It – Welcome to Derry 1×8 Review: “Winter Fire”

It – Welcome to Derry season one episode 8, titled ‘Winter Fire’, offered a finale that cemented the show’s legacy as one of the most enjoyable live-action horror stories. A feat that isn’t easily accomplished. I hope we get news about a second chapter ASAP!

TRIGGER WARNING: This review of ‘Winter Fire’ mentions suicide. Proceed with caution!

With Pennywise escaping his cage in the previous episode, ‘Winter Fire’ wasted no time when it came to allowing the cosmic entity to plan his exit from Derry while taking along most of the children. A fog quickly spread across Derry, bringing along coldness and a sense of death that had plants wilt. I don’t think Pennywise was ever attached to such a type of fog in the OG novel. So, I would chalk it up to an homage to Stephen King’s The Mist. Regardless, it worked for building visual tension.

After capturing Will from the poor boy’s new house, Pennywise made his way to the school, specifically targeting the kids. I couldn’t help but laugh when he used the Principal’s intercom to announce how the upperclassmen were free to go home. Being a performer, I liked the scene where he used the Principal’s dead body as a puppet before revealing his clown self to the screaming kids.

Due to the comic pillars’ unable to keep him contained (because of one being stolen by the army and melted. Ugh!), all the creature had to do was cross the river. Once across, there was no way for the cosmic pillars to keep him attached to Derry even if the missing pillar was replaced. Pennywise was so happy driving his circus carriage on the frozen river with a whole line of floating kids behind him. Again, the fog really did a lot to enhance the visuals. So, kudos to the creative team for making such a decision.

Realizing that the kids from school and Will had been kidnapped, Lilly, Ronnie, and Marge followed a trail of blood to find and kill Pennywise with the cosmic dagger in Lilly’s possession. The fandom has been waiting for Maturin to play a role in the narrative, especially with all of the turtles popping up throughout the first season. Even though we didn’t see the cosmic turtle directly communicate with the current Losers Club, I do think he’s been helping them. In my opinion, it’s Maturin who made sure there was a trail of blood for the girls to follow. It might even be him who placed all those missing kids posters for the girls to find, because, from my understanding, why would Pennywise leave a trail for anyone to follow him?

The cosmic dagger would work to injure the monster. However, there was a catch that was linked to Lilly’s recent behavior. Apparantly, the further it got from the Neibolt House, the more aggressive it became to return, including manipulating the person holding it to turn back. The dagger was messing with Lilly’s mind, making her blame herself for the death of her friends and sowing seeds of mistrust between her and the other girls. I liked how Ronnie and Madge were able to deduce that something was wrong with the dagger and not Lilly, promising to help Lilly share the burden on their way to Pennywise. The entire sequence gave me Horcrux vibes.

With the girls in pursuit of Pennywise, the adults weren’t far behind. After being mocked by the creature over kidnapping Will, Leroy ran to Dick for help. The narrative has been stating how Leroy was unable to “medically” feel fear. So, even though Leroy wasn’t afraid of Pennywise the entity, he was afraid of losing Will, and Pennywise wasn’t above using that to get under Leroy’s skin. Also, even though the creature liked to make his prey afraid, he did that to make the meat tastier. It has been established that Pennywise didn’t need you to be scared of him to kill you.

Anyway, I’ve been waiting for Dick to step up in the finale, and he sure exceeded my expectations. But his journey wasn’t without issues. Due to hearing a bunch of dark ghosts, Dick was on the verge of taking his life, with the ghosts egging him on to join them on the other side. I knew Dick was going to survive the events of It – Welcome to Derry, but it was still sad to see him go through such trauma.

Dick wanting to help Will is what helped snap him out of his melancholy. However, you could tell it was a temporary reprieve. Dick would be back to taking his life after the rescue mission, even bringing up Leroy’s promise to pull the trigger.

So, yeah, thank the Heavens for Rose knowing how to help Dick calm the ghostly voices. Rose wanted Dick to find balance in himself. Yes, there were spooky ghosts out there, but there were also ones who were at peace. Learning how to connect with the peaceful ghosts could help Dick not focus too much on the dark voices.

I liked how Rose played a major role during the finale, including coming up with a plan to stop Pennysie. Rose shared how the cosmic dagger could be used to replace the stolen thirteenth pillar. However, they needed to hurry because once Pennywise crossed the river (and a specific ancient tree), holding him back would be impossible even if the dagger was buried in the tree. Apparantly, the ancient tree was the hub of immense power that connected the rest of the pillars to create the monster’s cage.

