{"id":173461,"date":"2025-12-08T09:58:11","date_gmt":"2025-12-08T09:58:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/173461\/"},"modified":"2025-12-08T09:58:11","modified_gmt":"2025-12-08T09:58:11","slug":"it-welcome-to-derry-episode-7-recap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/173461\/","title":{"rendered":"IT: Welcome to Derry Episode 7 Recap"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n\"W3Schools.com\"
\n<\/a><\/p>\n

IT: Welcome to Derry Episode 7, \u201cThe Black Spot,\u201d is the episode I have been dreading once I realized that Season 1 of the Pennywise prequel series would culminate in an act of racist violence. If you\u2019ve read the book, you know that The Black Spot is the space where Black airmen would hang out, the one area where they could feel joy. That is, until the Klan burned it down and murdered those in it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In IT: Welcome to Derry,\u00a0The Black Spot has kept some elements of its original story, but has been changed to become both a place of joy and safety, and the target of racists (though not explicitly said), for it is also the place where Hank Grogan (Stephen Rider<\/a>) is hiding out.<\/p>\n

We know that Hank was falsely accused. We know that it is orchestrating all of this violence. But painted as both scared parents and a racist lynch mob, they don\u2019t. This softens the overt hate crime that Stephen King wrote, and instead, acts as more trauma for our characters, with a straw man to hide behind.\u00a0<\/p>\n

IT: Welcome to Derry Episode 7 embraces the past.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"IT:<\/p>\n

That said, IT: Welcome to Derry Episode 7\u00a0isn\u2019t just about The Black Spot. The episode opens with some background on Ingrid Kersh\u2019s (Madeleine Stowe<\/a>) father, Bob Gray, who performs as Pennywise at the carnival. The performance allows audiences to see Pennywise as a performer, and it\u2019s here that Bill Skarsg\u00e5rd<\/a> excels.<\/p>\n

On stage with the toybox music playing, a much smaller and fake forehead, and more vibrant hair, Pennywise doesn\u2019t seem all that terrible, and that is by design. The Pennywise we see at the beginning of the episode is shown through his daughter\u2019s eyes. She is his Periwinkle, and that\u2019s the perspective we get. The practical set and stage is fun to watch, where a young Ingrid sits behind the curtain putting it all in motion. And to be honest, it\u2019s crazy to see Pennywise\u2019s weird little dance without the terror of it all.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But Pennywise is the form that\u00a0it\u00a0takes, and Welcome to Derry Episode 7 shows the audience why. As the children jump onto the stage and destroy the set, mimicking the clown\u2019s dance, the ominous nature begins to surface, with someone watching Pennywise from a barn.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"IT:<\/p>\n

Still, Welcome to Derry Episode 7\u00a0doesn\u2019t stay in the tension. Instead, the episode cuts to Pennywise taking off his make-up and Ingrid putting on her face and her costume. Taking her mother\u2019s performance name of Periwinkle, the two have a heartwarming moment that rings heartfelt but eerie at the same time. Bob is a sad man, a widower and a father. But there\u2019s nothing malevolent there. Set to be a father-daughter act, they don\u2019t get the chance.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As Pennywise sits drinking and smoking, a child comes out of the forest, a child that is very clearly\u00a0it. \u201cThe children seem drawn to you,\u201d\u00a0it\u00a0says. And now we know that the visage of the galloo isn\u2019t because Pennywise was something terrifying, but rather something beloved, reinforced by Ingrid\u2019s comment that she wishes her father could hear how the people talk about him.\u00a0<\/p>\n

To no shock, the vignette of an opening ends with Pennywise venturing into the forest with the child, leaving only a bloody handkerchief behind. One of the longer openings of the series,\u00a0Welcome to Derry Episode 7\u00a0sets up the rest of the episode with this pacing. And that is a sad ending we can\u2019t keep avoiding as the cycle gets closer to its end.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Black Spot\u201d was always going to be a hard episode to watch, but something doesn\u2019t sit right.<\/p>\n

\"IT:<\/p>\n

Directed by Andy Muschietti<\/a>, the opening is also the episode\u2019s strongest storytelling element. But the technical know-how displayed in the burning of The Black Spot is astonishing. At the same time, the most horrific event in the book is still too much.\u00a0<\/p>\n

When we get back to the real focus of\u00a0Welcome to Derry Episode 7,\u00a0the masked men crash into The Black Spot with guns loaded. They spot a white woman in the building and quickly tell her to be ashamed and to get out. And then, the threats begin.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The white men have their faces covered, but the anger that the Black men in the building show is something you can feel. Dick Hallorann (Chris Chalk<\/a>) attempts to quiet the situation, telling the racist ghouls in Halloween masks that The Black Spot is just a military-only facility. To which the armed group says, that they aren\u2019t asking, they\u2019re telling.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"IT:<\/p>\n

