It – Welcome to Derry 1×7 Review: “The Black Spot”

It – Welcome to Derry season one episode 7, titled ‘The Black Spot’, featured a major event from the original novel. Things also took a turn for the worse during the closing moments as the stage was set for the finale.

With a bunch of Derry folk gathering outside The Black Spot to hunt Hank in the previous episode, fans were looking forward to seeing how the horrific event would be depicted onscreen. The inevitable tragedy was supposed to serve as Pennywise’s big meal before falling asleep for another 27 years. And I have to say that the writers didn’t disappoint. Even though I knew a whole lot of people were going to die, the creative team was still able to make the racist attack on The Black Spot hold weight. Seeing a bunch of Black people trapped in a burning shed while also being shot at… horrific.

Though It – Welcome to Derry is fiction, the inspiration for such a racist attack wasn’t. It’s scary to think about how racists who have done similar things in real life to Black communities would go about their day without an ounce of guilt. Certain people love bringing up how such racial injustices occurred ages ago, and that minorities should move on. However, they conveniently leave out the existence of generational trauma and how a whole bunch of racist people from that time period were recently alive and going about their routines without remorse and quite possibly influencing newer generations.

Of course, nothing happened to the racists after news spread about the fire. It was deemed an accident caused by faulty electricity. The radio station handled the situation with an air of “let’s move on!” because The Black Spot was an illegal establishment to begin with, and though many people died, it was all worth it because Hank was also deemed dead during the incident. As for the White folks being there, the news reported how they arrived at the scene to help the trapped Black people. Ugh!

Pennywise created even more chaos during the attack by showing up to eat people while offering them a way to escape the burning shed. This was a buffet for him. He needed to eat his fill before falling asleep. I was expecting him to kill at least one of the kids during the pandemonium. That’s why I was quite surprised when a kid died, but not by Pennywise’s hands.

I knew Rich was going to kick the bucket because of how his character was being treated in the previous episode. At least he died a hero, sacrificing himself to save Marge. I’m glad Rich exited the show without Pennywise landing a sneak attack and eating half of the little boy’s body. Whether Pennywise will conjure up an illusion of a dead Rich to mess with Lilly, Will, Marge, and Ronnie remains to be seen.

As for Pennywise’s relationship with Ingrid, who was behind orchestrating the grand feast, I’m glad it wasn’t dragged out any longer. I still rolled my eyes when Ingrid didn’t realize Pennywise wasn’t her actual father when he freaking ate Stan in front of her, and only (somewhat) came to her senses when Pennywise talked about going back to sleep again. I liked how he annoyed her by casually stating how he ate Bob Gray decades ago and that Bob still “lived” inside of him. Pennywise was still “technically” Bob Gray, and I think that might have prevented the cosmic monster from killing Ingrid when she tried to stop him. Instead, he showed her the Deadlights, leaving her catatonic.

Talking about Bob Gray, ‘The Black Spot’ opened back in 1908, where we saw Bob performing as Pennywise the Dancing Clown in front of a group of kids. His wife’s death had clearly taken a toll on him, leading Bob to put on a show that incorporated his grief. Turns out, little Ingrid’s stage name, Periwinkle, was her mother’s persona.

There’s been a fan theory about how Bob being able to attract children to his shows was what interested Pennywise to take on his identity. This week’s episode proved just that. The creature was all in on becoming a dancing clown to lead unsuspecting kids to their demise. But for that to happen, Bob had to be taken off the board. I don’t know why Bob didn’t bring along people with him to help Pennywise (disguised as a child) aid his yelling mother in the woods, but oh well, you have to ignore certain plot conveniences for a story to progress.

Another major development was Dick being forced to talk to the ghost of the War Chief to save the kids and some others during the attack on The Black Spot. I feel for Dick. I hope he manages to put such a dangerous part of his abilities back into a psychic box. Constantly having ghosts trying to communicate with you would drive anyone mad.

Realizing he couldn’t sense Pennywise anymore (because he had fallen asleep), Dick decided to continue being aided by the War Chief to locate one of the 13 pillars keeping Pennywise caged. I understood where Dick was coming from. His powers were already out of the box. The least he could do now was help Shaw keep Pennywise contained.

However, that’s where another major reveal occurred. I have to say that I didn’t see it coming. I was quite sure Shaw was going to use Pennywise as his personal weapon to wage war against other countries. I wasn’t expecting Shaw to want to let the creature loose in a bid to cause so much fear in America that everyone would be forced to come together and follow military orders. It was a deeply flawed plan and showed what kind of person Shaw had grown to become. Of course, he wasn’t a fan of women’s marches and racial protests. To him, they were the cause of all the division in the country. According to Shaw, giving people something big to fear would make them forget about wanting “equal” rights and rocking the boat. Leroy did stand up to Shaw, but to no avail. Sigh!

With Pennywise now awake from his slumber, I can’t wait to see Shaw come face-to-face with the monster again.

As for the lore of it all, I would like to understand if Pennywise was supposed to fall asleep every 27 years the moment he crashed on Earth or if it was something he was being forced to do after the 13 pillars were buried. Taking away a single pillar was enough for him to notice the opening in the cage and make his way to the military base to show Will the Deadlights, a location he wasn’t able to get to before.

We know Will will survive the current story. But I’m interested in seeing how experiencing the Deadlights changes him as a character.

Coming to the member of the Loser’s Club who has been keeping distance from the rest, Lilly’s not doing so well being all alone and grabbing onto the cosmic dagger. I don’t know if her state of mind was due to learning about Ingrid’s past, keeping the dagger so close to her, or both. But yeah, metaphorically speaking, Lilly’s emanating dark energy. She might sacrifice herself to defeat Pennywise (for now) as a way to atone for the kids she felt responsible for feeding him.

With only one more episode to go, let’s see how the writers will bring all of the plot threads together to conclude the story in a manner that still links to the main events from the novel.

What did you think of It – Welcome to Derry season one episode 7 ‘The Black Spot’?

Feel free to share your opinions.

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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