It Welcome to Derry Episode 5 – “Neibolt Street”
He’s baaaaack!
Warning: This review contains spoilers for It – Welcome to Derry episode 5.
That’s right – the demon baby is gone for good (I hope) and the clown is in town. Pennywise (Bill Skarsgard) finally shows up in the second half of It Welcome to Derry episode 5, menacing kids and soldiers alike deep in the bowels of the Derry sewers.
This episode continues to add to the mythology. The local Native tribe knows that the entity has poisoned Derry’s water supply like a hallucinogenic drug – an explanation for its ability to create vivid visions.
This is interesting, but I’m not sure we need an intricate mythology for the “it” entity. Horror villains become less effective when they lose any sense of mystery (like Michael Myers in the “Thorn” storyline of Halloween 4-6). Do we really need to know everything about Pennywise?
The gang of plucky kids expands in this episode. After surviving her eye-popping encounter with the entity, Marge renounces her mean girl ways and restores her friendship with Lilly. She’s not the only addition. Remember Matty from the first episode’s prologue? He’s somehow back and ready to join the fray. Or is he?
Speaking of the kids, Rich (Arian S. Cartaya) is growing on me. His friendship with Will and budding crush on Marge add much needed levity to this series. He’s an energetic, charismatic kid, and I actually care about what happens to him. I’m also hoping that Lilly, Ronnie, and Will make it out of this ordeal alive. If you can make me care about the characters (well, some of them) you’ve got me hooked.
The kid storyline and military storyline begin to truly intersect in this episode. The army wants to find and capture the entity so that it can somehow use it as an asset against Soviet Russia. Obviously, this isn’t going to work. The tribe warns them to knock it off, but since when has the U.S. military ever listened to indigenous folks? This storyline is rather ridiculous, but I’m interested to see how it plays out.
Episode 5 showcases a potential Achilles’ heel for the entity – an ancient magical shard. The kids flee through the sewer tunnels after encountering Pennywise, but Lilly falls behind and gets lost. Pennywise seems to have Lilly dead to rights in the episode’s final moments but, through a twist of luck or fate, the shard protects her from harm.
Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for Captain Russo (Rudy Mancuso). He’s accidentally shot by Major Hanlon (Jovan Adepo), who is being manipulated by Pennywise. Hanlon is becoming increasingly suspicious of the military operation. Maybe he and Dick Halloran can join forces with the kids.
While he makes an impressive impact, Skarsgard still receives little screentime here. Hopefully the final three episodes will feature him in a central role. The stuff he does in episode 5 is great, but we need more of it!
Rating
“Neibolt Street” is bolstered by Pennywise’s long awaited debut and a harrowing finale in the sewers. It is the strongest episode of the series so far.
Rating from 1 (avoid at all costs) to 10 (masterpiece) 8.5
Stream It Welcome to Derry episode 5 below:
