IT: Welcome to Derry | "Pilot" Recap & Review | "The Thing in the Dark" Preview

*SPOILERS AHEAD

HBO’s It: Welcome to Derry makes one thing clear from its first episode — this is not your typical horror prequel. Set in 1962, decades before the events of Stephen King’s It, the pilot dives headfirst into Derry’s sinister origins with a mix of surreal horror, small-town mystery, and Cold War paranoia.

We meet young Matty Clements, a mischievous kid who sneaks into a showing of The Music Man before hitching a ride home with a seemingly wholesome family. What follows is one of the strangest, most disturbing sequences in recent TV horror — and it sets the tone for the entire series.

At first glance, the family that picks up Matty could have stepped out of a Norman Rockwell painting. Within minutes, though, it’s clear something’s terribly off. The daughter is chewing on raw liver, the son’s spelling words like “necrosis” and “kidnapping,” and the mother suddenly gives birth — mid-drive — to a winged, eyeless, deformed creature.

It’s stomach-turning and surreal, and while the scene raises more questions than it answers, it’s the show’s first clear signal that Derry’s evil is already awake. This “family” likely isn’t real at all — instead, they appear to be manifestations of Pennywise’s influence, early avatars of the town’s fear before the clown form emerges.

Let’s talk about that creature. Equal parts bat, fetus, and nightmare fuel, the eyeless newborn instantly becomes one of the series’ most disturbing visuals. Its brief but unforgettable presence — and its later reappearance bursting through the movie screen — suggests it’s not just random horror. It’s a physical embodiment of fear, perhaps even a “spawn” of Pennywise’s energy, tying directly into how Derry’s evil manipulates life itself. It’s grotesque, it’s confusing, and it works — if only because it’s impossible to look away.

While Bill Skarsgård’s clown doesn’t make a physical appearance, the show smartly threads his presence through eerie echoes. The young boy in the car flashes that infamous grin, and later, when Matty appears on the theater screen, his face stretches into the same twisted smile. It’s a subtle but effective way to remind us that Pennywise is already here — maybe not in full form, but lurking beneath the surface, infecting Derry and everyone in it.

The pilot’s final act is pure nightmare fuel. The kids break into the theater to investigate Matty’s disappearance, playing The Music Man one last time. Matty’s image flickers onto the screen — then the monstrous baby-bat bursts through the film, violently attacking the group.

Three of the kids — Phil, Teddy, and Susie — are gruesomely killed. Lilly and Ronnie barely escape, with Lilly clutching Susie’s severed hand in shock. Are the others truly dead? It sure looks that way, though It’s world has always blurred the line between life, death, and haunting. Either way, the sequence cements the show’s message: no one is safe in Derry.

One of the pilot’s most surprising subplots involves Major Leroy Hanlon, a Black Air Force officer newly assigned to Derry’s base. He faces both open racism and a mysterious attack by masked intruders demanding classified B-52 information.

It’s a strange but fascinating addition — one that might connect Derry’s supernatural evil with Cold War paranoia. The “Special Projects” section of the base hints that the government may already be aware of the horrors beneath Derry — or worse, trying to control them. It’s a risky idea, but one that could give the show a unique twist if handled right.

By the end of the pilot, Welcome to Derry has done more than enough to hook us. Ronnie and Lilly are the only surviving kids, haunted by what they’ve seen. Matty’s fate — dead, possessed, or something in between — remains unclear. The whispers in the drains suggest Derry itself is alive, and the Air Force subplot is poised to collide with the town’s curse.

In short, the pieces are in place for something big. Episode 2 will likely explore how the military, the town, and Pennywise’s earliest manifestations all intertwine.

Final Thoughts

It: Welcome to Derry opens with a confident, gruesome, and surprisingly ambitious start. It blends coming-of-age mystery, supernatural terror, and historical conspiracy — sometimes unevenly, but with enough style to make it work.

The body horror hits hard, the atmosphere drips with dread, and even without Pennywise’s full appearance, his presence is unmistakable. If the show can keep this balance of mystery and madness, we might be looking at one of the most disturbing — and fascinating — Stephen King adaptations yet.