Ahhh yes…clowns. Murderous clowns. Pennywise, the OG. Similarly to the Predator series, the IT franchise was something I grew up with and associate with my childhood but not necessarily a true fan of. In fact, I don’t even know what I can consider myself a true fan of, but the point being, Stephen King was the friggin’ man back then, and if you wanted horror stories, you’d know who to go to. I say “back then” because as I read some of his newer novels decades later, I find them pretty boring and bland. I’m okay with him branching out and trying new things, but in my eyes, he’ll always be known for his older works. With Welcome to Derry, the series begins twenty-six or seven years before the IT movie setting that came out in 2017. I have since learned that Welcome to Derry is only the first of three in the series and that each one will go back another twenty-six or seven years from the previous one.

So right off the bat, we have kids. Yep. More kids to star in movies and shows. See what Stranger Things has done? But it’s okay because I don’t mind it. I’ve always thought that watching actors and actresses, regardless of age, of whom I have no idea, can be much more fun than watching Emmy and Oscar winners. Just do a friggin good job at it and you have my blessing. Initially, I was very interested in the cast of the first episode or two. Those kids did a wonderful job so far. And what do you know….they friggin went and killed them all. But I do congratulate them because in a dark series such as IT, you can’t be afraid to kill off your characters, something Stranger Things just couldn’t stand to do. OK, so the replacements. While I don’t think they were horrible, they weren’t exactly great. Of the four, I think Will was the worst. Ronnie was one-dimensional. Rich was whatever. Lily and Marge I think were the best in the group.

I mean storywise, it’s kind of the same from what I remember of the IT franchise? They obviously had to inject other plotlines to increase runtime and not focus solely on Pennywise, but were they good? Sort of. The whole military troupe is just so friggin overdone. The big bad American military is digging up something mysterious in tribal land? C’mon. What is up with Leroy Hanlon? In the beginning, we learn that he somehow isn’t capable of feeling fear. Something with his brain and whatnot, which makes him a fearless pilot fighter. I was expecting something cool and witty to happen between him and Pennywise later, because you know, the whole feeding off of fear thing. But absolutely nothing happened! They completely disregarded this point. Seeing the story of Dick Hallorann is cool. I totally forgot he was the same Dick Hallorann as in The Shining and Doctor Sleep. Had a feeling that box thing reminded me of something during the series..

So basically, I felt that the first two episodes were a really good setup. Hell, there were a couple of scenes that were actually quite freaky. But then it kind of went downhill a bit at a time afterwards. Some people were really irritated at the heavy use of CGI, and while it’s wholly necessary, they just weren’t done very well. Maybe it was on purpose? No idea, but some were really bad. The graveyard scene was just plain ol’ goofy. It literally reminded me of a live-action Scooby Doo movie or something. I feel like nitpicking a series like this, while not pointless, doesn’t exactly matter. We are here to see a killer clown. We are here to see how a band of losers each and every time come together to fight it off. It goes without saying that Bill Skarsgård did a fine job of being Pennywise.

I think this series is alright. It ain’t completely horrible, but there’s definitely some work to be done regarding some of the acting and the script for the next one. Some believed Pennywise was shown too late. I at first thought this as well but didn’t care much about it afterwards. There was enough screentime for Pennywise in the second half to make up for the first half. The last episode was just a bit messy. When the general finally got killed, I didn’t even blink an eye. It’s obvious they are trying to tell the origins of Pennywise, and while they did do this, it got kind of confusing? Like some bad alien lifeform came down to Earth in some black shard, which is also its kryptonite, and somehow, one day, it somehow chose the human Pennywise the Dancing Clown to be its host, never to leave it again? I think that’s what happened. I also wasn’t exactly sure how Hallorann was able to enter the mind of Pennywise to try and trick it in the last episode while in the back of the truck? I thought he had to be in physical contact with it or something for it to work, but at that time, they weren’t in possession of the shard knife thing. And the damn fog. Where the heck did that shit come from all of a sudden?! Anyways, Welcome to Derry is a little above average show for a popular franchise. I’ll want to see how they improve for the next one.