{"id":180513,"date":"2025-12-08T05:26:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-08T05:26:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/180513\/"},"modified":"2025-12-08T05:26:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-08T05:26:07","slug":"it-welcome-to-derry-episode-7-recap-the-black-spot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/180513\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018IT: Welcome to Derry\u2019 Episode 7 recap: “The Black Spot”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Our penultimate trip to Derry\u2014for this season of IT: Welcome To Derry<\/a>, at least\u2014starts back in 1908 with Pennywise\u2019s origin story, right off the rip. Turns out Robert \u201cBob\u201d Gray is a clown kids actually like, one they laugh at, one who has a whole fancy act that appears, size-wise, to be one of this carnival\u2019s biggest attractions. He takes the stage with a huge smile and tries plucking some disappearing flowers, children giggling every time he fails. Balding Bob\u2019s makeup is familiar, although he\u2019s got a bandage instead of an actual painted forehead, and what\u2019s left of his brown hair pokes out from under his orange wig.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Gray\u2019s grief for his wife and partner in clownery becomes the thrust of his show. He breaks down over her deathbed, dances with her empty costume, and weeps at her grave. Not the most kid-friendly journey, but that\u2019s of little concern, since it wraps with the moment they\u2019ve all been waiting for: rush the stage as Pennywise the Dancing Clown starts his jig. (Andy Muschietti\u2014who directs these final two episodes after helming the first two\u2014is back in his 1908 cameo role as a smoking musician.) The youngsters imitate Bob\u2019s moves and try stealing his wig. In a shot reminiscent of HBO\u2019s adaptation of Stephen King\u2019s The Outsider, a strange boy watches intently from afar.<\/p>\n

\"WELCOME<\/p>\n

In the evening, Bob\u2019s in his quarters working on his makeup, similarly to the Gray vision<\/a> the monster gave Bev in IT: Chapter Two<\/a>\u2014he\u2019s got less hair here, but the same hunched stance, forehead vein, and old-timey voice. Ingrid, established last week<\/a> as his daughter, debuts her clown getup for a proud papa, who heralds \u201cthe first father and daughter act\u201d in the carnival\u2019s history, \u201cthe Pennywise and Periwinkle Show.\u201d Ingrid takes pause at the name\u2014Periwinkle was her mother\u2019s stage moniker\u2014but says she loves it. Bob admits he misses the large crowds of the circus; the carnival has evidently been a downgrade. \u201cOne day, the big tent will come a-calling\u2019 again, you\u2019ll see,\u201d he says, excited that Periwinkle will add an element \u201cno one\u2019s ever seen before.\u201d The love between them is sweet; you can see why she misses her father, whom she admired so much, in the present timeline. \u201cI wish you could hear the way they talk about you, papa\u2014papa, you make them so happy,\u201d she says of his young fans.<\/p>\n

Smoking and drinking by his lonesome as he steels himself for the night show, Bob is approached by It in the form of the boy who watched his act from the barn. Last week Ingrid referenced \u201cthat awful day\u201d she lost her dad, and it seemed like something we\u2019d have to wait a season or two to see. Nope! \u201cThe children seem drawn to you,\u201d the kid says in an odd voice that sounds unaccustomed to speaking. Bob gruffly declines to help the boy, who can\u2019t find his parents. \u201cMe neither\u2014they\u2019re dead,\u201d Gray grumbles. A shriek comes from the woods, and the untroubled little urchin says it\u2019s his mother. Bob decides he\u2019ll take a look after all, and the kid takes his hand.<\/p>\n

This, we can assume, was Bob Gray\u2019s last act in life. His bloody handkerchief is discovered, and the carnival barker is honest with Ingrid about the likely tragedy. \u201cWolves, maybe?\u201d he guesses. \u201cThey roam these parts.\u201d We fade out with an iris wipe\u2014that Looney Tunes staple<\/a>\u2014on Ingrid\u2019s devastated face.<\/p>\n

