IT: Welcome To Derry: Season 1 Episode 5 – Recap and Review

Pennywise appears in the flesh, as we continue to learn about their background, and a familiar face appears from the dead.

ByAmari Allah Hours Posted on

Spoiler Alert: This summary and review contains spoilers.

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Episode 5 “29 Neibolt Street” Recap and Details

The Augury: Charlotte, Ingrid, Hank

Based on a discussion between the Sqoteawapskot tribe, IT, Pennywise, operates on cycles. Every 27 years, it comes out of hiding, and while there doesn’t appear to be a means to know when a cycle will begin, it apparently ends with “The Augury,” which is usually a bloody event. Now, the intro for the show seems to display past Augury events, but this season’s may deal with Hank.

How? Well, despite many trying to paint Derry like any other northern town, it is really a southern town with a northern zip code. Hank being accused of killing those kids, and not instantly getting the chair, leads to people wanting to kill him on sight. Charlotte, the best she can, is trying to keep Hank alive, but there isn’t a huge amount she can do.

What doesn’t help is the prison transport that Hank was on, to Shawshank, gets into an accident that only Hank survives, and then he runs off to Ingrid, his secret girlfriend, and Lilly’s confidant. Now she and Charlotte are trying to figure out what to do as Hank is now considered a fugitive on the run.

Matty and The Prep To Head Into The Sewers: Matty, Lilly, Ronnie, Will, Rich, Marge, Taniel, Rose, Francis, Leroy, Hallorann

Matty – IT Welcome To Derry Season 1 Episode 5 – HBO Max

To immense surprise, Matty is alive! Granted, he looks like he has been through some things, mentions seeing people dying or in suspended animation, but he is alive. With that, you know from the jump, Ronnie wants him to go to the cops to help her dad, but with Matty knowing going to the cops means potentially ending up back with his dad – that’s not an option. So, the group has to find alternatives, which end up being going into the sewer.

Now, to the shock of most adults, Marge joins the gang. However, she knows what happened, wants to support Lilly now, and while she has one eye damaged, she can still do something. Plus, Rich is sweet on her, which helps a touch. But what doesn’t help is Leroy learning the truth about what Hallorann can do and what Francis is looking for, which leads to him wanting to move his family the hell out of Derry. Yet, despite the distance, Will makes sure to show up.

Refocusing on Leroy, with seeing what Hallorann can do, how it affected Taniel, he is legitimately freaking out. Then, considering how Francis explained to him, later Rose, about trying to contain IT, aka Pennywise, as a weapon, it doesn’t make anyone feel like Francis is all there. For Rose, especially, on top of Francis trying to control this alien entity, she doesn’t appreciate what he did to Taniel.

Knowing Taniel wasn’t supposed to release any information about Pennywise, and now having done so because of some kind of torture? It doesn’t sit right with her. But with them wanting to use him to find answers, she equips him with the same stone that binds Pennywise to Derry for his protection, and hopes for the best.

I Hear You Were Looking For Me!: Pennywise, Hallorann, Taniel, Leroy, Sully, Lilly, Matty, Ronnie, Rich, Marge, Will

The sewers are a place of many shocking and horrific things. Hallorann slips into the water and ends up back in his childhood, with his grandmother, who is telepathic, trying to keep him calm in the face of his deranged, likely abusive grandfather. Taniel gets away from the military, but drops the object Pennywise is averse to and disappears for the rest of the episode. But Leroy and Sully may have it the worst of the adults?

Why? Well, because they are having visions and they have guns, which is a terrible combination. Case in point, the kids are in the sewer when the military is, and as they deal with Pennywise revealing he was masquerading as Matty, they are also high from Lilly giving them a triple dose of her mother’s pills. For Rich, this leads to him and Marge holding hands, maybe in his head, but it makes running through sewers Pennywise guided them into much more difficult.

But the really dangerous part is, after Leroy shoots Pennywise pretending to be Charlotte, Will is the next person he is familiar with who turns the corner, and with Leroy in that get them before they get me mindset, he shoots. Luckily, Sully recognizes this isn’t an illusion and jumps in front of the bullet, saving Will. However, Sully ends up dying from his wounds, and the kids get traumatized not only from Pennywise chasing them, but also from Leroy murdering his best friend.

Sadly, though, things end with Hallorann seemingly still stuck between our world and the other world he can tap into, as he seems to exit the sewer and sees Sully’s confused spirit looking around.

