It Welcome to Derry Episode 6 – “In the Name of the Father”
Warning: this review contains spoilers for It Welcome to Derry episode 6
After the intensity of episode 5, “In the Name of the Father” slows the pace considerably ahead of what will presumably be a frenetic dash to the finish in episodes 7 and 8.
Both the adults and kids are angry and bickering after the deadly sewer rampage. Many of them act out in uncharacteristic ways. Lilly and Ronnie hurl insults at each other, Leroy Hanlon hits his son Will, and Dick Halloran falls into a drunken stupor. Pennywise has them right where he wants them, with both groups fraying instead of staying united.
The most interesting part of episode 6 is the new Pennywise backstory. Lilly has a terrifying encounter with Ingrid Kersh (Madeleine Stowe), the secret girlfriend of Ronnie’s father, the wrongly accused Hank Grogan. Grogan, we learn, is hiding out at The Black Spot, a Black-owned nightclub on the outskirts of town near the Air Force base.
In one of the series’ biggest twists, Ingrid reveals that her father was a circus performer back in the early 20th century. His persona? Pennywise the Dancing Clown, of course!
Ingrid claims that her father later appeared to her after he “was taken from me.” He was different, but still recognizable in his clown costume. The only way he can continue to see her is if she supplies him with children to devour. Luckily, Lilly still has her shard dagger for protection.
Obviously, Ingrid has a few screws loose, to put it mildly. Pennywise is an ancient entity from another world, so he can’t literally be her father. The series is apparently giving an explanation for how the entity created the “Pennywise” persona: it murdered Ingrid’s dad and impersonated him.
The episode adds a lighthearted touch with the budding romance between Marge (Matilda Lawler) and Rich (Arian S. Cartaya). Marge is still wearing her giant eye patch over her disfigured eye, but this doesn’t put Rich off at all. In fact, he thinks it’s cool.
By the end of the episode, Marge has become proud of her injured eye, even using to scare off some former friends. Of course, the show is probably just trying to make us care about Rich and Marge so it can brutally kill them off later.
The episode closes with a chilling cliffhanger as a masked mob descends upon The Black Spot, planning to enact vigilante justice. They’ve discovered Hank’s whereabouts and have formed a lynch mob.
Welcome to Derry has been effective at portraying several different types of evil. Along with Pennywise, it’s also depicted racism, child abuse, and corruption. We’ll have to wait until the next episode to see who survives the onslaught, but it’s safe to say things are about to become even uglier in Derry.
Rating
It Welcome to Derry episode 6 isn’t the most memorable or action packed episode, but it does provide some intriguing tidbits for the rest of the remainder of the series to explore.
Rating from 1 (avoid at all costs) to 10 (masterpiece): 7
This post contains affiliate links. If you click on a link and make a purchase, I may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.
Streaming options for It Welcome to Derry episode 6:
