(This article contains spoilers)
Things are moving in Derry, and they go straight into the monster’s wide open mouth. Now that Pennywise (Bill Skarsgård) has revealed his face to the children, the threat is closer than ever, and we know by now that the augury (which is the apotheosis of Pennywise’s murderous cycle) is coming. What will be left of Derry after that?
The episode opens with a scene set in 1935 at Juniper Hill. A young girl named Mabel is taken to the boiler room by Ingrid Kersh (Madeleine Stowe) herself, a young nurse at the time. Mabel talked about seeing a clown telling her to meet him there, but it’s unclear why Kersh takes her there, in the middle of the night, and asks her about what she saw. However, once there, they witness the apparition of Pennywise in his clown form, making Kersh not only a survivor, but also someone who knows a lot more than she lets on.
Back at the Hanlons after the underground episode, things are tensed, so tensed that father and son argue about what happened, and Leroy (Jovan Adepo) ends up slapping Will (Blake Cameron James) for accusing him of letting Russo (Rudy Mancuso) die. For Will, it’s Pennywise finally getting to his dad’s head, but it’s hard to say if it’s indeed the influence of Pennywise or just Leroy losing his temper. He’s angry after Russo’s death, but hitting his son is a step too far. Trapped between believing her husband about the presence of a monster in Derry and him acting violently, Charlotte (Taylour Paige) makes sure Hank Grogan (Stephen Rider) is moved to a safe place before planning on leaving Derry with Will.
Following Grogan’s escape, the men of Derry embark on a real manhunt, with the promise of a 500 dollar reward. Thanks to Ingrid reaching out to Charlotte for help, he’s now hidden and safe at the Black Spot, the place put together by Hallorann and his fellow black military men. This accommodation is temporary but lets Ronnie (Amanda Christine) see her father, and gives Charlotte some time to plan a more definitive escape.
At the water tower, the kids are regrouping. There’s tension here too, Pennywise’s influence coupled with the horrors they just went through is making them nervous and more scared than ever. Lilly (Clara Stack) shows the dagger to her friends and retells the way it kept the monster from even approaching her. Now that they have what looks like an ultimate weapon against evil, they need to decide what to do with it.
Lilly seems ready to go back to the underground to deal with the monster poisoning her life. She might be angry enough to find the courage to act, but she also seems too angry. Is she also under Pennywise’s influence? The situation almost takes a sour turn when she starts arguing with Ronnie about what to do next. For Ronnie, the top priority is to help her father, but for Lilly, the threat of being a permanent resident of Juniper Hill is bigger than ever.
Back from the sewers, Hallorann (Chris Chalk) is changed. The box he kept closed, buried inside of him, is full of the horrors he carefully and meticulously put in there. They’re things he’s managed to dismiss since he was 9 years old. After all those years, facing what he kept locked down is overwhelming. He’s not equipped to face so much, he never learned, he only knows how to put it away. And now, not only is he dealing with seeing dead people everywhere, but Pennywise is running around killing more people.
After a new hallucination, this time in class, Lilly seems even more decided to end things with Pennywise. She visits Kersh at her home for guidance, but finds it empty. Venturing inside, she makes an alarming discovery in the attic. In a photo book, she sees old pictures of a man oddly looking like Pennywise. But this man is real, he’s human… and he’s Ingrid Kersh’s father.
Kersh finds Lilly looking at the photographs and tells her her father’s story, a carnival performer called Pennywise the Dancing Clown. We learn that the young Mabel from the opening scene dies, killed by Pennywise the monster, but Ingrid survives. Her father seems to still be there, somewhere, sharing his body with the monster. She survives thanks to him, but the monster is stronger, and takes control of him.
From that moment, she tried to free her father from the monster’s influence. To get close to him, she used children from the asylum to lure him out. If anything, Ingrid is actually worse than what her father became. He didn’t have a choice, while Ingrid decided to use children and have them killed.
The masquerade doesn’t stop there. Lilly discovers Kersh is not just Pennywise’s daughter, she also owns her own clown costume. What they saw that night at the cemetery wasn’t Pennywise, but her in her costume, which explains why the police were able to see it on the photograph instead of disappearing like the ghosts they saw. Now, if you’ve seen It Chapter 2, you might remember what Ms Kersh, who is Ingrid Kersh, from 2016 says to Beverly Marsh: “No one who dies here ever really dies.” A sentence we first heard in the movie, but one Kersh already said in the past to Lilly.
The episode ends on a very ominous note as the men hunting Grogan arrive at the Black Spot. Bowers (Peter Outerbridge), who was fired from the police, states a woman gave him a tip on where to find the fugitive. Of course, after learning about who Kersh really is, anything is possible now. Is her relationship with Grogan all a lie? Was it planned to use him at some point? Did Pennywise already have things in motion? And if it’s not Kersh, then who?
Armed and wearing masks, the men are ready to assault the place. Do they even know they’re about to attack military men? The next episode is titled The Black Spot, and with Hallorann there, himself armed with new powers, things could go wrong very quickly for everyone involved.
