HBO Max provided viewers with a fun Halloween surprise releasing a new episode of It: Welcome to Derry a few days earlier than its linear premiere. The town tries to make sense of the violent attack in the movie theater we saw in the first episode’s closing minutes.
“The Thing in the Dark” builds the mystery around Derry creating a quiet discomfort. The fact that not all the children are in school and bullying others is so noticeable shows that there is something not quite right in this idyllic small town. The fact that this is from the perspective of the major’s wife, Charlotte Hanlon who is an outsider, also plays with the racial undertones the series has explored so far. It’s not uncommon for the time period but has greater emphasis considering the horror aspects.
Though It: Welcome to Derry does a good job creating an underlying tension throughout the episode, the actual horror has mixed results. The haunting scenes of both of Ronnie and Lilly are more personally involved with their deepest fears: the loss of a parent. The start of Lilly’s scene in particular is chilling with the random supermarket customers and employees popping up in the background with freakish grins combined with the relative silence except for the repetitive monotone delivery of specials over the loudspeaker. It is an expertly crafted crescendo of suspense, particularly with her world closing in on her via the shelving.
However, all that great build is wasted on what eventually turns out to be possessed pickles. Though the imagery may reflect that of worms and all the connotations that come with it, it’s not nearly as effective when it still food. Similarly, Ronnie’s encounter with It feels off. The recreation of her birth comes off more gross than actually scary.
The episode of It: Welcome to Derry does some good character work expanding on the Hanlon family. We are introduced to Will, the only child who frequently keeps his nose in a good book. Even though their interactions have been short, he has struck up an adorable friendship with Rich, a member of the marching band. Rich might be small and has high standards with pencils, but it also seems he has a romantic side. Both keep with the running theme of outcasts.
The most intriguing parts revolve around Will’s dad, Major Hanlon. His smarts and integrity are in full display as he investigates his assault from masked assailants last week. The way he is able to deduce what really happens is quite brilliant, and he’s not willing to let an innocent man, no matter how despised, take the fall for something he didn’t do. The major is a man of high repute and we begin to see how the army’s interest are converging with the It storyline. Although it would have been nice to have prolonged the conspiracy theory and espionage since it provided genuine excitement as Hanlon followed the clues.
“The Thing in the Dark” continues the good and bad of the premiere with interesting characters and engaging relationships but the horror scenes are inconsistent and can go overboard.
New episodes of It: Welcome to Derry release Sundays on HBO.
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