It – Welcome to Derry 1×3 Review: Now You See It

Episode 3 of It – Welcome to Derry, titled ‘Now You See It’, dropped quite a lot of information pertaining to the military’s mission to find the mysterious cosmic being while also allowing the main cast of kids to be proactive in their search for answers.

When the marketing campaign for It – Welcome to Derry talked about how the story would feature a bunch of adults, the fandom was quite curious about how said adults would come into play in a tale serving as a sequel to the child-centric book. Yes, we followed the Losers Club as adults as well. However, when you think about It, the immediate thought is basically kids vs Pennywise.

The adult Losers Club made sense because, again, we followed them from children being hunted by Pennywise in Derry to adults returning to Derry to destroy the iconic clown-esque creature. We have never seen a group of adults interacting with Pennywise and his games, while never having encountered him when they were far younger. And that’s what makes It – Welcome to Derry so intriguing to me. Being three episodes in, I’m far more interested in the adult-centric storyline compared to what the kids are up to, because the stuff surrounding army officials Leroy and Dick is something new.

Now, to be fair, ‘Now You See It’ did share that some of the adult cast had interacted with It before, namely Francis and Rose. But still, Leroy and Dick haven’t. And that’s why I’m very curious to see how Pennywise decides to mess with those two. Pennywise asking Dick “Who are you?” when Dick astral projected and stumbled into the creature’s lair was so good!

Coming back to young Francis and Rose, ‘Now You See It’ opened in 1908 with a young Francis visiting a local carnival. The clown-motif was immediately apparent, making me quite excited as someone familiar with most of It lore. Young Francis struck a friendship with young Rose, who played a role in rescuing him from Pennywise when he ran into the woods. The Indigenous community serves a huge role in the It book. So, it’s nice to see the live-action series beginning to explore that aspect further. While young Rose couldn’t explain to young Francis about what the creature actually was, his single encounter with the cosmic being was potent enough to stick around, ultimately leading to an adult General Francis returning to Derry in search of It and possibly using the monster as a weapon.

Of course, staying true to Derry lore, young Francis had forgotten about his time with young Rose upon his departure from Derry and was only reminded of her after receiving a cease and desist letter. Even though General Francis told Rose his excavation team would leave unmarked burial sites alone if Rose would guide his troops during the digging sessions, I just can’t make myself believe his words. We know he’s out to capture Pennywise, a detail he conveniently didn’t share with Rose. Unmarked burial site or not, General Francis appears to be the type of dude who will betray Rose’s trust to get to Pennywise as soon as opportunity strikes. I’m very interested in seeing General Francis getting to interact with Pennywise again. We know the creature remembers the kids that escaped his grasp.

‘Now You See It’ also had Dick and Leory work together to track Pennywise’s whereabouts. I’ve been wanting to see Dick use more of his psychic powers, and we got that in this chapter. Using young Francis’s slingshot (that young Rose used to save him from Pennywise), Dick found himself in the creature’s lair. Dick’s powers haven’t grown strong enough yet to fight Pennywise. That’s why it was exciting to see how Pennywise turned the tables on Dick, making him almost jump from the helicopter while thinking he was opening the door to escape the eerie lair.

As Dick told General Francis after being saved by Leroy, Pennywise wasn’t supposed to know that the US Army was looking for him. They’ve lost the element of surprise, and I’m so here for Pennywise thinking of a way to crawl under the skin of the adult cast. Even though he fed on kids, we know he’s powerful enough to murder adults. Pennywise has done that before, by fueling hatred and prejudices (aka the the Bradley Gang massacre). He’s not going to take kindly to the army wanting to capture and use him as a weapon.

Talking more about Dick’s psychic powers, Leroy mentioned how he felt a strange sensation in the back of his brain, essentially letting Dick know that Leroy’s capable of detecting if his mind was being read. I liked how Dick didn’t try to lie his way out of the verbal confrontation. The last thing Leroy wanted to do was make an enemy of a man who had lost the ability to feel fear.

As for the kids, Lilly returned to school after framing Ronnie’s father for the murders in episode one. I don’t know about you, but I was hoping to see more of her stay in Juniper Hill. Her friendship with the head of housekeeping, played by Madeleine Stowe, felt deliberately out of place. So, let’s see if Stowe returns down the line or not.

I was also hoping to see more of an argument between Lilly and Ronnie. The two girls made up a bit too quickly for my liking after Lilly’s return. I understand they felt a connection due to being the only ones to have survived Pennywise’s attacks, but still, I feel the writers could have tried to make their reconciliation a bit more believable.

Lilly’s plan to help Ronnie’s father clear his name involved taking a picture of It as proof. I mean, you could immediately tell the plan wasn’t going to pan out the way the girls were expecting, but it did allow them to bring Will and Rick into the mix. Will knew how to develop pictures while Rick brought up a summoning ritual at the cemetery to attract Pennywise. Rich’s summoning ritual brought more cultural diversity to the lore via the Orisha (Orixás).

The cemetery sequence started off fine, with Ronnie and Lilly being understandably angry over Rich possibly having made the ritual up, and Will not really believing the girls about a monstrous creature haunting their dreams. However, as expected, things took a turn for the worse when Pennywise decided to chase the kids by using the dead bodies of his recent young victims. And when I say it took a turn for the worse, I mean it in more than one way. Yes, the kids were in danger. However, the CG during the sequence was quite bad and took away from the horror aspect. I feel like the creative department could have figured out a way to keep the sequence mostly practical instead of relying so heavily on not-so-well-done CG.

The episode concluded with the kids escaping Pennywise’s wrath and succeeding in capturing a handful of pictures. I have no idea how a normal camera was capable of capturing supernatural beings. That’s why I think the pictures will likely appear blank to any adult the kids try to show the pictures to, except for, perhaps, Dick.

Before I end my review, I have to bring up Ronnie’s father, Hank. We got a scene where he’s threatened with being sent off to Shawshank Prison if he didn’t tell the truth about his whereabouts on the night of the murders. It’s clear he wasn’t at the theater, but he sure wasn’t home. Seeing Hank refusing to share details during such dire circumstances has led me (and others in the fandom) to theorize that Hank might be a queer character, possibly out cruising or meeting a male lover. So, let’s see how Hank’s story develops.

What did you think of It – Welcome to Derry season one episode 3 ‘Now You See It’?

Let us know.

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Author: Farid-ul-Haq

Farid has a Double Masters in Psychology and Biotechnology as well as an M.Phil in Molecular Genetics. He is the author of numerous books including Missing in Somerville, and The Game Master of Somerville. He gives us insight into comics, books, TV shows, anime/manga, video games, and movies.

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