IT: Welcome to Derry Episode 7 Review

Spoilers for It: Welcome to Derry Episodes 1-7.

The Augery is upon us: fell your kids, fell your wife.

The beaver's the lone 1 with the subordinate teeth... for now.

Bill Skarsgård’s show of the quality Pennywise is simply a rousing high-wire balancing enactment unto itself, 1 which not lone evokes the scary strength the character’s celebrated for but, much impressively, modulates the signifier of the demonic dancing clown into a believably human, turn-of-the-century performer whose glory days are agelong past. Skarsgård cavorts astir with Pennywise’s signature ragdoll fluidity but tones the throaty dependable down, preserving the aesthetic signifier of Pennywise and yet filling it with a sensibility that whitethorn inactive consciousness off-kilter, but astir apt nary much off-kilter than immoderate of the different clowns moving astir successful 1908. Special notation has to spell to the costume plan and constitution departments, arsenic well: Bob Gray’s Pennywise looks great. While the outfit is cleaner, it’s the ill-fitting hairpiece and lighter constitution that truly merchantability what a reality-based Pennywise would beryllium like.

This full dynamic is captured arsenic Pennywise performs an Up-style pantomime for the radical of assembled children, which hints astatine the aboriginal decease of his woman and performing partner, who went by, accidental it with maine now, Periwinkle. Young Ingrid (Emma-Leigh Cullum) helps her dada by pulling strings down the scenes, giving Pennywise/Bob the accidental to snatch astatine increasing flowers (some nice, cleanable thematic imagery close there) earlier tearfully saying goodbye to a floating marionette formal and collapsing successful tears astatine his wife’s grave. You know, kid stuff! While the children are fascinated by Pennywise’s performance, they inactive bum unreserved him and effort to bushed the snot retired of him, which does uncover Bob’s resentment towards his existent circumstances.

"Show maine the bow!"

But successful possibly the astir shocking twist of the full season… Bob Gray seems to beryllium a genuinely loving begetter to Ingrid, adjacent if helium hits the vessel a small excessively often. Bob delights successful the painted look and costume with which Ingrid presents him, awkwardly passing his precocious wife’s Periwinkle moniker connected to her earlier realizing that Ingrid whitethorn privation to prime her ain name. But Ingrid loves this idea, excitedly taking connected the mantle. The sensitivity and affection betwixt these 2 gives the infinitesimal wherever It takes Bob a astonishing consciousness of tragedy, arsenic a poorly lit vagabond kid leads Pennywise the Dancing Clown to his decease successful the occidental woods. As Dick Hallorann erstwhile said, “It each comes around. Ka is simply a wheel.”

The enactment moves to backmost to 1962, with Clint Bowers (Peter Outerbridge) starring his armed, masked lynch mob into the Black Spot demanding Hank Grogan (Stephen Rider) successful instrumentality for the remainder of the patrons’ safety. Though Hank’s acceptable to springiness himself up, the Black airmen present aren’t astir to fto these bully ol’ boys instrumentality Hank without a fight… but that’s precisely what they get and it does not spell their way. Chaos erupts arsenic Bowers and his mob fastener the doors and firebomb the place, giving mode to stressfully choreographed agelong takes wherever Muschietti catches glimpses of airmen and their dates being changeable done the windows, deed with Molotov cocktails, and succumbing to fume inhalation. And that’s each earlier Pennywise enters the fray and starts to provender portion the spot is inactive successful flames.

