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It’s safe to say that ‘Welcome to Derry’ could’ve simply been named ‘American Crazies’. What kind of an army hunts for a mythical entity as a weapon against their enemies? Episode 2 revealed General Francis Shaw (James Remar) has the mysterious Dick Halloran (Chris Chalk) working on a special project to locate something mythical, since the latter possesses special abilities to see things beyond the abilities of regular humans.
The creators of ‘Welcome to Derry’ are clearly aiming for out and out absurd, and it’s probably best for everybody to tweak their expectation with the story. That’s the only way horror fans are going to have fun with all the horror, gore, and weird twists in the tale.
Some viewers seem to be confused about whether ‘Welcome to Derry‘ is meant for children. It’s not. As stated in my review of the first two episodes, the violence and graphic imagery are best suited for those 16 or older. And unlike shows like ‘Stranger Things‘, where the kids’ and teens’ POV dominates the narrative, this series seems to equally divide its time between the adults and the children’s spooky experiences.
Titled “Now You See It”, episode 3 of ‘Welcome to Derry’ starts with a flashback to 1908, where a young Francis (Daniel La Torraca) is seen attending a fair. He encounters something frightening in the woods and is saved just in time by a little girl, a Native-American child. In the present timeline, the older Francis assigns Leroy Hanlon (Jovan Adepo), the new airman in town, to work on the strange, super-secret project with Dick Halloran. The men set out on a recce to find something whose true nature nobody is aware of, but Dick comes face to face with something he’d rather not have seen.
Meanwhile, the kids struggle to convince adults over the terrifying things they saw at the theater. However, Lilly Bainbridge (Clara Stack) decides to make amends with Ronnie Grogan (Amanda Christine), by offering to find proof to help clear her father’s name. Their plan? To capture the demons or whatever they are, on camera.
The girls turn to the nerdy but resourceful Will Hanlon (Blake Cameron James) for help, the new kid in their class. Although he doesn’t believe their story, he reluctantly agrees. In one of Welcome to Derry’s funniest moments so far, the kids head to a graveyard, convinced they might be able to summon the sinister entity again, complete with theatrics by Will’s new friend, Rich (Arian S. Cartaya).
I mean, what’s a horror show without kids sneaking into a cemetery to try raising the dead? It’s a classic trope horror fans never seem to tire of. And honestly, the graveyard sequence delivers, it’s spooky, entertaining, and crawling with ghosts. The tone strikes a fun balance between comedy and dread. One moment you’re laughing at the kids’ ridiculous antics, and the next you’re stressing about whether they’ll make it out alive.
‘Welcome to Derry’ episode 3 ends on a solid cliffhanger, with the children finally making a big breakthrough in their efforts to investigate the monsters that killed their friends. But the big question remains: will the adult believe them?
Episode 4, titled ‘The Great Swirling Apparatus of Our Planet’s Function’, gives viewers an interesting origin to the demonic entity haunting and terrorizing the town. A really cool cinematic sequence shows Rose (Kimberly Guerrero), the native woman who sells some furniture to Will’s mother, turn into the little girl from the 1908 flashback, who knows more of Derry’s monsters than the other locals. The casting directors have done a fabulous job in picking the older and younger versions of the character.
The origin story of Derry’s demonic entity is powerful, centuries old, passed down orally through generations among the communities of the natives. And instead of just ‘telling’ the tale through a character, the creators weave a cinematic flashback of Rose’s ancestors finding and fighting the entity.
A major sub-plot of ‘Welcome to Derry’ now involves Will’s mother Charlotte (Taylour Paige) taking an interest in Ronnie’s father and his unfair arrest. So the kids have a new ally on their side, even though Will doesn’t tell his mother about any of the supernatural stuff.
Apart from the fascinating origin story, episode 4 of ‘Welcome to Derry’ serves a grotesquely violent school incident, where a poor student is tormented by the entity (for no real reason). Lilly, Ronnie, Will, and Rich are all scared to death over what comes next for them, and rightly so!
Watch ‘It: Welcome to Derry’ on JioHotstar.
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