🎈 IT: Welcome to Derry (2025) — Episode 2

“America? No. This is Derry.”

Let’s start by showing y’all the trailers, shall we?

⚠️ Content Warning
This episode of Welcome to Derry (Episode 2) dives headfirst into some seriously heavy stuff — racism, racial violence, institutional corruption, child trauma, and psychological manipulation. It also includes disturbing and symbolic imagery tied to pregnancy and birth (yep, they went there), plus the usual helping of blood, fear, and mental breakdowns.

If you’re sensitive to those themes — or just not in the mood to feel like the world’s worst therapist — maybe pace yourself before watching. This one isn’t just horror; it’s emotional excavation with jump scares.


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🌫️ Non-Spoiler Plot Overview

Episode 2 dives straight into the aftermath of the Capitol Theater massacre. Derry, still reeling, feels less like a town and more like a pressure cooker. Families whisper, cops circle suspects, and the shadows of Episode 1’s horrors stretch even further.

We meet the Hanlon family — Leroy (a stern army major), his wife Charlotte, and their son Will — new arrivals trying to settle into a place that immediately feels wrong. The episode also brings in a familiar Stephen King face: Dick Hallorann, whose psychic “shine” draws him into a government-sanctioned experiment called Operation Precept.

The story splits between the kids’ trauma and the military’s obsession. Children like Lilly Bainbridge and Ronnie Grogan wrestle with nightmares and guilt, while soldiers dig under Derry in search of something that should never be unearthed.

By the end, we’re left staring into the widening crack between supernatural horror and real-world cruelty — racism, paranoia, and fear itself becoming weapons.


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👥 Character Rundown

Lilly Bainbridge (Clara Stack) – Haunted, traumatized, and manipulated. Once sympathetic, now morally gray after she unintentionally helps incriminate an innocent man.

Ronnie Grogan (Amanda Christine) – The moral compass among the kids, terrified but grounded in empathy. Her nightmare imagery drives the most disturbing scene of the episode.

Will Hanlon (Blake Cameron James) – The newcomer. Curious, brilliant, and ostracized for his race in a town that eats outsiders alive.

Leroy Hanlon (Chris Chalk) – Army major recruited for Operation Precept. Believes discipline can control chaos, but Derry quickly proves him wrong.

Charlotte Hanlon (TBD casting) – Will’s mother, doing her best to keep the family steady while prejudice closes in.

Dick Hallorann (Chris Chalk) – Psychic soldier from King’s universe. His “shine” connects him to the entity beneath Derry and to the secret military excavation.

General Shaw (James Remar) – Oversees Operation Precept. Stoic, pragmatic, and possibly hiding his own encounters with “It.”

Marge (Matilda Lawler) – Popular student and former friend of Lilly’s who tries to rekindle their bond, only to be cut down with a brutal “My friends are dead.”


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⏱️ Pacing / Episode Flow

Episode 2 starts slower than Episode 1, focusing on grief, guilt, and the suffocating small-town tension. Midway, it shifts gears — hallucinations blur with reality, and the final ten minutes spiral into chaos.

The military subplot adds a different rhythm — methodical, procedural, but eerie. By the end, both threads collide, leaving the viewer breathless and uneasy.


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✅ Pros

Unflinching realism: The racial tension and institutional cruelty feel disturbingly authentic.

Psychological horror: The nightmare scenes — the womb rebirth, the grocery-store dismemberment — are raw, practical, and unforgettable.

Expanded lore: Operation Precept connects Derry’s evil to human corruption, not just supernatural terror.

Performances: Clara Stack and Amanda Christine carry this episode with chilling vulnerability.

World-building: The dig site reveal — the buried 1930s car full of skeletons — is pure King-verse gold.



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❌ Cons

The military-weapon subplot risks undercutting It’s mystery. Adults chasing Pennywise like a lab experiment dilutes the mythos.

Lilly’s moral turn is uncomfortable — her betrayal, though manipulated, makes her hard to root for even as she remains pitiable.