\"WELCOME<\/p>\n

Unfortunately we can\u2019t stay in 1908 and ponder the mysteries of Pennywise forever, because the tragedy and horror of the Black Spot awaits. Last week<\/a> the white mob drove up to the spruced-up requisition shed with their plastic monster masks and guns and the credits rolled. This time, five waltz their smug asses inside, weapons psychotically aimed and ready, and demand the revelers give them Hank Grogan. \u201cYou hand him over and you can get back to your party,\u201d says newly ousted police chief Clint Bowers, leading the pack. Hank\u2014who promised his daughter they\u2019d never be separated<\/a> again\u2014volunteers himself as Ronnie screams in protest. He\u2019s unwilling to see blood spilled in his name. \u201cI\u2019ll go, just leave these good people alone,\u201d Hank says.<\/p>\n

Jax, one of the airmen we\u2019ve seen spending time with Hallorann this season, holds Hank back, trying to protect him from being lynched and ultimately making Grogan\u2019s decision for him. The servicemen making up the majority of this opening night party at the Black Spot are forced to point their own firearms back\u2014these are five consequence-free men with evil intent, backed by a bunch more outside, and there are four children standing right there. The situation is fucked. Jax unflappably says, \u201cNow would you look at that? We got guns, too. Ours just happen to be government issue.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bowers orders his men to put their weapons down, acting like he\u2019s realized \u201cthis isn\u2019t the way.\u201d Within seconds of the posse exiting, they\u2019ve chained the door shut and cut the power. They were never going to just walk away. They can act like they only want Hank, a wrongfully accused man, and to protect their children, which they\u2019re actively not doing. But Bowers, butcher\/abusive husband Stan Kersh, Mr. \u201cThis Ain\u2019t America, This Is Derry,\u201d and their brethren\u2014these men were never leaving without blood.<\/p>\n

Before anyone\u2019s got a chance to do a single thing, bullets and molotov cocktails are flying inside. Various military men try firing back through the windows and are mercilessly gunned down, along with unarmed women. It\u2019s relentlessly violent and deeply upsetting, and offers zero respite, starting as a three-minute one-take. (Or, as is often the case, the convincing appearance of a oner.) Hank tries to protect the kids in the middle of the chaos.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Dick pointed out Chekhov\u2019s rotten floorboards last week, telling the guys to fix the leaky fridge. Now he\u2019s got an escape hatch for the very few souls who\u2019ll make it out alive. He\u2019s distracted by his shine, which reveals the ancient Sqoteawapskot war chief Sesqui, and he calls out to her. Last week he told Leroy if he doesn\u2019t speak to the ghosts, they ignore him, but if Hallorann acknowledges them, \u201cthe voices, they don\u2019t ever stop.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Then Pennywise is back, with an even bigger bang than his long-delayed return in episode five. Fans have wondered if It\u2019s big black bird form would hover over the chaos here like it did in the novel. No, no, no: the clown\u2019s in town, and he\u2019s not sharing the spotlight tonight. He dances over to a woman gasping for air, using the exact same strut Bob Gray took the stage with. Ronnie discovers him devouring the woman\u2019s head, and we get the clunker, \u201cWhat\u2019s the matter? Do I have face on my face?\u201d Dick catches up to Ronnie, and now they\u2019re both staring down Pennywise, who has a big giggle at the fact that Hallorann\u2019s also facing a crowd of ghosts zombie-walking toward him. He begs Sesqui to help him find the other kids and is able to get Hank, Ronnie, and Will out.<\/p>\n

