Spoilers follow for It: Welcome to Derry Episodes 1-5.
It: Welcome to Derry has been dancing on thin ice with the embellishments it’s making to Stephen King’s novel, and not just because “that’s not how it is in the book.” Adjusting the time period to align with Andy Muschietti’s feature adaptations? No big deal. But It: Welcome to Derry has taken significant liberties with the relatively straightforward historical interlude that forms the basis of this season’s narrative arc, not only magnifying the role of preexisting canon (like Dick Hallorann’s presence in Derry), but also folding in ideas or plot threads from other King fiction as a way to flesh out the world, the latter approach having provided the structural basis for Hulu’s Castle Rock series just a few years back. Welcome to Derry hasn’t been entirely consistent in alchemizing all of this reference material and influence, but when it works, it works.
With no better way to stress-test that alchemy than a trip into the sewers beneath Derry, “29 Neibolt Street” represents another significant collision of Welcome to Derry’s adaptations and inventions, doubling down on its own imagination to effective ends.
After Marge’s heinous encounter with It last week, which ended with her nearly carving out her own eye, reunion becomes a major theme of the kids’ storyline in “29 Neibolt Street.” Marge (Matilda Lawler) covers for the very guilty-looking Lilly (Clara Stack) after the attack and the two reconcile – nice, considering Lilly and Marge’s friendship feels like one of the more genuine relationships on the show – but far more relevant to events this week is the return of Matty Clements (Miles Ekhardt)… from the sewers. Recounting his last few weeks essentially being kept in Pennywise’s pantry as a fear snack to come back to later, Matty’s revelation that Phil Malkin’s still alive spurs the kids into undertaking a rescue mission to It’s lair to save him, giving Lilly a nice leader moment as she asks her friends to consider whether they’re “anchors or lifeboats” when the people they love need help.
General Shaw’s plan to “shrink the cage” around Pennywise by recovering the pillars, and the bridges he seems to be willing to burn with Rose (Kimberly Guerrero) to enact it, continue to baffle, but more and more that’s starting to feel like a problem with how the character is written rather than the actual mechanics of the Operation Precept plan itself. The idea that chunks of the comet It crashed to Earth imprisoned within could repel (or contain) Pennywise may be outside of the scope of the It novel, but the logic is straightforward enough and the best laid plans of military men often go awry in King stories anyway. James Remar has done great work keeping Shaw a likeable character, even as he does unlikeable things, but now that rubber is hitting the road and there’s an actual plan to go pillar hunting, he’s hinting at heel turns a little too quickly that feel incongruous to his measured nature. He’s even teeing up a failsafe plan for a town-wide “cleanup” should their mission fail that portends some harrowing conflicts to come. All I’ll say is this: I really noticed that “Arrowhead Hotel” sign in downtown Derry when the kids biked by it this week.
