Photo Courtesy of: HBO
Written by: TiShea Wilson, Managing Editor
After a stylish and gut-punching premiere, It: Welcome to Derry returns with an episode that trades spectacle for psychological dread. “The Thing in the Dark” focuses less on clown-infested carnage and more on what happens after the monster leaves: the guilt, the memories, and the terror that rots beneath a newly painted town facade.
Lilly Bainbridge’s survival feels less like luck and more like a curse, her existence shadowed by the echoes of the theater massacre that still smolder at the edge of every frame. Director Andrew Bernstein crafts this tension with unnerving restraint, letting horror seep into the most ordinary moments—a flicker of movement in a grocery aisle, the hum of fluorescent lights, a strained conversation that lingers a second too long. Pennywise never has to appear for his presence to be felt; dread blooms in the silence between breaths. Fear here is not an event but an infection, and Lilly is its unwilling host, carrying the town’s trauma in her hollowed-out gaze.
Meanwhile, Ronnie Grogan’s trauma manifests in a more visceral, physical way. Her visions pulse with a sickly rhythm. Twisted reflections of her grief and survivor’s guilt evoke the body horror of Cronenberg’s most disturbing work. These sequences blur the boundary between psychological torment and grotesque transformation, pushing Welcome to Derry into bold new aesthetic territory. Through Ronnie, the show explores how fear doesn’t just haunt the mind. It consumes the body, reshaping it into something unrecognizable.
As the young survivors unravel, Episode 2 widens its scope to reveal the broader rot beneath Derry’s picturesque surface. The arrival of the Hanlon family (the early roots of a legacy It fans will instantly recognize) brings the social realities of 1960s Maine into sharp focus. Their move to town exposes an uglier kind of horror: prejudice, isolation, and the quiet hostility that festers in small communities. Will Hanlon’s struggles at school mirror the supernatural patterns of Derry itself, both driven by fear of the unfamiliar. It’s a haunting reminder that monsters aren’t confined to sewers or shadows; sometimes they wear a neighbor’s smile.
Threaded through this human drama is a chilling new layer of mythology. Enter Dick Hallorann (a familiar name in the Kingverse) now drawn into a Cold War subplot that recasts Derry’s horrors as potential weapons. The U.S. military’s fascination with the entity feeding on fear reframes the story’s stakes entirely. What was once a town’s curse now feels like a secret experiment in terror, a commentary on how institutions twist horror into power. This blend of supernatural lore and political paranoia gives Welcome to Derry a scale and ambition far beyond its prequel status.
And just as these threads begin to converge, the episode delivers its most haunting image yet: a rusted car unearthed in the woods, filled with skeletal remains. It’s a stunning, cinematic reveal, not merely a mystery but a statement. Derry’s violence doesn’t begin or end with Pennywise; it’s cyclical, generational, cultivated. The town itself is a living archive of fear, and Episode 2 makes it clear that what’s buried in Derry never truly stays dead.
By the credits, the audience is left with more dread than answers, and that’s exactly how a show like this should operate. “The Thing in the Dark” thrives on unease, anchored by performances that make its terror feel achingly real. Jovan Adepo brings Major Hanlon a grounded dignity amid chaos, a man of duty stumbling into forces beyond comprehension. Chris Chalk’s Dick Hallorann radiates mystery and empathy in equal measure, while Stephen Rider gives Hank Grogan the weary depth of a father haunted by guilt and suspicion. The younger cast matches them beat for beat, carrying the story’s emotional weight without tipping into melodrama. Their fear feels raw, recognizable, human. Together, they elevate an episode that builds a rich psychological foundation while cracking open new supernatural and conspiratorial doors. Balancing history, horror, and heartache, Welcome to Derry proves it’s far more than a nostalgia-fueled prequel. It’s a story with teeth, and it’s only beginning to bite.
Be sure to tune in for It: Welcome to Derry Episode 3: “Now You See It,” Sunday November 9 at 9pm/est on HBO Max. Watch the preview below.
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