IT – Welcome To Derry: Season 1 Episode 4 – Recap and Review
Hallorann reveals the true extent of his abilities, as Marge meets Karma and the Indigenous characters are given a notable spotlight.
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Episode 4 “The Great Swirling Apparatus of Our Planet’s Function” Details
- Director(s): Andrew Bernstein
- Writer(s): Helen Shang
- Public Release Date (HBO Max): November 16, 2025
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Episode 4 “The Great Swirling Apparatus of Our Planet’s Function” Storylines/ Recap
Getting In Some Good Trouble: Catherine, Will, Hank, Louella, Chief Bowers, Leroy
Catherine can’t help herself. Upon hearing about Hank’s situation and knowing that Will’s crush is Hank’s daughter, she wants to get involved. Chief Bowers tries to dissuade her, but this only ends with her meeting Louella, getting a letter to see Hank, and her doubling down on trying to get him justice.
But, things are always more complicated than they appear, and for Hank, his being out with a married White woman that night makes it so, between Shawshank and what could happen to him if the town found out? He’d prefer jail. And of course, as word gets around that Catherine is bringing up the civil rights movement coming to Derry, and Leroy’s friend spotting her, Leroy isn’t too happy with his wife.
It’s noted she got arrested down south, complicating not only her life but his, but with this fresh start, he isn’t too pleased she is back to doing things that could affect his career.
The Kids Are Not Alright: Lilly, Marge, Rich, Chief Bowers, Will, Ronnie, Ingrid
Excitedly, Lilly, Rich, Will, and Ronnie present the pictures they developed to Chief Bowers, and with him seeing nothing but pictures taken in a graveyard, the kids are shooed away, with Lilly being warned that nonsense like this will have her back in Juniper Hill. This leads Lilly to go to Ingrid, the custodial staff at Juniper Hill, who is her only form of adult support, and who does her best to say she believes Lilly, even if she doesn’t see what she does.
Unfortunately for Lilly, though, her problems don’t begin and end with Chief Bowers. Will theorizes that the group is being terrorized in order to flood them with biological chemicals, stemming from fear, to make them taste better. On top of that, Lilly steals pills from her mom to give to everyone to help control their fear, but when she needs them, she accidentally drops them into the toilet.
Now, what’s the situation that calls for her needing mommy’s special pills? Marge. She received instant karma for trying to set up Lilly to be embarrassed, only for Pennywise to force her to hallucinate to the point of stabbing herself in the eye, if not take a saw to them. At least, it seems that is what happened to Marge. As everyone sees what all the ruckus is about, Lilly is on top of Marge, with what could be seen as a weapon, and she is surely looking like she is trying to stab Marge repeatedly in her eye.
Be Careful What You Ask For And About: Hallorann, Leroy, General Shaw, Rose, Taniel
Leroy finds himself asking General Shaw more and more questions, especially after Hallorann gives him pushback. This leads to Leroy seeing firsthand what Hallorann can do, as he ventures into the memories of Taniel, Rose’s nephew. During this, Hallorann learns more about what the Indigenous call “The Galloo” and how, for more than a century, they contained it within the woods.
But, of course, the colonist came, didn’t heed the warnings given to them, and were slaughtered to the point that the Galloo became so strong that, instead of hunting in only the West Wood, it did the entire area. Thankfully, the Galloo is a space entity, and the casing it came in seems able to contain it. So, while it took a massive sacrifice, the beacons the military were looking for, we learn were planted by the Indigenous to contain Pennywise, seemingly in the area which became Derry.
Now, where are these 13 beacons? The episode ends with Taniel telling Hallorann to follow the tunnels to the old well, where we see the iconic house.
New Cast and Characters
Taniel (Joshua Odjick) and Young Taniel (Tres Garcia)
- Check out other productions we’ve covered starring Joshua Odjick: [Link to Actor’s Tag]
- Check out other productions we’ve covered starring Tres Garcia: [Link to Actor’s Tag]
- Character Summary: Taniel is a part of the local indigenous tribe, the nephew of Rose, who often watches the military try to dig up the beacons that keep Pennywise at bay and trapped within the borders of modern Derry.
Ingrid (Madeleine Stowe)
- Check out other productions we’ve covered starring this actor: [Link to Actor’s Tag]
- Character Summary: Ingrid is part of the janitorial staff at Juniper Hill and is one of the few adults Lilly has a supportive and healthy relationship with.
Review and Commentary
Highlights
The Story Of The Galloo Integrated Seamlessly – Almost Like A Trojan Horse [87/100]
The way IT – Welcome To Derry operates pushes the idea that, in some way, it wants to be a Trojan Horse. Yes, it is about the usual story we see of Pennywise’s rise and fall as it emerges, scares a bunch of kids, even adults, gets “defeated,” but truly just ends up hibernating till it can return. But the inclusion of Indigenous people in such a meaningful way almost makes me feel like it wants to integrate their story to the point of making them notably featured characters.
And the best part about it, you can get so lost in the story they build, not so much the characters yet, that you can forget about all that is going on. The build of the Galloo story had me so caught up in what was happening that it could have been a storyline not related to Pennywise. I would even submit that, between the story of hunting or controlling the Galloo and what we saw in Sinners, we might be due for an Indigenous supernatural hunters movie or show.
Charlotte’s Love For Good Trouble [81/100]
I won’t pretend that something still feels difficult to manage regarding having a racial justice storyline included in a production that isn’t squarely about that. But, I will say that looking for good trouble is doing a whole lot more for Charlotte than being a wife and mother. It is giving her an identity, something interesting to talk about, and considering the kids are going back and forth between issues in their age bracket and Pennywise, I would submit that Charlotte getting involved with Hank’s situation, bumping heads with locals, is allowing a different kind of horror to emerge.
Hallorann’s Powers Being Furthered [83/100]
Hallorann, having supernatural powers, is a quick draw for me. Especially since he is seemingly able to infiltrate minds now, not just sense something is out there. This leads to a slew of questions that I hope get answered, from whether this power is hereditary, did it come from a freak accident, or what?
On top of that, how did it get discovered? Is he indebted to the military, or did he join them to prevent being tested on? To say the most and least at the same time, the development of this power has made it so Hallorann has snatched any ability Leroy had to call himself the lead, for now Hallorann has all eyes on him and what he can, and is willing, to do.
Marge Getting Instant Karma [84/100]
I know it is terrible to wish harm on children, but Marge is fictional, and Lilly is someone who doesn’t deserve a terrible friend like her. So, I was honestly glad when Pennywise decided to do what he did to her. Granted, it could just be that Pennywise is very possessive of his prey and doesn’t like other people messing with what he is trying to do to get them to taste just right.
But, considering Marge was trying to exploit Lilly when she was having a rare happy moment, here is hoping she learns from this and stops trying to use Lilly as a stepping stone to gain some fragile level of popularity.
Overall
Our Overall Rating [83/100]
We’re only halfway through the season and, for the most part, IT – Welcome To Derry hasn’t had a bad episode. Here is hoping, as the mid-season trailer shows, Pennywise becoming front and center doesn’t ruin things, since the show has done quite well with him mainly operating through fear rather than being upfront and center.
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