IT: Welcome to Derry | "Winter Fire" Recap & Review | Season Two Preview

*SPOILERS AHEAD

Episode 8 of Welcome to Derry, “Winter Fire,” doesn’t just feel like a season finale — it feels like a turning point for the entire Stephen King universe. We open in the direct aftermath of the Black Spot tragedy and the destruction of one of the sacred pillars, an act that sends a chilling message across Derry. A thick, unnatural fog settles over the town, signaling that IT’s reach has expanded. With one pillar gone, Pennywise now has a longer leash, able to move and hunt more freely than before — exactly the kind of chaos the military has been pushing toward all along.

That sense of corruption becomes horrifyingly clear at the school assembly. Pennywise’s influence seeps into the room as he performs a grotesque, almost mocking “skit” before revealing his true nature to the children: the Deadlights themselves. This isn’t subtle manipulation anymore — it’s mass indoctrination. The kids’ crew soon realizes the scale of the nightmare when they see walls plastered with missing children posters. It becomes painfully obvious that Pennywise has taken the entire school.

The horror escalates when Pennywise leads his “you’ll float too” brigade — dozens of children suspended in the air behind his circus wagon — into the fog. The question isn’t just where he’s taking them, but why. When the girls reach the school, they find a massacre: bodies, emptiness, and one poster that hits hardest — Will’s. Desperate and fearless, they jump into an abandoned milk truck and follow a literal trail of blood, fully aware that whatever waits ahead may be worse than death.

Meanwhile, Dick Hallorann continues to unravel under the weight of the voices and apparitions tormenting him. On the brink of ending it all, he’s pulled back by Leroy, who arrives just in time and asks Dick for help finding Will. When they reach Rose’s, a larger plan forms — not just to save Will, but to save all the children by closing Pennywise’s gate once and for all. Rose gives Dick a mysterious concoction known as Maturin root, a clear nod to Maturin the Turtle. For longtime fans, this is massive: one of the few forces IT truly fears has now entered the story.

As the adults and girls converge near the river, the fog reveals the floating children drifting above the icy water. Pennywise isolates Marge and begins to torment her with visions of the future, including a devastating Easter egg — a poster of Richie, her son and one of the original Losers Club. Before Pennywise can kill her, he suddenly freezes in place. Dick has once again invaded IT’s mind, buying the group just enough time to bury the dagger in the oak tree. Inside IT’s consciousness, we glimpse a disturbing flashback — moments after IT first took over Bob Gray. Confused and vulnerable, IT notices the hand reaching out to him in that memory. It belongs to Dick Hallorann, adding another eerie layer to their psychic connection.

The chaos explodes when Shaw and the military open fire on the ice. Taniel is killed, and Leroy, wounded, entrusts Will with the dagger and urges him to finish the job. At the same time, Francis encounters Pennywise, still frozen, and arrogantly believes he can control him. Pennywise awakens, recognizes Shaw, and transforms into the skeletal figure from Francis’ childhood — before brutally devouring him. It’s a reminder that IT answers to no one.

Outgunned but not outmatched, the group overpowers the military and secures their weapons, allowing the kids to reach the tree. Pennywise skips through the fog to intercept them, taking multiple gunshots to the head and grotesquely attempting to regrow himself. Eventually, he traps Leroy with the Deadlights, freeing himself enough to crawl closer — until Rose shoots him. Pennywise then morphs into his bat-like form from the show’s promotional art and flies toward the kids, only for an incredible moment of fan service to unfold. The ancient warrior chief appears — with Richie. Richie flips Pennywise off as he runs to help his friends, and together they bury the dagger. The ritual works.

IT is hurled back beneath the ice, his disguises peeling away as he briefly reveals fragments of his true form. The Deadlights emerge once more as Pennywise skips off toward what appears to be another hibernation cycle — not death, just retreat.

In the aftermath, Richie’s funeral brings quiet devastation. Dick visits Leroy and reveals his plan to run a kitchen at a hotel, sealing his path toward The Shining. His line, “How much trouble can a hotel be?” is a spine-tingling wink to King fans. Rose offers the Hanlons her house and farm, which they eventually accept — a decision that finally explains how Will’s future son, Mike Hanlon, remains tied to Derry decades later.

The final moments are pure dread. Ingrid is shown entering Juniper Hill, and then the timeline jumps forward 26 years. The elderly woman from IT: Chapter Two appears, hears screaming, and discovers a woman who has taken her own life — Beverly Marsh’s mother. The implication is chilling: this series has now fully connected itself to the opening threads of the first IT film.

As for season two, “Winter Fire” plants disturbing possibilities. Marge’s line about IT potentially traveling through time raises massive questions, especially given Pennywise’s obsession with her and her son. If IT can manipulate time — or target the parents of those who oppose him — then the next season could plunge deeper into the past, reshaping everything we think we know about Derry’s history. One thing is certain: IT doesn’t die. It waits. And when it returns, it may be stronger — and more personal — than ever.