Margie and Rich have to fend for themselves when the ceiling starts collapsing. They see a tipped-over fridge and Rich pretends it\u2019s salvation for them both. \u201cLet\u2019s get in here, it\u2019s the only way we\u2019re gonna make it out,\u201d he insists. Margie only realizes there\u2019s not enough room once she\u2019s inside, and panics when she sees Rich\u2019s final meaningful look. He lays on the door to keep her in, and tries to share some of his calm acceptance with her. He hearkens back to Margie comparing him to a knight protecting fair maidens, then to the first time he saw her, how beautiful she looked. The way Arian S. Cartaya softly kisses the fridge, the way a weeping Matilda Lawler says she loves him\u2014these kids truly met the moment. (Which, for me at least, is giving end-of-Titanic, thanks especially to the ethereal music.)<\/p>\n

\"WELCOME<\/p>\n

The homicidal white devils outside\u2014Phil and Suzie\u2019s dad among them\u2014decide to leave after getting their fill of watching people burn alive and scream for their lives. Stanley is left behind when his car won\u2019t start. Could his wife have run some sabotage, the same way she set this massacre in motion with an anonymous tip to Bowers? Not sure, but Ingrid\u2019s here either way, back in her jingly Periwinkle costume, pointy white wig, and mime-ish makeup, down to the little heart on her nose. She tells Mr. Kersh this is the real her, and he can\u2019t believe his eyes, ordering her home with threats of a beating.<\/p>\n

Pennywise pops up once again, wielding a cleaver the size of a MacBook. And then, something brand new in the horror genre: the clown grabs Stanley by the bit of hair he\u2019s got left, cleaves his head straight across the middle, and sinks his teeth into the butcher\u2019s bisected noggin. Fuck! Ingrid watches in a daze, trying to square this hungry beast with her papa. She says she knew he wouldn\u2019t be able to resist the feast of \u201cblood and pain and fear,\u201d that he\u2019d come back and \u201ctell me that I was good.\u201d In a 1908 callback, he commands, \u201cShow me the bow.\u201d Ingrid does, including the toot on her horn, and goes in for an embrace.<\/p>\n

Pennywise drools over her shoulder but pointedly doesn\u2019t eat her. There\u2019s something unique happening here, a successor to the 1935 moment when he realized Ingrid thinks he\u2019s her actual dad, sensing all the fun he could have with this. He seems to enjoy the novelty of parroting her father\u2019s lines, and even the hug. \u201cYou did good\u2014you did very, very good. Now, I\u2019m going to sleep,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t leave me, please, no, don\u2019t abandon me!\u201d begs a shocked Ingrid. A slow turn of his gore-streaked face finally rams it home for Mrs. Kersh: this is not Bob Gray. \u201cI\u2019m Pennywise, your dancing daddy!\u201d he chirps, then admits he ate old Bob. \u201cBut he still lives inside of me!\u201d Ingrid hears one final \u201ccome to papa\u201d and the monster\u2019s head unfolds to reveal the eldritch deadlights swirling inside, sending Periwinkle floating into the air. Pennywise is probably scarier here than he\u2019s ever been, not just what he\u2019s doing and how he\u2019s doing it, but where he\u2019s doing it\u2014in the middle of a racist massacre of innocents.<\/p>\n

\"WELCOME<\/p>\n

In the charred aftermath, a fireman gets Margie out of the fridge and inexplicably walks away while she goes to Rich\u2019s dead body, sitting upright, eyes open\u2014a disturbing sight. Ronnie and Will show up to mourn beside her. It\u2019s immensely heavy, and our boy Rich deserved to live. We\u2019ll get multiple scenes of the kids processing Rich\u2019s death, but hardly anything for the Black men and women among at least 23\u2014twenty-three!\u2014murdered that night.<\/p>\n

Day has broken by the time Leroy and Charlotte Hanlon arrive to be with Will\u2014what\u2019s going on there? Leroy gets one thought in\u2014\u201cyou could\u2019ve gotten yourself killed\u201d\u2014before walking away to answer Colonel Fuller. Some of these characters\u2019 choices make very little sense right now. Hallorann, struggling to hold onto his sanity as he\u2019s swarmed by whispering ghosts, tells Hanlon and Fuller that It\u2019s gone to sleep, but Sesqui can still point them to one of the pillars.<\/p>\n