As they pull their weapons, the airmen pull their guns, and their guns are government-issued. It\u2019s this last part that gives the racists pause, but Hank Grogan jumps out, Ronnie (Amanda Christine<\/a>) screaming for him not to. He doesn\u2019t want anyone harmed over him, and the airmen want to make sure of it.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo one is getting strung up today,\u201d they say. The white men leave, lock the doors, and as the airmen try to protect the kids, the racists begin to throw Molotov cocktails into The Black Spot, shooting through the windows as well, knowing full well that there are children, and over and over we watch the airmen be shot in the head, killed as they escape. It\u2019s honestly too much to watch.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I always knew that \u201cThe Black Spot\u201d was going to be a difficult episode. But the anger I felt watching the episode, and how Muschietti\u00a0and the other writers chose to veil what was a clearly white supremacist act as retaliation for a man hiding. There are more than enough signs to show that the masked men are racist, but at the same time, it\u2019s weird to have something so overt in the source material be watered down in this attempt at an adaptation.<\/p>\n

The Black Spot closes the cycle, but it\u2019s not the end, even remotely.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"IT:<\/p>\n

If Welcome to Derry\u00a0has proven itself adept at, it\u2019s putting its Black characters<\/a> through unending trauma. And this continues as Pennywise makes his appearance, eating some of the people at the Black Spot, promising safety, and giving death instead, all while Chief Bowers (Peter Outerbridge<\/a>) watches. They\u2019re proud of themselves, and all I can think about is the Chief stating that Derry isn\u2019t the South.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Black Spot\u201d is frustrating because of the violence, but it is something that we knew would happen. At the same time, the showrunners\u2019 decision to take this path is disappointing. As Hank escapes with Will (Blake Cameron James<\/a>) and Ronnie, Rich (Arian S. Cartaya<\/a>) and Marge are stuck, and the roof is about to fall.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But Rich is a knight after all, and he takes the chance to save the girl he\u2019s liked since school started. He puts her into a freezer, lies on top of it to stop her from pushing the lid open, and confesses how much he likes her. She reciprocates, but as they talk, the camera pans away. Rich is lying on the freezer.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"IT:<\/p>\n

As the cowards take off, refusing to stay and watch the violence and murder they\u2019ve done, Stanley, Ingrid\u2019s husband, is stuck. Showing her silhouette, Ingrid approaches her husband. She tells him that this is who she is as he mocks her clown costume. Pennywise emerges, decapitating him and eating his brains, as can be expected.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Then, Ingrid admits to it all. Not only did she set up Hank Grogan, her lover, but she also told the men where to find him. Ingrid explains how she knew that there would be blood and fear and that her \u201cpapa\u201d would come and tell her that she \u201cdid good.\u201d But you know, at least, Pennywise breaks her.<\/p>\n

Ingrid\u2019s joy and comfort turn to fear when Pennywise decides to sleep instead of staying by her side. The big bloody act was the end of the cycle, called auguries, but to her, she thought that she would have him by her side. Instead, her psychosis finally breaks, and she finds out that it\u00a0ate her father in probably one of the funniest moments of the series.<\/p>\n

Ingrid gets her due, finally.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"IT:<\/p>\n

Yeah, it\u2019s supposed to be tense, but I couldn\u2019t help but laugh. Pennywise doesn\u2019t eat Ingrid like the others; he unfurls his mouth, and the lights capture her. It\u2019s the first time we see Pennywise do that in IT: Welcome to Derry, and it pays off.\u00a0<\/p>\n

After this, we see the firefighters combing the building. They rescue Marge (Matilda Lawler<\/a>) from the freezer, but Rich is dead, lying against the box. As Marge cries, hugging him, Will and Ronnie come back. It\u2019s built to be one of the most emotional moments of the series. And when put into perspective with the deaths that the other kids experienced that were played for shock and awe, Rich\u2019s death is only about being selfless in a situation where he could have saved himself instead.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The aftermath of The Black Spot is devastating. Hallorann saved two kids, but Marge is going to carry this with her, and more importantly, now, Dick Hallorann is going to carry the weight of all of the ones he didn\u2019t save with him, too. As the series\u2019 penultimate episode, Hallorann chose to speak to the ghosts to find the children, but now, the dead won\u2019t stop.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"IT:<\/p>\n

When Major Leroy Hanlon (Jovan Adepo<\/a>) and Charlotte (Taylour Paige<\/a>) come back to The Black Spot, the ruins of it all are more than just a building. There are 17 dead airmen, on top of the civilians, and all that the government cares about is finding it\u00a0still. Even though Pennywise has gone dormant, they\u2019re still trying to finish their \u201cmission.\u201d<\/p>\n

The shift in the story is violently jarring. We don\u2019t have time to grieve<\/a> The Black Spot or Rich. The Major is pushing forward on the mission, Charlotte is attempting to handle the emotion, and while they\u2019re still helping Hank, the story moves on from the Black Spot just as quickly as the town of Derry does.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Moving away from the Black Spot and onto Main Street, we see a wanted poster and hear a man on the radio explaining that the fire department has deemed the murder an electrical fire at an \u201cillegal colored speakeasy.\u201d On top of that, the white murderers are characterized as people coming to help, and there is no note about the men\u2019s military services, just that they are patrons and that it was their fault.\u00a0<\/p>\n

