IT: Welcome To Derry Season 1, Episode 4 Review – The Ability To Weave Real-World Horror Into Its Ghost Story Continues To Impress Me

by

Warning! This review contains spoilers for It: Welcome to Derry episode 4.

While not as fast-paced as the previous episode suggested, “It: Welcome to Derry” continues to deliver exciting surprises in its fourth installment. Lilly’s reasons for avoiding Juniper Hill become increasingly weak, the military begins using Dick Hallorann’s psychic abilities to question people, and the Hanlon family is finally starting to believe Will’s stories about clowns and ghosts.

Just like the movie It, the series Welcome to Derry blends real-world issues with a supernatural story. For example, we see children calmly watching a civil defense video about a nuclear attack, as if it’s a normal part of school. One character, Charlotte, reveals she used to advocate for Black individuals wrongly coerced into confessing to crimes. While the show’s costumes and set design establish the time period, these moments specifically highlight the tense political atmosphere of the early 1960s.

This episode brilliantly connects the scary events of the story to the realities of racism. When Charlotte tries to help Ronnie’s father with his unfair legal trouble, Leroy fears it will upset the townspeople and bring unwanted trouble. After Will is deeply frightened by what he sees outside their home, Leroy initially believes it’s just a neighbor bothering them. This highlights a strong point: families like the Hanlons don’t need to fear supernatural creatures; they already face very real dangers from prejudice and discrimination.

The Hanlons Subvert The Traditional Role Of Parents In The It Franchise

For Once, The Adults Are Worried About The Threat To Their Children

A running theme in the It series is that adults are ineffective when facing the monsters, and Welcome to Derry continues this trend. The children desperately need help from the grown-ups, but no one believes their stories, even when they have proof like photographs. Last week’s episode showed the kids successfully filming Pennywise, and they immediately take the evidence to the police chief at the start of this new episode, only to be dismissed out of hand.

The children believe the photos clearly show they’re being haunted by a terrifying clown. However, the town chief only sees evidence that they violated the curfew, and worries one of them, Lilly, might need to return to a mental institution. It appears, just like the group of friends years later, they’ll have to face this threat by themselves.

Interestingly, not all the adults in Derry are helpless. Stephen King suggests that many of them quietly allow Pennywise to terrorize children, knowing something supernatural happens regularly. They have an unwritten rule to ignore it and let the kids deal with it themselves. However, Will Hanlon’s parents are newcomers to Derry and aren’t aware of this silent understanding.

Will tells his mom something strange is happening in town and that a powerful force is after him, and surprisingly, she believes him and starts investigating. During a fishing trip, It pulls Will underwater, and while his dad initially doubts his story about being attacked by a monster, he changes his mind when he sees the bloody wounds on Will’s arms. Charlotte and Leroy already offered a unique perspective as newcomers to Derry, but becoming worried parents truly makes them feel like outsiders in this haunted place.

While the scary parts sometimes feel a bit like cartoons – Marge’s exaggerated expressions are more funny than frightening – they often create genuinely tense and interesting situations. Lilly’s frantic efforts to help Marge accidentally make it look like she injured her, which complicates things. Although It: Welcome to Derry isn’t always successful as a horror series, it consistently delivers as a strong, emotional drama.

Read More

2025-11-17 06:01