Spoilers ahead for Episode 1.
It: Welcome to Derry opens with a grin full of teeth. The premiere is sharp, confident, and mean in the way a proper IT story should be. It does the basic job of any pilot by setting the stage and introducing the players, but it also grabs your face and asks if you’re ready to keep going. I am. Completely.
The Hook
We meet a lonely kid who wants out of Derry. He hitches a ride with a “family” that clearly isn’t a family. The whole sequence is nightmarish and beautifully staged, a reminder that Pennywise (Bill Skarsgård) never plays fair. The scene builds to a grotesque set piece with a demonic infant that left my stomach in my shoes. It’s gory, graphic, and effective. Streaming freedom gets you there, and this show makes use of it.
The Adult Thread
Alongside the town terror, there’s an adult storyline that grabbed me right away. Two Air Force men arrive to work with a top secret B-52 bomber program on the Derry base. There’s tension on day one. Is it Cold War paranoia? Racism on base? A setup for something worse? When masked intruders demand specs on the bomber, it feels like a hallucination at first, then crashes into reality as the roommate bursts in. That shift signals a bigger canvas than the usual “kids versus clown” focus. I want more of this thread immediately.
The Kids
We do meet a group of kids who look like our seasonal anchors. Then the show flips the table. By the end of the hour, nearly all of them are slaughtered in a movie theater by a giant version of that demonic baby from the opener. Two survive. The rest do not. It is bold, shocking, and it resets expectations in one move. Anyone can go at any time. That’s how you build tension in a horror story.
Craft and Tone
Visually, the episode looks like a film. The cinematography carries the same polish as the IT features, with moody color, careful framing, and a steady hand during chaos. The sound design and score swell at the right moments without nagging you into feeling something. The direction has a clear sense of rhythm. Quiet dread, sudden rupture, and then a long, uneasy exhale.
Why it Works
You know the broad rules of Derry and Pennywise. The show respects that history while pushing into fresh corners. The Cold War espionage angle hints at human threats that can bruise as badly as supernatural ones. The theater massacre hammers home the stakes. You’re not safe with the kids. You’re not safe with the adults. You are not safe anywhere.
The Little Details
There’s a lampshade moment that belongs in the Hall of “I Cannot Believe They Showed That.” If you’ve seen it, you know exactly which one. If you haven’t, prepare yourself. This is the kind of image that lingers when the episode ends and the room goes quiet.
Episode 1 is a ruthless statement of intent. It looks great, sounds great, and wastes no time reminding you that Derry eats the unwary. I pressed play out of curiosity. I’m staying because the show feels dangerous, and because that adult plotline is loaded with possibilities.
Daniel fell in love with movies at the ripe old age of four, thanks to a towering chest of drawers filled with VHS tapes. Which, let’s face it, was the original Netflix binge-watch. Ever since then, this lifelong movie buff has been on a relentless quest for cinematic greatness, particularly obsessed with sci-fi, drama, and action flicks. With heroes like Nolan, Villeneuve, and Fincher guiding the way, and a special soft spot for franchises where aliens, androids, and unstoppable cyborgs duke it out (think Terminator, Predator, Alien, and Blade Runner), Daniel continues to live life one epic movie marathon at a time.