Coming back to Dick, not only was he able to locate the cosmic dagger, but he also showcased an impressive feat of trapping Pennywise in an astral illusion. I don’t know about you, but considering Pennywise is supposed to be some kind of cosmic God of horror, Dick being able to keep him under the illusion (until the army intervened) is an Omega-level mutant accomplishment, in my opinion. Witnessing Dick be so powerful with his powers in the finale was exciting!

Another major development dealt with the lore. The writers revealed that time and space moved very differently for the Dead Lights, essentially meaning that Pennywise was aware of the past, present, and future simultaneously. He couldn’t make much sense of it (the iconic clown in the smartest monster out there), but he knew that a bunch of adults had managed to kill him in 2016. And while he couldn’t travel through time in a more traditional sense, what he could do was murder the parents of the future Losers Club, with his first target being… drumroll… Marge.

Yup. Turns out that Marge would go on to give birth to queer character Richie Tozier, meaning that she named her son after the deceased Rich. My heart. But yeah, back to Pennywise. The reveal involving how the carnivorous entity viewed time was completely unexpected. And you know what? I’m here for it!

Pennywise’s plan to kill the parents of the future Losers Club made the prequel series feel a lot more important than before. And with season two (if it gets greenlit), reportedly going further into the past, we might get to see the creature targeting the parents of the Losers Club in It – Welcome to Derry. Again, we know that Pennywise’s defeat is inevitable, and that he’s basically stuck in a time loop where all his efforts will be for naught to prevent his death in 2016. But frankly, it’s still going to be fun to see him try.

Also, bringing up said point again, Pennywise would already know that Will was going to give birth to Mike Hanlon in the future; another character playing a role in his death. So, why didn’t the clown kill Will at his house? Why even have Will float behind the circus carriage with the other kids? I guess plot armor is to be blamed.

With the adults joining the kids to help bury the dagger under the tree, the army swooped in to stop them from preventing Pennywise’s escape. Sigh!

We finally got to see Shaw meet Pennywise. I knew Shaw was going to die. However, I do feel that his demise was a bit too quick. I kind of wanted to see him suffer after all the trouble he’s caused. What’s funny is that Pennywise didn’t recognize Shaw until he sniffed Shaw’s scent and remembered how he was the kid who ran away from him decades ago.

Due to the adults keeping the army personnel busy and the kids struggling to push the aggressive dagger into the tree, I couldn’t help but smile when Pennywise skipped along his merry way to escape Derry. He even called the kids Losers. I had to laugh!

With Pennywise’s weakness being the power of friendship, a pivotal moment during the finale was Rich’s ghost (accompanied by the War Chief) arriving on the scene to help his pals. Seeing the dread in Pennywise’s eyes as Rich ran toward his friends was so satisfying. Also, yes, to the creative team for having the creature morph into a winged beast to attack the kids instead of a spider-like monstrosity.

After entrapping Pennywise yet again and ensuring almost 26 years of his sleep, thankfully, the finale took the time to tie up certain story points and set things up for what’s to come. We got to see Rich’s funeral, with Rich’s ghost showing up to comfort his friends and parents. Rose decided to step away from her fight against Pennywise and entrusted it to Leroy and Charlotte. I understood where Rose was coming from. Taniel’s death during the finale and having to face Pennywise twice had done a number on her. Rose deserved a break.

Hank and Ronnie drove off to Canada, with Will promising to keep writing to Ronnie so she wouldn’t forget about Derry. Marge told Lilly about what Pennywise had said about him messing with the past and present to stop his death in the future. I have to say that I’m kind of with Lilly on this one. That particular situation sounded like someone else’s struggle. There wasn’t much Lilly, or anyone else for that matter, could do to prevent Pennywise from messing with the timeline. It is what it is. The current Losers Club was tired.

Even though ‘Winter Fire’ was filled with amazing twists and plot reveals, there was yet another major moment waiting to occur during the final minutes. We got to see Ingrid in Juniper Hill, still calling out to her father. And then the narrative jumped ahead 26 years to an older Ingrid (Joan Gregson reprising her role) following the sounds of sobbing and screaming in the facility to see Elfrida Marsh hanging from the ceiling. On his knees was Elfrid’s crying husband and… drumroll… freaking Beverly. The fact that Sophia Lillis reprised her role for the cameo!

No notes!

Amazing!!!

I want It – Welcome to Derry to get a season two renewal ASAP!

What did you think of It – Welcome to Derry season one episode 8 ‘Winter Fire’?

Let us know.

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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