IT: Welcome to Derry

In the shadowed streets of Derry, Maine, where the Kenduskeag River whispers secrets through rusted storm drains, a small-town hardware store owner unearths a forgotten ledger from 1908, its pages etched with names of children who vanished under harvest moons. As autumn leaves crunch underfoot and the annual Canal Days Festival lights up the midway, whispers of a clown-suited figure in silver bells draw a ragtag crew of misfits—each scarred by the town’s buried sins—into a web of recurring cycles, where balloons float like omens and the air thickens with the scent of popcorn laced with something sharper. It: Welcome to Derry unspools the fog-shrouded history that birthed the eternal dance between fear and the forgotten, one Derry dawn at a time.

IT: Welcome to Derry Review

The highly anticipated prequel series to the IT reboot has finally arrived on HBO MAX, diving into the cursed town of Derry, Maine, 27 years before the events of the 2017 film. Directed by co-creator and reboot director Andy Muschietti, the series attempts to recapture the dark magic of the critically praised retelling of Stephen King’s classic novel.

Shining most brightly are the pilot’s bookends. The opening sequence—more like a tight 15-minute short film in its own right—escalates the incongruity of 1940s Americana meeting the twisted mind of Stephen King, while the closing sequence delivers the ghoulishly subverted expectations and unpredictability that fans of the genre love.

However, between those events, IT: Welcome to Derry shambles along. An overstuffed ensemble with far too many competing subplots and themes creates a disjointed, underdeveloped feel. The dialogue, too, is rather weightless, and its young cast often comes across as stilted and uncomfortable.

With seven more episodes to go, the series has time to tighten its focus, but you might want to lower those expectations and brace yourself as Muchietti and crew find their footing.

WOKE REPORT

DEIrry

• For a show set in a relatively small town in 1946, Maine, it has a remarkable number of black people in positions of authority who are treated with respect and deference… by most.
  • There is, of course, the token cartoon racist white guy.
    • He’s on for a few short moments.
  • And, what Netflix series would be complete without a totally unnecessary and narratively meaningless racism sub-plot?
    • It eats up about 4 minutes of runtime over two scenes, but feels as though it could carry over into future episodes.
  • In the opening scene, a little boy who clearly is abused at home is chased out of a movie theater by a heartless white guy for not paying, while a black employee (maybe the owner) suggests having some compassion for the little guy.

Put 2 Chicks In It

• Spoiler

  By the end of the episode, we are left with only two girls as protagonists. All of the boys are either killed or kidnapped.

The Miracle of Life

• In one scene, a birth is portrayed as an evil and demonic thing. Whether this was someone’s social commentary or merely an innocent evil meant to disturb the viewer is questionable.
  • Twenty years ago, I would have assumed the former without question.

Black as a Spodic

• There is a Jewish family having dinner while observing Shabbat, during which the father is shown to be an intolerant jerk.
  • This is another one that’s hard to judge as woke or not. It’s certainly not a positive portrayal, but it’s brief, and the dad isn’t portrayed as evil —just overly strict and biased against comic books. However, it is the only portrayal of anyone openly practicing a Western religion.