A Derry radio broadcast immediately whitewashes the unforgivable crime at the Black Spot, quoting the fire department\u2019s claim that an electrical fire happened at \u201can illegal colored speakeasy.\u201d The DJ blathers, \u201cThe blaze claimed scores of lives, among them the Negro patrons responsible for the the tragedy, along with several citizens who showed up to help treat the wounded\u2014including beloved local butcher Stanley Kersh.\u201d Fucking hell. Charlotte planted Hank\u2019s clothes in the wreckage and he\u2019s been taken for dead.<\/p>\n

At a Sqoteawapskot Tribe meeting, a somber Rose says \u201cthe Augury has passed, It\u2019s feeding cycle is complete, It sleeps.\u201d We learn that 17 children died this time. Just think what this portends for the next two seasons, recalling that a former meeting described 1962\u2019s cycle as \u201ca lot milder than \u201935 and \u201908.\u201d The woman previously described as the tribe\u2019s \u201cprospective keeper\u201d is desolate, saying that standing by and watching \u201cfeels wrong.\u201d Rose tells her, \u201cWe do as much as we can, for as many as we can. Focus on the lives saved, the ones protected because we keep this thing in its cage.\u201d There\u2019s a token effort to depict despair and heartbreak among the indigenous folks, but the script doesn\u2019t do enough.<\/p>\n

Leroy helps Charlotte figure out how to get Hank out of town safely, telling her to give Grogan one of his uniforms and take him to their house in town. \u201cLeroy, whoever did this needs to pay. How are you so calm?\u201d Charlotte says through tears. \u201cPeople have died. Our son saw dead bodies, Leroy.\u201d He tells her after the mission\u2019s over, \u201cwe take our family and get out of this town, to safety. The worst of all this shit is behind us, I promise you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Will asks his mom if he can join Ronnie and Margie in telling Lilly about Rich\u2019s death. She says whether \u201cthe thing\u201d is asleep or not, he needs to stay safe in the house. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t that thing that lit the fire last night\u2014this town is the monster!\u201d Charlotte says. She and Hank drive to Rose\u2019s; Charlotte has friends in Montreal, and Rose is willing to help.<\/p>\n

We find Lilly looking haggard and gripping the magic dagger as she sits on her bed, staring into space. Ronnie and Margie deliver the crushing news about Rich, and they head to the standpipe clubhouse to box up his things. These three girls are still giving some of the best performances on IT: Welcome to Derry.<\/p>\n

The military finally finds a pillar, the one buried in the turtle<\/a> shell, and Fuller tells Leroy to stand down, claiming they\u2019ve got time to analyze the artifact\u2019s properties. Just as I\u2019m getting all worked up to say they can\u2019t analyze the power of belief, we see they don\u2019t give a damn about that. They\u2019re gonna melt it. Just when we think they couldn\u2019t possibly be any dumber, they go and do something like this and totally outdo themselves. Major Hanlon levels his pistol at everyone involved\u2014also dumb!\u2014and orders them to stop, which they do, but not without pointing a bunch of their own guns back.<\/p>\n

General Shaw orders his men to cut the shit and calls in Hanlon to hit him with a final truth bomb: Operation Precept isn\u2019t even about beating Russia in the Cold War\u2014it\u2019s about stopping \u201canarchy\u201d in America? This doesn\u2019t change the Derry Air Force contingent\u2019s level of stupidity and hubris, but it does exceed the original plan\u2019s cruelty and nihilism. Here\u2019s Shaw\u2019s speech, not because it\u2019s the most sterling writing, but because this insanity deserves to be inspected in full:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe greatest threat to this nation is not from without, Major. It\u2019s from within. You see what\u2019s happening out there, Leroy\u2014Americans are at each other\u2019s throats, and it\u2019s only getting worse. Anti-nuke crazies, the women\u2019s movement, race riots: this country is slowly fracturing into a thousand jagged, ill-fitting pieces. I am only trying to prevent another civil war. Americans have stopped hearing one another. They only want to fight over who gets which piece of the damn pie while the rest of the world eats us alive. And the one thing that makes people really listen is fear. \u2026 Look at this town. What happened last night, horrific. But guess what? The streets are calm today. No rioting, no looting, no unrest. The fear\u2014it settles on every living person it touches like a fog, like a goddamn anesthetic.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shaw orders the pillar to be melted, and chillingly tells the \u201chero\u201d Hanlon his work \u201cmay very well have saved this country.\u201d<\/p>\n