🕰️ Air-Date Gap & Momentum

Episode 2 dropped Friday, Oct 31 at 12 AM on Max, while Episode 3 won’t air until Sunday, Nov 9 at 9 PM — a frustrating nine-day gap that risks killing the show’s momentum. After an episode this intense, that’s a long, cruel wait to process the fallout.


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🧠 Why It Works

Episode 2 doesn’t just scare — it exposes. Racism, manipulation, and trauma aren’t side notes; they are the horror. When the supernatural moments feel like relief, you know the real monsters are human.

And somehow, that makes Welcome to Derry the boldest, most haunting Stephen King adaptation yet.

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💭 Final Thoughts

This episode made me sick to my stomach — and that’s not a complaint. It’s the kind of disgust born from truth. The racism, manipulation, and helplessness are almost harder to watch than the monster itself. Watching an innocent man framed, a child betrayed, and the institutions of Derry weaponize fear hits too close to reality.

Lilly’s arc left me torn. She’s complicit in something awful, but she’s also a child being crushed by adults who should protect her. You hate what she does, but you still pity her — she’s the scapegoat and the outcast.

Weirdly, the actual demonic scenes — the creature’s presence, the twisted visions — feel like relief. At least the monster makes sense. The real-world horrors of prejudice and paranoia? Those are the parts that truly crawl under your skin.

This is easily the most unnerving hour of television so far — tense, brutal, and brilliantly written.


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⭐ Rating

10 / 10 — More unnerving, more disturbing, and far scarier than both modern It films combined.


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⚠️ Spoiler Warning

From here on out, turn back unless you’ve seen Episode 2.


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💀 Spoilers

The episode opens in the fallout of the Capitol Theater massacre. Hank Grogan — the projectionist — becomes the police’s scapegoat. His daughter Ronnie suffers night terrors, culminating in the grotesque “rebirth” sequence where she claws her way out of a womb and bites through her own umbilical cord. It’s one of the most shocking scenes in modern horror TV.

Meanwhile, Lilly faces police interrogation. Colonel Shaw pressures her to “help the investigation,” subtly guiding her into confirming that Hank Grogan might have been present. She never directly accuses him, but her silence seals his fate. The colonel knows about Pennywise and manipulates her testimony to frame an easy target — one whose race ensures the town’s approval.

This right here shows y’all how deep the racism and manipulation goes in this city.

When Hank is arrested, Ronnie storms to Lilly’s house and screams at her. Lilly’s mother threatens to “call her daddy,” forgetting (or ignoring) that he’s dead — a gut-punch moment that shows just how broken this household is.

Soon after, Lilly suffers her grocery-store breakdown: jars of pickles morph into her father’s body parts, reforming into a grotesque creature that crawls toward her, whispering “Want it? One more kiss for your daddy.” It’s stomach-turning and tragic. The town labels her insane, and she’s dragged back to Juniper Hill Asylum — terrified, screaming that she’s telling the truth.

Parallel to this, the military subplot unfolds. Operation Precept’s excavation uncovers a 1930s Buick buried in the earth, stuffed with skeletons, guns, and cash — the remains of the Bradley Gang, tying Derry’s criminal past to its supernatural rot. Dick Hallorann senses something “hungry” beneath. He warns Leroy Hanlon that what they’ve found isn’t a relic — it’s a mouth.

The final minutes cut between two escalating threads: Lilly being sedated at Juniper Hill, and the soldiers lowering equipment into the pit as whispers echo from the dark. Hallorann turns to Leroy and says quietly, “See? I told you we’re close.”

The screen cuts to black — Derry’s evil stirring, the military too arrogant to realize what they’ve awakened.

If you asked me, I think this is the weakest part.It’s a story, because aren’t the adults not supposed to know about IT? Why do the military ans Dick Hallorann k ow of IT? Doesn’t matter still its actually still compelling.


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Also here’s the trailer for episode 3, till next time.