The season finale of “IT: Welcome to Derry” premiered Sunday, Dec. 14. How the sequence of events unfolds over the course of the episode is a surprise for those who regularly tuned in to watch over the past eight weeks.
Right out of the gate, Pennywise (Bill Skarsgård) goes to Derry’s public high school, kills the principal and uses the deadlights to hypnotize all of the students. They all float behind IT while he lures them away from the school to the side of town where IT can escape Derry.
While that’s happening, Lilly Bainbridge (Clara Stack), Marge Truman (Matilda Lawler) and Ronnie Grogan (Amanda Christine) discover Will Hanlon (Blake Cameron James) is missing, and the trio then decides to go after the missing children.
The adult group comprising of Leroy Hanlon (Jovan Adepo), Charlotte Hanlon (Taylour Paige), Hank Grogan (Stephen Rider), Dick Hallorann (Chris Chalk), Rose (Kimberly Guerrero) and Taniel (Joshua Odjick) figure out where the dagger is so they can close the gate before IT can leave Derry. Rose restores Hallorann’s mind to a stable state, and he then uses his abilities to find the dagger.
Gen. Francis Shaw (James Remar) is set on not allowing anyone to disrupt his plan, so he orders the military to find and apprehend both Leroy Hanlon and Hallorann. Bainbridge, Truman and Ronnie Grogan find the missing children and Will Hanlon, but Pennywise separates Truman from the group.
IT informs her she will bear a son named Richie Tozier (Finn Wolfhard), and he and his friends in the future are eventually the ones to kill IT. Before Pennywise can eat her, Hallorann enters IT’s mind and freezes IT long enough so the kids can be freed of their trance.
However, Shaw and the military intervene by opening fire on Taniel and Leroy Hanlon before they can put the dagger in its proper burial place. Taniel is shot dead while Leroy Hanlon is injured. Pennywise figures out Hallorann is in his mind, so he brushes him off like a fly.
IT then pursues Bainbridge, Truman, Ronnie Grogan and Will Hanlon before they can restore the cage that imprisons IT. With the help of Rich Santos’ spirit, the kids complete the ritual and prevent IT from leaving Derry.
Santos' funeral takes place in the epilogue. Afterwards, Ronnie Grogan and Will Hanlon share a kiss before she and her father leave Derry for good. Hallorann informs Leroy Hanlon that he’ll be working as a cook in a hotel located in the Colorado Rockies, and Leroy Hanlon and Charlotte Hanlon decide to stay in Derry to help Rose contain IT.
In 1988, 26 years later, an institutionalized Ingrid Kersh (Joan Gregson) witnesses the aftermath of Elfrida Marsh’s suicide. She also meets her daughter, Beverly Marsh (Sophia Lillis), a protagonist of the original IT storyline alongside Tozier.
For a television show that has been relentless in making almost every character suffer, the season finale is quite the shock. It was predicted more of the main cast would die, but that was not the case with this episode.
The best aspect about “IT: Welcome to Derry” is its approach to telling a story the same way Stephen King originally wrote in his classic 1986 novel, “It.” The issue that arises in the film adaptations of King’s work is that they feel too jam-packed and there’s not enough time to breathe.
This is a television format with just the correct amount of characters and a plot that doesn’t feel too bloated or too shrunken. There are some gripes about the show, like some of the character decisions and having to rely on computer-generated imagery a little too often.
What is to be positively pointed out is how great all of the actors are, especially Skarsgård’s Pennywise. It was reported he was hesitant to return to the role, but after some convincing by director Andy Muschietti, he thankfully returned.
Skarsgård’s performance, plus the stellar direction of Muschietti and others, is what makes the show worth anyone’s time. If Derry is the place to be, then “IT: Welcome to Derry” is the show to watch.
Rating: 3.5/5
