HBO’s ‘It: Welcome to Derry’ Episode 8 Review - Foggy Business

I didn't know that Pennywise, the evil shapeshifter, was so vulnerable to bullets. In Winter Fire, when the kids try to restore the pillars using the dagger Lilly found in the sewers, the adults slow the clown down by shooting him in the head. Another head, as expected, pops up in its place, but Pennywise crawls and crawls and crawls instead of sprouting wings and flying toward his destination—something we later find out he can do in Winter Fire. Pennywise eventually flies like a big, monstrous eagle, but why the delay? You are a beast who can change your form with magic; why drag yourself across the ice like a mere mortal?

Watching Episode 8, it feels as though Andy Muschietti whispered, "Leave the kids and eat up as much time as possible," into Pennywise's ear. Winter Fire runs for 1 hour and 8 minutes, most of it spent on sprints filmed in slow motion. Characters run, walk, and make eye contact while Muschietti stretches time to create desktop-wallpaper–like images. Maybe if the dense fog hadn't looked so fake, some of those shots might actually have worked as wallpaper.

Will Welcome to Derry get a second season? When the finale ends, we see the text: It: Welcome to Derry — Chapter One. Like the films, will there be a Chapter Two? Who knows? And, more importantly, does anyone care? This season proves itself inept at fleshing out its characters. Some, like Rich and Phil, gain appeal through humor, while others rely solely on the strength of their performances. Muschietti and his team seem to view these characters through the Dancing Clown's own lens: they toy with them for entertainment. Deaths exist only for shock or sentimentality, while the horror is a gory conflation of screams, blood, grotesque creatures, and jump scares.

In Winter Fire, the uncaged clown kills the school principal and hypnotizes the children. The image of It dragging them along recalls the Pied Piper of Hamelin. Given that Pennywise experiences the past, present, and future simultaneously, he could easily have inspired that fairy tale. Pennywise's head is full of information: he knows the names of all the local residents and how his story will end. But does it ever end? Does the clown die in It: Chapter Two, or is he reborn? Apparently, the creature can also time-travel. I only wish It had a hunger for good cinema. With all those magical powers, the clown could have engineered far better productions. I wish the shapeshifter's words—"Lively crowd"—had carried some weight.

Final Score- [3.5/10]