Amidst the morass of big patrons either dying by occurrence oregon gunfire, the kids (minus Lilly) conflict to find their mode to information and we bid farewell to Rich Santos (Arian S. Cartaya), who goes retired similar the brave knight helium ever dreamed of becoming, protecting his “fair maiden” Marge with his life. Rich uses the aged “there’s capable country connected the doorway for some of us” instrumentality to get Marge into the lone refuge near successful the Black Spot - a refrigerator - arsenic the extortion starts to collapse. Their last farewell done the doorway wherever they confess their emotion for each different shows Cartaya and Matilda Lawler astatine their best, each wholly unguarded and grounded successful their terrifying circumstances. Now feels similar arsenic bully a clip arsenic immoderate to constituent retired that the bequest of Rich’s sacrifice volition reverberate for years to travel successful Derry: “Marge” being abbreviated for Margaret, Margaret being the sanction of Richie Tozier’s ma and each that…

It’s successful the contiguous aftermath of the occurrence that Derry’s nonmigratory nightcrawler Ingrid Kersh/Periwinkle emerges conscionable agelong capable for her to present her “dad” to her jerk hubby Stan Kersh, and for Pennywise to chopped Stan’s caput successful fractional with his ain cleaver. Here, the lack of that genuine emotion Bob showed for Ingrid yet hits home, but she comes to that realization excessively precocious to forestall herself being glamoured by Pennywise’s deadlights. Madeline Stowe plays this dawning fearfulness conscionable fine, but the infinitesimal doesn’t truly marque each that overmuch consciousness successful the discourse of however overmuch she seems to cognize astir It’s convulsive proclivities. It’s felt similar Welcome to Derry has been kicking the Periwinkle tin down the roadworthy each season, and, beardown though “The Black Spot’s” prologue whitethorn beryllium successful its ain right, Muschietti doesn’t link the dots precise good here.

There’s inactive immoderate anticipation for Periwinkle successful the finale though: that creepy, catatonic glimpse astatine Will (Blake Cameron James), Ronnie (Amanda Christine), and Marge (Matilda Lawler) arsenic she’s being wheeled distant by paramedics suggests she’s acceptable to get into her new family’s business. Lilly (Clara Stack) amended clasp that ceremonial dagger close. After all’s said and done, the Augery proves to beryllium intensely horrific and tough-to-watch, but there’s not a batch of country successful each the occurrence and fury for galore affecting scares.

Despite the Augery present being implicit and It seemingly sated, General Shaw’s (James Remar) determination to “leave the cage doorway open” by melting down the pillar they’ve recovered (encased successful a turtle shell, nary less) feels similar a crook much rooted successful squeezing 1 past large set-piece retired of adjacent week’s play finale than successful maintaining the believability of Shaw’s motivations, arsenic astir of the turns of this crippled thread have. Remar has been a dependable manus passim Welcome to Derry, astatine times the lone portion of the subject machinery that kept this country of the communicative worthy revisiting, but adjacent helium can’t support the chaos that ensues erstwhile Leroy pulls a weapon connected the soldiers smelting the pillar connected the rails. By the clip Shaw’s trying to explicate wherefore defeating “the force within” America by striking fearfulness into the hearts of homegrown degenerates, it’s hard to attraction excessively overmuch astir his reasoning.

Welcome to Derry had immoderate absorbing directions to instrumentality this thread with Shaw and Rose’s (Kimberly Guerrero) shared past successful town, but unless adjacent week features a full rug-pull that wholly upends Shaw’s thought process here, it’s hard to ideate looking backmost favorably connected this incohesive subject storyline adjacent to the acold much absorbing goings connected successful Derry proper. The objection to the wide weakness of the subject plot, of course, remains Chris Chalk’s Hallorann, whose brawny show continues to transcend Hallorann’s different constricted relation arsenic Shaw’s pillar detector. Hallorann has an important portion to play during the Black Spot fire, surviving a face-to-face brushwood with Pennywise and helping Hank, Will and Ronnie flight with guidance from Sesqui’s (Morningstar Angeline) spirit. But portion we get immoderate bully imagery of the encroaching ghosts plaguing him present that his intelligence lockbox has been opened by Pennywise, Hallorann’s mostly successful the inheritance this week – here’s hoping Welcome to Derry puts Hallorann’s (and Chalk’s) Shine to bully usage successful the finale.

With the pillar destroyed, Pennywise is awake for a small mid-hibernation snack, and he’s already got Will successful his deadlights and connected his plate. Did you cognize Pennywise slept successful a excavation of humor and viscera? I didn’t! Looks chill arsenic hell!