Previously on HBO Max’s IT: Welcome to Derry, Clay Bowers and the angry mob attacked the Black Spot, killing 17, including Rich. Dick Hallorann assisted the army in finding a pillar, which General Shaw burned to release Pennywise onto Derry. Finally, Pennywise snatched Will.
The season finale begins with the townspeople freezing on the street as smoke fills the city. The smoke travels to the school; classes are canceled for the day, but the students are ordered to the gym. Inside, Pennywise puts on a show and kills the principal in front of the students. He puts the students in a trance, making them float.
Ronnie, Marge, and Lily are at their hangout spot, cleaning up, when Ronnie notices the smoke. They exit the tower and turn around, seeing flyers of all the kids from school, missing, plastered on the tower. They rush to the school, only to find their principal dead. They see another flyer, and it’s Will. They decide to rescue Will by following the trail of blood into the woods.
Leroy calls home and begins to worry as Will doesn’t answer. But he quickly gets a phone call back— it’s Pennywise taunting him. Leroy storms to Dick’s room, who is about to die by suicide, until Leroy tells him Pennywise has Will. They go to Rose’s home and make a plan to use Dick to find the dagger to take Pennywise down. Rose makes some tea for Dick, helping him get rid of the spirits for now so he can focus on tracking the dagger.
As they’re walking through the woods, Ronnie and Marge notice that the dagger is changing Lily’s mood. Lily thinks that they think she’s crazy, so she runs, but the girls tackle her. When she lets go of the dagger, she realizes the shift. The three of them agree to take turns holding the dagger. Suddenly, it lights up, and Ronnie notices the students floating in the distance across the frozen lake. They search for Will and find him. Before they can try to pull him down, Pennywise comes to them. Ronnie points the dagger at him, and he begins to taunt them, grabbing Marge’s foot and dragging her across the ice. We learn that Richie Tozier from the 2017 film IT is Marge’s future son. He goes to attack Marge, but he freezes. All of the kids fall to the ground, waking up. The adults meet the kids on the ice, ordering them to leave the area. Taniel and Leroy take the dagger and attempt to insert it under the tree to connect it with the pillars. Before they can reach the tree, they are shot by the airmen, and Taniel dies. Leroy gives Will the dagger and tells him to bury it in the tree.
As they make it closer to the tree, Will stops walking, the dagger forcing him not to take another step. The girls try to force him to walk, and they all use their strength to force the dagger toward the tree.
Meanwhile, Dick is in Pennywise’s mind, making him believe he is Bob Crane waking up from being found in the woods in 1903. But the airmen wake Dick up. This disturbs the illusion and sets Pennywise free.
Francis sees Pennywise and walks toward him, saying to his frozen body that he will “fix” what Dick did to him. Suddenly, Pennywise returns to normal, and Francis tells him that he’s “free to go.” Instead, Pennywise turns into the same monster Francis saw as a little boy and kills him.
Now free, Pennywise chases the children as they struggle to place the dagger under the tree. Leroy fires his rifle at Pennywise, only slowing him down. He runs out of bullets, and Pennywise puts him in a trance. Thinking all hope is lost, Dick and Rose sense Sesqui standing behind them. Dick watches in amazement as Rich’s ghost runs to help his friends bury the dagger. Pennywise morphs into a winged-creature and flies toward the children, but they’re able to bury the dagger in time. Orange lights burst from the ground and they watch Pennywise’s body disintegrate.
Later, they have Rich’s funeral, and Marge speaks. Dick attends and sees Rich’s spirit standing behind his friends. After the funeral, Lily finally visits her father’s grave and gives an update on her life, telling him about her friends. They go to their hangout spot, and Marge tells Lily about what Pennywise told her about Richie. She tells him that he told her, “The past, present, and the future are all the same.” Afraid he’ll go and try to kill their parents, Lily replies that it will be someone else’s fight.
The Hanlons are moving out of Derry, and before they leave, Dick comes to tell them goodbye. Dick tells him that he’s going to London to work at a hotel that his friend has — the Overlook Hotel from The Shining.
Rose offers the Hanlons to stay in Derry, to be eyes and ears, living at her home. They decide to take up on her offer, and Ronnie and Hank leave Derry.
In a post-credits scene, Ingrid is at Juniper Hill. The time jumps to 1988, in IT: Chapter One. Ingrid is painting and hears a scream. She walks over to the tenant’s room and finds that a woman has hanged herself. She sees a girl, and it’s Beverly Marsh.
Overall, this series has been fantastic, and it was a great decision to make the first season based on IT: Chapter One’s kids’ parents. Acts that stood out the most throughout this season were Chris Chalk as Dick Hallorann, Jovan Adepo as Leroy Hanlon, and Amanda Christine as Ronnie Grogan. Of course, Bill Skarsgard’s role as Pennywise was creepy as per usual. The acting and the storytelling were incredible as a whole, and the parallels between the series, the IT films, and The Shining were well done. It will be exciting to find out what’s next for Season Two.
Rating: 10/10