The only question that has been roaming in my mind since I watched the first episode of It: Welcome to Derry is this: Are Teddy, Phil, and Susie actually dead, or was it all a dream? Well, let me tell you that Episode 2 opens with the bloodbath in the movie theater, and as soon as Lilly looks at her hand, the show cuts to her waking up in bed, her hand all attached and fine. "I knew it," I whispered to myself, and was about to dismiss Andy Muschietti as a cheap showman, but hey, Teddy, Phil, and Susie are really no longer alive. The creators were not kidding. Okay, so what about Lilly's hand? How is it in its place and not bleeding? I suppose for answers, one can consider Ronnie's creepy encounter with Pennywise. She is drenched in blood in the presence of It. However, as soon as her father enters her room, she looks clean and dry. So, maybe everything's just sort of a dream unless you disappear/die. Anyway, Muschietti knows how to film a gory horror scene, and those superb skills impress you as you watch a bedsheet turn into a womb, and that womb starts attacking Ronnie with its teeth. This sequence is somewhat similar to that car delivery scene from Episode 1, but this one is splendid. It's also quite eerie, but the real horror, so far, hasn't originated from such scary movie routines. They look stylish, not terrifying.
There is, however, real horror in this second episode; it emerges briefly and suddenly, like spikes shooting up from the ground to squelch somebody's body. It comes when Leroy's wife, Charlotte Hanlon (Taylour Paige), confronts some bullies attacking a bespectacled kid, and instead of stopping or apologizing, one of the boys stares at Charlotte viciously. All the text related to racism comes into sharp focus, rendering Charlotte's vulnerability palpable and frightening. Episode 2 of Welcome to Derry is more focused on racial matters, which is something it establishes from the beginning when two police officers are seen surveilling Hank Grogan, Ronnie's daddy. Writer Austin Guzman uses this opportunity to create conflict between Ronnie and Lilly. Ronnie wants Lilly to tell the police that she saw a mutant, monster baby. Lilly, on the other hand, is afraid to speak the truth because such statements could send her back to Juniper Hill. I won't spoil what happens to Ronnie's father or Lilly, but I would like to say that Guzman really thinks like Pennywise. He plays a cruel joke on the two kids. What's more, if you, like me, find yourself missing Phil's humor and insane conspiracy theories, don't worry. That void is somewhat filled by Rich (Arian S. Cartaya), who mentions that his father told him the sky is blue because god is a man. Otherwise, it would have been pink. It seems, for now, as if Will (Blake Cameron James), Leroy's son, and Rich will become the new Teddy and Phil. Does this also mean they will soon become the killer clown's victims? Your guess is as good as mine.
Final Score- [7/10]