The entity is indeed resting, as the clown, in a pool of blood and bodies and organs. Did it forget it doesn\u2019t need a costume anymore? Composer Benjamin Wallfisch does one of his creepiest moves here, a cacophony of singsongy voices crescendoing to screams as we settle on Pennywise\u2019s face. It\u2019s eyes open; the work\u2019s not done.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It places a call to Will in the guise of Ronnie. Our guy realizes he\u2019s talking to the monster as the friendly voice starts luxuriating in the details of Rich\u2019s death and how It can \u201csmell his stinky, little, broken boy body.\u201d Will fights back, shouting that he\u2019s \u201cdone being scared.\u201d Unfortunately Pennywise is right behind him, drenched in blood, and the toothy maw of the deadlights opens again, binding Will.\u00a0<\/p>\n

QUESTION CORNER<\/p>\n

Why would Dick willingly go to the Overlook, a place of murders and ghosts? Suddenly I really want them to get back to work on that tabled, Hallorann-centric Overlook show<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The Black Spot has been burned and we\u2019ve got a full episode left. Could we visit the future in the finale, return to some of our 1989\/2016 Losers?<\/p>\n

Is \u201cHappy-Go-Lucky-Me\u201d<\/a> by Paul Evans one of the creepiest confectionary songs<\/a> we\u2019ve gotten in the show? Especially since it\u2019s heard alongside the radio broadcast completely writing the Black Spot massacre out of history in real time.<\/p>\n

STEPHEN KING TRIVIA CORNER<\/p>\n

Clint Bowers says, \u201cGive us what we want, and we go away.\u201d In 1999\u2019s Storm of the Century<\/a>, villain Andre Linoge famously says, \u201cGive me what I want, and I\u2019ll go away.\u201d (Hat-tip to The Year of Underrated Stephen King<\/a>\u2018s Kim C, co-hosting Kingslingers<\/a>, for that one.)<\/p>\n

In the 1986 novel, Mike Hanlon\u2019s father recounts the story of the Black Spot, which actually had \u201ctwo hundred people there, maybe three,\u201d and resulted in the death of about 80 people. Rather than a lynch mob looking for a wrongfully accused murderer, the establishment was burned by the fictional \u201cLegion of White Decency\u201d out of pure hatred. Here\u2019s the lowdown:<\/p>\n

\"Text<\/p>\n

Rich saves Margie\u2019s life with a fridge. In the novel, refrigerators are never a good thing\u2014a dead friend\u2019s head pops out of one, and the sociopathic teenager Patrick Hockstetter uses one to torture animals before his own doom comes out in the form of flying murder-leeches.<\/p>\n

Zach Dionne is a Mainer writing in Tennessee; he makes Stephen King things<\/a> on Patreon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Our penultimate trip to Derry\u2014for this season of IT: Welcome To Derry, at least\u2014starts back in 1908 with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":180514,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[55911,98233,93,11311,61,60,98234,3797,21637,282],"class_list":{"0":"post-180513","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-bill-skarsgard","9":"tag-clowns","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-horror","12":"tag-ie","13":"tag-ireland","14":"tag-madeleine-stowe","15":"tag-recaps","16":"tag-stephen-king","17":"tag-tv"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180513","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=180513"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180513\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/180514"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=180513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=180513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=180513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}