New Characters in Episode 5

Pennywise (Bill Skarsgård)

Pennywise (Bill Skarsgård) – IT Welcome To Derry Season 1 Episode 5 – HBO Max
  • Check out other productions we’ve covered starring this actor: [Link to Actor’s Tag]
  • Character Summary: An alien entity, commonly known as its popular persona, Pennywise, who crashed down to Earth in what is modern Derry, Pennywise can survive off regular animals, but its favorite prey is humans. Children are damn near a delicacy to it, and with the ability to transform physically and its voice, Pennywise will tap into memories, fears, whatever it takes to get a person’s hormones rushing, to make the kill, and consumption, all the more sweeter.

Hallorann’s Grandma (Lazzelle Gelias)

Hallorann’s Grandma (Lazzelle Gelias) – IT Welcome To Derry Season 1 Episode 5 – HBO Max
  • Check out other productions we’ve covered starring this actor: [Link to Actor’s Tag]
  • Character Summary: A telepath with a deep-rooted connection to Hallorann, she is what makes Hallorann feel like home, and oftentimes, she is his guiding light in the darkness or when he is in trouble.

Hallorann’s Grandpa (Andrew Moodie)

Hallorann’s Grandpa (Andrew Moodie) – IT Welcome To Derry Season 1 Episode 5 – HBO Max
  • Check out other productions we’ve covered starring this actor: [Link to Actor’s Tag]
  • Character Summary: Hallorann’s grandpa often felt like the odd man out because he wasn’t gifted like his wife or grandson. But, because he felt left out, he would lash out and sometimes use Hallorann’s grandma to get to him.

Review and Commentary

Highlights

The Visuals In The Sewer [85/100]

I was in the safety of my living room, yet, like when in the theater, I found myself looking away, hand to the screen, acting like a chicken because I knew something was coming. I genuinely don’t recall the last time that has happened with a movie I was watching at home, never mind a TV series. And it was very much called for since, while Pennywise’s appearance as a clown wasn’t that scary, his transformations continue to present the type of fear you wouldn’t think could be transferable to the small screen.

Thus, really pushing the idea here, when it comes to WB/HBO adapting their movies into shows, it may go far better than when other mega corps readapt a franchise that has barely been dormant.

How The Lore Is Developing [84/100]

A season-level highlight for the show will be, even if the indigenous actors are relegated to presenting lore, how well they handle the storytelling. I don’t know if that allows them to sidestep Rose and Taniel being the only ones worth remembering of the bunch, but how they build up Pennywise, to me, is doing more than what the military is doing, or the pop-ins Pennywise has done to tease his eventual appearance.

Coming Around Regarding Marge [83/100]

Marge – IT Welcome To Derry Season 1 Episode 5 – HBO Max

Remember when Lilly betrayed Ronnie, and it made you feel that anything that could happen to her was karma, until she got traumatized again and apologized to Ronnie? I feel like Marge took that same path, and while I don’t adore her as I do Lilly, I am cool with her and Rich having potential. If she is really going to leave those stuck-up kids behind, she can be someone I don’t want Pennywise to make into a meal.

But, things are still fresh, so here is hoping she doesn’t slip up.

Low Points

Sully’s Death [67/100]

I feel like Sully lacked an individual identity to make his death matter. Then, to make matters worse, they teased something happening to him when Leroy got jumped, and didn’t really do much since then, beyond making it clear this is Leroy’s best friend. So Leroy shooting Sully felt flat, like a mercy killing, so what little screentime Sully did get could go elsewhere.

But, I will say, I hope, even if in a retcon, they establish Sully had a family, maybe how Charlotte or Will felt about him, something to make this more than a random death.

On The Fence

Ingrid and Hank [73/100]

A part of me appreciates Ingrid getting to be more than Lilly’s go-to adult and having her own life. However, between the husband who raises an eyebrow and her having an affair with Hank? I feel like, as much as I get, as seen with Lilly, now Marge, and likely others, there is this desire to keep anyone from existing as perfect or pure, it would have been nice to keep her that way.

Heck, even if they pulled a Matty and made it clear she was just Pennywise in disguise, I feel like that option would have been better than really trying to push her to damn near be why the next massacre happens in town.

Overall

Our Overall Rating [78/100]

I’m starting to get Yellowjacket vibes more and more regarding there being so few adults who really bring something to the show, while the younger actors act as the primary hook.

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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.