Editor’s note: The below recap contains spoilers for IT: Welcome to Derry Episode 3.
Two episodes in, Andy Muschietti‘s IT: Welcome to Derry has given fans of the Stephen King world a story even darker than they could have imagined. In the first episode, “The Pilot,” the series had the guts to kill off three kids we assumed would be the new Losers we’d be following all season long. Episode 2, “The Thing in the Dark,” reveals why the military is so active at Derry Air Force Base when General Shaw (James Remar) tells Leroy Hanlon (Jovan Adepo) that the U.S. government is searching for a mysterious entity under the ground that triggers fear. With the plan being to contain this force and use it as a weapon to end the Cold War, what could possibly go wrong? Now, going into Episode 3, “Now You See It,” anything is possible — but don’t forget about Pennywise, because we might just get our first look at him as well.
Derry’s Monster Attacks a Younger Shaw in ‘IT: Welcome to Derry’ Episode 3
We open on a carnival in the 1930s, where a boy goes inside the freak show house and sees a hall of mirrors. Someone in the shadows tells him to come closer, and when he does, an old man missing an eye laughs loudly, and the boy runs out straight into his father’s arms. His father calls Francis (a young General Shaw) a sissy, but tells him he won him a prize: a new slingshot. On the way home, their car breaks down, so they buy a jug of water from a local Native girl on the side of the road. Francis also gives her his new slingshot in trade, and later, they’re playing outside with the other kids. When Francis runs into the woods, the girl, Rose, begs him to come back and won’t follow him. All alone, he’s chased by the one-eyed old man, who turns into a monster running on all fours with some familiar rows of big teeth, but Rose hits it in the head with a rock from her slingshot. They flee, but the creature won’t follow them past the treeline.
In the present, Lilly (Clara Stack) is back at Juniper Hill, surrounded by the wails of laughing and crying patients, where a housekeeper (Madeleine Stowe) tells Lilly she believes that the girl has seen the impossible, and that if Ronnie (Amanda Christine) means so much to her, she’ll find a way to make things right between them. Meanwhile, Ronnie’s dad, Hank (Stephen Rider), is in jail being questioned by Chief Bowers (Peter Outerbridge), who wants to know where he was the night of the murders. Hank continues to insist he was at home, but Bowers reveals that someone has written a sworn statement that she saw him outside that night.
Dick Hallorann Finds Pennywise in ‘IT: Welcome to Derry’ Episode 3
At the military’s dig site, the car with the skeletons belongs to a gang from the “1935 cycle,” but it’s not what they’re looking for. Dick Hallorann (Chris Chalk) has proven psychic abilities, but there’s only so much he can do looking at maps. He needs to be put on top of the site, so Shaw sends him up in a helicopter with Hanlon and Pauly Russo (Rudy Mancuso), with the officers told to think of Hallorann as a compass and fly wherever he directs them. Hallorann’s holding a cigar box with a familiar slingshot inside, and as he touches it, his face goes rigid as if he’s seeing something. He tells Hanlon and Russo to turn east before he closes his eyes.
When he opens them again, he walks towards the back of the helicopter. It’s filling up with water over his feet now. He’s no longer in the chopper, but locked in a sewer facing a familiar circus wagon with a sign for Pennywise the Dancing Clown. It drops to reveal a stage where two eyes are glowing from the darkness. “Who are you?” a deep voice asks. Dick looks up to see a mound of dead floating bodies, including his own grandmother, and tries to flee, but he’s actually opening the rear hatch of the helicopter to jump out. Hanlon has to tackle him so he doesn’t fall out to his death. Back on the ground, Dick tells General Shaw that something saw him, and if they keep going, something bad is coming. To repay him for his efforts, and maybe to help sustain him, Shaw agrees to find a better place for Dick and his friends to hang out in.
When she returns to school, Lilly seeks out Ronnie and promises she’ll tell the police the truth about what she saw. Still, no one will believe her unless she gets visual proof, so she pulls out a camera — but who can they get to develop the film? This leads them to Will Hanlon (Blake Cameron James). He doesn’t know if he can help, but Rich (Arian S. Cartaya) thinks he will because he’s in love with Ronnie, even if he denies it. It looks like they’re all in this together now — and Rich, with his knowledge of evil spirits from his Cuban relatives, has a plan to make the evil reveal itself.
At a local tribal meeting in Derry, Rose (Kimberly Guerrero) tells her nephew not to do anything about the dig site yet because she doesn’t want to stop the military until she knows what they’re doing out there. Later, at her Second Hand Rose shop, Shaw walks in to see his old friend for the first time in fifty years. He had forgotten all about her until he came back to Derry, but Rose says that’s normal here. She finds out he’s in charge of the dig, so he lies and says they’re digging up unmarked burial grounds for water pipes. Shaw asks for her help with which digging areas to stay away from, and Rose says she’ll talk to the town council but can’t promise anything.
The New Losers Have a Run-in With a Clown in ‘IT: Welcome to Derry’ Episode 3
Hallorann shows up for dinner at the Hanlon house, where he inquires about their son Will’s whereabouts, but, later, when the two men are alone on the porch, Leroy points out that he never told Hallorann he had a son. Hallorann confesses that he can see things without seeing things, but Leroy doesn’t think it’s crazy. Just before Dick asked about his son, he felt something he couldn’t describe. The only other time he felt it was when he was attacked. Hanlon tells Hallorann to stay out of his mind, and Hallorann agrees because the man saved his life — he wouldn’t mind having him by his side in the trenches.
Meanwhile, Will, Lilly, Rich, and Ronnie are hanging out in a graveyard, sitting around a circle of candles. Rich is speaking a prayer for the dead in Spanish, but nothing happens after a short pause. Lilly and Ronnie are ready to quit because they don’t believe this will work, while Ronnie is also upset that Will doesn’t believe what she saw. She gets on her bike, and Lilly leaves with her. Will and Rich are left behind, but abandon the circle to try and catch up. As they pedal toward the cemetery gates, the barrier impossibly moves farther away. They ride through the grass, with the ground caving in, when their three dead friends, now with rotting faces, float above them, chasing them through the night.
Lilly manages to snap a few pictures, but everyone gets separated, with Will ending up all alone at the mausoleum. Inside, a hand appears, and Will takes a photo of it as he screams. Lilly, Rich, and Ronnie have made it to the cemetery limits, anxiously waiting for any sign of Will until he suddenly appears, much to their relief. It’s safe to say that Will believes Ronnie now, and this new group of Losers hugs as one before breaking into the school’s darkroom to develop their photos. One by one, each of the ghosts’ faces is revealed, but then Will’s last picture develops. Something is standing in the distance, out of focus, with glowing eyes. “It’s a clown,” he says.
