not shaking it off, but the moments chipping away at them. A showing of why Pennywise targets kids and targets their vulnerability to eventually get their cortisol levels just right.

Low Points

The Military Storylines Remain A Weak Point [64/100]

Everyone else is telling a classic IT type of story, but with the military pointed towards the origin of IT, or its’ powers, they are venturing towards new grounds, and honestly, few villains really need their backstory fleshed out. Imagine a Freddy Krueger prequel that goes deep into what he did to kids before he got burned? Jason’s summer camp from hell, which led to him being drowned, taking place over a whole season – it is unnecessary.

And as noted in the last episode, one of the key problems is that no one part of the military storyline, certainly not Leroy, has that something to draw you into what they are doing, and the storyline doesn’t compensate for that. Leaving a plot that hopefully gets better, but is slowly but surely looking worse as other aspects of the show only get better.

On The Fence

This Ain’t America, This Derry [78/100]

It’s 1962, and while Derry isn’t the South, as anyone who knows American History can tell you, being north of the Mason-Dixon line didn’t mean suddenly equality was the belief of all parties involved. Racism was still very much a thing, but the average person was less open about it, especially if you were close to any city.

However, the farther you were from the city, the closer to southern viewpoints you may experience, and with the line “This Ain’t America, This Derry,” you get reminded that ain’t a single Black character on this show safe. But, again, there is this back and forth between incorporating this type of storyline and what you likely came for regarding watching the show.

Now, unlike the military storyline, the IT franchise has touched upon race many times. Hank’s situation fits into what we’re used to. However, I think my issue stems from having to adjust to the idea of such a storyline not being the main thing, but simply one of many storylines. In some ways, it, for lack of a better phrase, normalizes these kinds of stories and makes it clear they did and do happen regularly and aren’t always the focal points.

And I’ll give it to the writers, from Ronnie to Louelle, you get the full sense of how devastating it is to lose a member of your family, especially to a false accusation. All the while, you also get the perspective of the other side, who see no alternative, and there is the sense that the delicate balance between “us and them” has been broken, and needs swift correction.

To me, this might be where my own fear comes into play, hence feeling uneasy about how this may go and whether the story may do Hank and his family justice, even if they don’t get justice.

Overall

Our Overall Rating [78/100]

With a better sense of fear, adding layers to characters, and launching new ones that you could get invested in, while the military storyline remains a weak point, there is no denying that everything else more than compensates.

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Amari is the founder and head writer of Wherever-I-Look.com and has been reviewing media since 2010. He approaches each production with hope, rooting for every story to succeed, and believes criticism should come from unmet potential, while praise is reserved for work that meets or exceeds expectations.