IT: Welcome to Derry Season 1, Episode 2 Review

Warning! This review contains spoilers for It: Welcome to Derry episode 2.

After last week’s overstuffed pilot episode, It: Welcome to Derry is starting to settle into a more focused narrative with more manageable ambitions. In the shocking final scene of the first episode, the new Losers’ Club — the group of kids seemingly being set up as the central protagonists of the series — were unceremoniously massacred. This second episode wastes no time refocusing on the real protagonists: the Hanlon family.

Taylor Paige and Jovan Adepo are both terrific actors giving terrific performances, and they tell the story from an interesting perspective. The Hanlons have only just moved to Derry, so they come into this strange, monster-infested town as fish out of water; outsiders looking in. And as a Black family in 1962, they’re the perfect emotional focal point to explore this tumultuous, transformative time in the United States. The civil rights movement is starting to take off, and President Kennedy is advocating for racial equality, but there’s still a long, long way to go.

Welcome to Derry is still all over the place, but it jumps between the ensemble a bit more seamlessly in this week’s episode. There’s a great match cut from a hungover airman vomiting to a dollop of mashed potatoes getting dumped onto a tray in the school cafeteria. This episode gives us a clearer idea of ​​what each character’s function iswhy they’re all important to the overall story, and where this is all heading.

Welcome To Derry Looks Amazing & Has A Great Soundtrack

The Production Design & Song Choices Fully Immerse You In 1962

The look of the show is spot-on; the old-timey sets, costumes, and production design are delightfully immersive. In the first episode, the title of the series just rose up out of the sewer water, but the second episode debuts the show’s dedicated opening credits sequence. This credits sequence sets the perfect mood for Welcome to Derry. It captures classic Americana with a series of gorgeous retro paintings of Derry in a flattering light, then it gradually introduces Pennywise lurking in the background. This imagery encapsulates the show: it’s a glimpse at small-town America in the early ’60s, with a really sinister, monstrous underbelly.

I’m loving the soundtrack; with all the period-accurate music, it almost plays like the Goodfellas soundtrack. Every song choice, from Percy Faith’s theme from A Summer Place to Mario Lanza’s recording of “You’ll Never Walk Alone,” imbibes the period setting and creates an unnerving juxtaposition with the horrors on-screen. There are a lot of Black artists featured in the show, like Frankie Lymon and Dee Dee Sharp, subtly tying into the show’s exploration of race relations in civil rights-era, JFK-era America.

Welcome To Derry Is Still Struggling To Deliver Genuine Scares

All The Horror Sequences Escalate To The Point Of Cartoonish Absurdity

Welcome to Derry is still struggling to deliver genuine scares. Even when the show touches on a frightening idea, it tends to escalate it to the point that it stops being scary and becomes silly. The scene where Ronnie gets trapped under the covers in her own bed is a perfect example of a Psycho-style shower scare, taking something that should be safe and comfortable and making it terrifying. But when the bed turns into a womb and Ronnie’s mother chastises her for killing her in childbirth and she has to bite through her own umbilical cord, it becomes absurdly unsubtle.

Cartoonish horror like this can work — it’s the Evil Dead franchise’s bread and butter — but you have to balance out the splatstick with something truly disturbing for it to actually scare the audience. Having said that, while the horror side of things is still a let-down, I’m starting to get swept up in the dramatic elements. I’m invested in Lilly and Ronnie’s search for the truth, and I’m invested in the Hanlons’ struggle to assimilate into their bizarre new town. There’s hope that It: Welcome to Derry can become a great show yet.

Release Date

October 26, 2025

NETWORKS

HBO

Directors

Andy Muschietti

Franchise(s)

IT

Pros & Cons

• This episode gives us a clearer idea of ​​what each character’s function is
• It establishes an emotional focal point for this exploration of a tumultuous time in American history

• The show still isn’t very scary; the horror sequences are let down by cartoonish CGI