HBO Max\u2019s IT: Welcome to Derry doesn\u2019t have a clear message; it\u2019s just muddled. <\/p>\n

\"IT:<\/p>\n

I understand what the writers are doing as we see \u201cChief of Police Clint Bowers\u201d being scrubbed from a door. It\u2019s trusting the audience to see the racism, but doing so is a disservice. It leaves me wondering why King\u2019s novel could call out the racism overtly, but this show, which has already put its Black characters through multiple ringers, can not.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This cycle had 30 deaths, and as Welcome to Derry Episode 7\u00a0shifts to Rose (Kimberly Guerrero<\/a>) leading a meeting, it\u2019s all just accepted as a fact of life. Their tribe keeps the galloo caged, and Rose\u2019s words may as well just say, \u201cIt could have been worse.\u201d But with Dick Hallorann leading the military to one of the pillars and General Shaw (James Remar<\/a>) eager to dig it up, that won\u2019t be the case for long.\u00a0<\/p>\n

When Shaw and the military discover the pillar, they begin trying to melt it down and reverse-engineer it. It\u00a0may be asleep, but\u00a0it\u00a0needs to remain trapped, and right now, it won\u2019t be. General Shaw is pushing forward, and the theme of selfishness continues to permeate Welcome to Derry Episode 7.\u00a0<\/p>\n

General Shaw\u2019s push to control the fear monster in the woods isn\u2019t about Russia or defense. It\u2019s about quelling dissent, stopping the \u201crace riots\u201d and the feminist movement, as you would expect from a white elderly general in the 1960s military. He wants to make people obey through fear. Between Shaw and the racist violence in this episode, it\u2019s the most American IT: Welcome to Derry\u00a0has been.<\/p>\n

\"IT:<\/p>\n

For the Major, he understands that the pillar can\u2019t be destroyed and that he needs to do something. With a gun to General Shaw\u2019s head, the Major finally goes against the military. But he can\u2019t stop it.\u00a0The pillar is incinerated, and the Major is bound to be court-martialled. But more importantly, it\u00a0is awake again.\u00a0<\/p>\n

To end\u00a0Welcome to Derry Episode 7,\u00a0Will answers the phone. The right shots of the scene, moving from the inside of the refrigerator to Will\u2019s face as he talks to Ronnie on the phone, keep the tension high. Then Ronnie\u2019s voice changes as she recounts Rich\u2019s death.<\/p>\n

We know, and Will knows that\u00a0it\u00a0is on the other end of the phone. Despite his protest that he won\u2019t be scared anymore, when Pennywise appears, he is. As we saw with Ingrid, Pennywise captures Will, unfurling his draw and hypnotizing him. And then the credits roll.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Welcome to Derry Episode 7 ends with a big impact, but it doesn\u2019t stick to emotion; it ends in spectacle.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"IT:<\/p>\n

IT: Welcome to Derry Episode 7\u00a0is a chimera of an episode.\u00a0What starts as a brutal and uncomfortable watch turns back into a government conspiracy to weaponize\u00a0it.\u00a0The tonal disconnect between the two halves of the episode is difficult to swallow, and it cheapens the tragedy of The Black Spot. I need the showrunners to take a stance, and throughout the episode, it feels like they\u2019d rather move without labels, which weakens the episode and the series.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The episode continues to hover in the middle of the pack. As a series, its handling of race is hamfisted at best and ignorant of its impact at worst. Tragedy isn\u2019t given its due respect, despite the episode being named \u2018The Black Spot.\u201d It\u2019s something that has made the series hard to get behind, and that continues with the penultimate one. There should be more to the world of Derry than shock after shock.\u00a0<\/p>\n

With emotional highs, the series is balancing on a razor\u2019s edge. Still, the much-improved practical effects work outshine the weird CGI we see again with the monster itself. But the series needs to pull itself in and approach its story and characters with care and heart over spectacle; that\u2019s when it\u2019s at its best.\u00a0<\/p>\n

IT: Welcome to Derry Episode 7 is streaming now on HBO Max with new episodes every Sunday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Previous Episode<\/a> | Next Episode<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\tIT: Welcome to Derry Episode 7<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t6.5\/10\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

TL;DR<\/p>\n

IT: Welcome to Derry Episode 7\u00a0is a chimera of an episode\u2026\u00a0The tonal disconnect between the two halves of the episode is difficult to swallow, and it cheapens the tragedy of The Black Spot.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"IT: Welcome to Derry Episode 7, \u201cThe Black Spot,\u201d is the episode I have been dreading once I…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":173462,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[156,111,139,69,437],"class_list":{"0":"post-173461","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-new-zealand","10":"tag-newzealand","11":"tag-nz","12":"tag-tv"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173461","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=173461"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173461\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/173462"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=173461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=173461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=173461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}