Episode four of HBO’s “IT: Welcome to Derry” (2025) deals with more history of where exactly IT came from, how the Native American population constantly battled IT and how they were able to contain IT.
Dick Hallorann (Chris Chalk) can go into the mind of Rose’s (Kimberly Norris-Guerrero) nephew Taniel (Joshua Odjick) and discover the entity’s origin, how the native people were able to imprison IT in Derry and where it dwells. IT’s home is confirmed to be an abandoned house on Neibolt Street.
Will Hanlon (Blake Cameron James) has more terrifying visions of Pennywise and even has another vision of seeing himself being burned alive in flames while fishing with his father. Seeing his son be so distraught, Leroy Hanlon (Jovan Adepo) confronts General Shaw (James Remar) and Dick about what exactly they are trying to find.
Will theorizes with the other kids that IT is an entity that is driven to increase each of their fears to later devour them. Meanwhile, Charlotte Hanlon (Taylour Paige) visits Hank Grogan (Stephen Rider) in jail to help him with the case he’s been falsely accused of.
Hank confesses to Charlotte that during the night of the murders of Teddy Uris (Mikkal Karim-Fidler), Phil Malkin (Jack Molloy Legault) and Susie Malkin (Matilda Legault), he was actually having an affair with a married white woman.
Hank begs Charlotte not to reveal to anyone his secret, as he is more afraid of getting caught having a romantic relationship with a white woman than he is of getting accused of murder.
At school, Marge (Matilda Lawler) tries to pull an awful prank on Lilly Bainbridge (Clara Stack), but has a vision where her eyes pop out of her sockets. After mutilating one of them, Lilly stops Marge before mutilating the other, although she is made to look guilty in front of her teachers and classmates.
Without a doubt, the tempo is increasing with every new episode of “IT: Welcome to Derry.” More people are becoming aware of IT’s antics and are also learning more about IT. The kid group discovers how it feeds, and the adults discover where to find IT.
A common device used in horror fiction is that the adults typically do not believe or come in contact with the monster or evil that is terrorizing the children. Whenever the kid characters try to explain what they saw, the adults often call their bluff and treat the kids as if they are lying or being hysterical.
Dick, Leroy, General Shaw and others are some of the few adults who are definitely noticing how strange Derry is. Not only that, they understand that something wicked truly is causing so much tragedy and divisiveness in the town.
It’s a breath of fresh air when a film or television show does something like this. The children are no longer treated like, well, children and are taken seriously at their word. James’ performance as Will is undoubtedly the best in this episode.
He perfectly conveys being a young kid who wants to stay calm and try to think logically about a situation, but is also highly vulnerable and is scared of what might happen to him.
Two days ago, HBO released a midseason trailer for what is to come in the remaining four episodes of season one of “IT: Welcome to Derry.” Bill Skarsgård’s Pennywise is likely to appear in episode five, and if he does, then the characters will come face to face with something that even their wildest dreams couldn’t conjure up.
