TL;DR: Episode 5 of Welcome to Derry is the moment the series evolves from a slow-burn origin story into full-blown cosmic horror. Pennywise finally returns with terrifying impact, the kids face their darkest fears, the military learns the hard way that bullets don’t work on multidimensional clowns, and the emotional devastation hits as hard as the scares. A phenomenal, terrifying, gorgeously deranged chapter that sets up a killer second half of the season.
It: Welcome to Derry
I don’t scare easily. I grew up with Goosebumps on the weekends, Tales From the Crypt on VHS, and two cousins who thought that locking me in the laundry room and whisper-chanting Candyman counted as babysitting. But I’m not ashamed to admit that Episode 5 of IT: Welcome to Derry had me clutching my couch pillow like it was the last life preserver on the Titanic. This is the hour the prequel series desperately needed — the moment the show slammed its foot on the accelerator, swerved into nightmare territory, and finally brought Pennywise back into the spotlight, red balloons and all.
We’re now officially past the world-building phase. Gone are the early-season days of cryptic hints and blink-and-you’ll-miss-them clown sightings. In Episode 5, titled in spirit: Welcome To Actual Horror, We Finally Delivered The Clown You Paid Your Subscription For, Bill Skarsgård returns as Pennywise the Dancing Demon, and he shows up like he never left. If you were worried this prequel would treat the clown like HBO sometimes treats dragons — sparingly and for special occasions — rest easy. Episode 5 is here to drag you face-first into the filthy heart of the Neibolt tunnels.
And friends… the muck is glorious.
Inside the Fallout of Episode 4: Derry Throws a Punch, Episode 5 Lands the Knockout
The cold open continues right where Episode 4 left us: Dick Hallorann exiting Taniel’s mind like he just backed out of the world’s worst VR experience. Taniel’s unconscious, Leroy Hanlon wants answers, and General Shaw looks like a man who knows he’s pushing buttons he probably shouldn’t. I always love when Derry lore intersects with government stupidity. It’s the same joy I get watching Jurassic Park every time Hammond insists his park has things “under control.” Sure, buddy. And sure, General Shaw — nothing ever goes wrong when the military goes spelunking after 400-year-old cosmic evil.
This section of the episode is dense with world-building, but not the slow, padded kind. We’re getting the kind of lore that only exists in Stephen King’s universe — secret orders, mystical daggers, psychic lineages, and generational trauma that’s basically a family inheritance coupon. Taniel’s role in this ancient Indigenous order adds a new layer to the Derry mythos, and while the show sometimes stumbles when blending political urgency with paranormal dread, Episode 5 finally finds the right rhythm. The Cold War tension feels less like a narrative backdrop and more like a reminder of human arrogance: everyone thinks they can weaponize fear until fear starts ripping their friends apart.
Lilly and Marge Reunite: The Heartbeat Before the Terror
Amid the sewers and body horror, the show still gives its kids space to breathe — well, as much as anyone can breathe in Derry without inhaling PTSD. Lilly and Marge reuniting in the hospital is the kind of tender moment the series has been smart enough to sow throughout the season. These kids feel real, grounded, messy, like the 1960s equivalents of the kids I grew up biking with, except instead of worrying about missed curfews, they’re trying not to get folded like origami by a clown demon.
Marge, one eye bandaged, jokes through her pain in a way that only kids who have seen too much too young can. Lilly, for all her fierce determination, carries that crushing guilt that every horror protagonist inevitably develops. Episode 5 builds their bond even stronger right before metaphorically dangling them over a sewer grate, and it pays off when the real madness begins.
And then it happens: Matty shows up. Alive. Weak. Pale. Talking about how Pennywise let him live just long enough to marinate in fear like a human-sized crockpot roast. The moment he emerges from that tent near the standpipe, I felt the exact same chill the 1990 mini-series gave me when Georgie’s paper boat floated toward that storm drain. King’s universe always shines when it balances impossible horror with quiet, mundane terror, and Matty’s survival — if you can even call it that — is the most unsettling reveal yet.
The Military Raid on the Neibolt House: The Show Goes Full Doom Level
Every IT adaptation eventually finds its way back to the Neibolt house, and I’m thrilled to report that Welcome to Derry gives it the full Dead Space treatment. There’s something perversely satisfying about watching camo-clad military men with rifles learn the exact same lesson every kid in King’s universe already knows: guns do nothing against a creature that exists somewhere between nightmare logic and multidimensional subway gremlin.
As the soldiers descend into the tunnels beneath Neibolt, the show calibrates itself into perfect horror mode. Waist-deep water. Flashlight beams cutting through heavy darkness. That echoing, impossible silence you only get in haunted places or after a free trial expires. When Hallorann’s visions kick in — his grandfather materializing like a rage-glitched NPC, the bathroom morphing, the clown-laughter leaking into the edges — it’s the best example yet of the show blending supernatural horror with trauma-borne psychological horror.
Then Uncle Sam’s skeleton shows up like the world’s worst Fourth of July parade float and straight-up mauls soldiers. At this point, my popcorn bowl was useless — I needed something stronger, like holy water or just a heavy blanket to hide under.
The Kids Enter the Sewers: Peak Nightmare Fuel
Meanwhile, the kids decide to dive straight into the monster’s stomach. And because this is Derry, they do it high on Lilly’s mom’s anxiety pills. Not a metaphor. An actual plot point. Watching them stumble through the tunnel system, drug-slowed and terrified, is like watching Stand By Me but with the threat of spontaneous disembowelment.
When the floating corpses of their friends start appearing, twirling, singing — that’s when the episode fully transforms into a clown-fueled fever dream. And Matty’s final transition into Pennywise? Chef’s kiss. This is the first time this series truly weaponizes Skarsgård, giving him room not just to be scary but to take joy in the hunt.
Lilly’s Final Stand: Pennywise Meets His Match
The best moment of the episode isn’t the kills, the visions, or even Uncle Sam being one patriotic nightmare. It’s Lilly, cornered, shaking, face-to-face with a shapeshifting monster wearing her dead father’s broken body like cosplay. Pennywise lunges, ready to bite — and then snaps still, mid-kill, like a corrupted video frame.
The glowing dagger Taniel dropped earlier is shining next to Lilly, freezing the clown in place.
It’s the first moment Pennywise doesn’t feel omnipotent. The first crack in the monster’s armor. And seeing Lilly muster the courage to pick up that dagger, trembling but alive, is one of the strongest character beats of the entire show so far.
The Ending: Hallorann’s Nightmare Has Just Started
The episode closes on Dick Hallorann stumbling out of the sewer, one man, one soul, carrying enough fear to power a small New England town. And then Pauly reappears — eyes white, body wrong, an echo of what he used to be. Hallorann’s box of fears swings wide open like a cursed jack-in-the-box ready to unleash the kind of psychological horror only Stephen King could dream up.
It’s brutal. It’s chilling. It promises Episode 6 is about to get even darker.
