It Welcome to Derry Episode 1 Recap: Matty’s Disappearance

”It: Welcome to Derry” invites the viewers back into the horrifying titular town in Maine, a good few decades prior to its appearance in Andy Muschietti’s ”It” films. The HBO Max show, set in the 1960s, finds its footing right on the cusp of what seems to be the feeding spree of It, better known as Pennywise, the Dancing Clown. This time around, an unfortunate soul by the name of Matty becomes the eldritch horror’s target, as he’s abducted by a strange family during a wayward attempt to flee from his abusive home. Months later, one of his only friends, Lilly, begins to hear inexplicable sounds from her bathtub drain, which compels her to take up an investigation into the town’s uncanny love affair with missing children cases. In this ill-advised quest, the young girl finds herself teaming up with conspiracy fanatics, Teddy and Phil, who carry a guilty conscience of their own, as well as Ronnie, whose connection to Matty promises to be a valuable asset. However, as these kids blindly dive headfirst into trouble, their fates unsurprisingly become clouded with uncertainty. SPOILERS AHEAD!

The Night Matty’s Nightmares Come True

Matty is a pre-teen kid known for sneaking in and out of the local movie theater on a daily basis. While this drives the Usher, Cal, mad, the kid has fond allies at the confectionery stand in Hank and his young daughter, Ronnie. Even so, while they help him hide after he gets caught during the screening of ‘The Music Man’ one night, the kid has to bolt out of the theater to truly escape Cal’s punishment. In the aftermath, the kid finds himself trudging the snowy streets of Derry, Maine, armed with nothing but his out-of-place yellow pacifier. As he walks further and further away from the town, likely in an attempt to run away from an abusive house, his attempts at hitching a ride are mostly unsuccessful. That is, until one family car finally stops for him, eagerly allowing him passage in their backseat. The strangers, a couple of parents, their two children, and one on the way, initially seem unsuspicious.

However, it doesn’t take long before Matty begins to notice their unnerving eccentricities. The teenage daughter has a Tupperware labeled livers, that don’t necessarily look like they belong to any animal. Alternatively, the younger son is obsessed with spelling increasingly more ominous words, the most notable one being “trouble.” As the atmosphere inside the car becomes more and more tense, the mother ends up going into labor, giving birth to an actual, horrifyingly mutated baby with gargoyle-like, fleshy wings. Chaos erupts soon thereafter, with the baby flying around the sealed car, causing incredible havoc. Although Matty tries to hide from the horror unfolding in front of his eyes, it’s no use, especially as the window breaks and leaves his comfort pacifier to the wind. Four months later, there has been no update about Matty, whose disappearance has long since turned into an assumed death.

Leroy Hanlon Arrives at the Derry Air Force Base

In April of 1962, four months after Matty’s deathly supernatural encounter, Derry oversees some new action, this time of the natural variety. Major Leroy Hanlon and Captain Pauly Russo arrive at the Air Force Base in Derry. Their homecoming lacks fanfare and, in fact, seems to attract the racist ire of some of the squadron officers, who seem intent on undermining Hanlon’s authority on the basis of his African-American identity. Nonetheless, General Shaw, who is in charge of the base, quickly shuts down any such behavior, seemingly holding no tolerance for bigoted intolerance.

Later, a conversation in Shaw’s office reveals that Hanlon has arrived in Derry to be a part of some test program to operate and master the B-52 aircraft. Furthermore, there are some allusions to the Major’s time in Korea, where he fought the war. His reluctance to talk about his time overseas, or the mysterious injury he sustained during that time, makes it clear that he regrets the unsuccessful nature of that mission. Nevertheless, he’s looking forward to a new chapter in his life in Derry. While he has plans of staying on the base for a few days, he’s also expecting the arrival of his family, who will be relocating to the new city with him.

Lily and Teddy Float on Its Radar

Four months to the day of Matty’s disappearance proves to be a difficult day for some. Although the kid never had many friends, he used to hang around Teddy and Phil, a pair of best friends who were secretly paid in candy to keep Matty company. While the latter seems to have moved on from his classmate’s ambiguous fate, Teddy remains plagued by it. On the other hand, another kid, Lily, a perpetual social outcast, also finds herself missing her lost friend. A few years ago, Lily’s father died in a freak accident at the jarring factory. The kid, who was present during the incident, never quite recovered from the horror and continues to face the brunt of her classmates’ ridicule because of it. For the same reason, Matty, who was understanding and empathetic of her trauma, was all the more special to her.

However, days before his disappearance, an unexpected romantic advance from Matty’s side had left a crack in their bond. While reminiscing about all of these things in preparation for a nighttime bath, Lily notices an eerie voice coming from her shower drain. The voice sounds like Matty singing, who later informs her that he’s being kept hostage in the sewers. The next day, Lily decides to reach out to Teddy and Phil, expecting them to care about their mutual friend’s fate. Although Phil instantly rebuffs the idea, his best friend seems more open to its possibility. The following night, when his nightmares come true as he’s chased by a lamp made out of human skin, he’s inclined to concede some credibility to Lily’s experiences. As a result, the trio ends up investigating the night of Matty’s disappearance, which brings them to Ronnie.

Hanlon Receives an Unfriendly Late Night Visit

During Leroy Hanlon’s first night at the Air Base, something uncanny unravels in his solo bunk. An ominous figure wearing a gas mask lurks in the shadows before inevitably attacking the Major in his sleep. Fortunately, the latter’s reflexes are quick and allow him to fight back against his assailant. Yet, when the attacker receives some backup, in the form of another masked individual, Hanlon finds himself outnumbered. However, the scene is starkly different than the hauntings that have previously unraveled in the story. This is because the attack is not the work of some supernatural entity but rather corporeal humans with their own agendas.

This becomes all the more clear when the attackers hold Hanlon at gunpoint and make their demands from the Air Force Major. Apparently, they’re after the specs of the B-52 aircraft, intending to learn all of its secrets, from speed range and flight ceilings to details about its arms and ammunition. Despite the clear threat they present, Hanlon refuses to disclose any state secrets, standing up to the attackers even in the face of the wrong end of a gun. Fortunately, the ruckus from the attack alerts his partner, Russo, who manages to break in through the door in the nick of time. As a result, the duo manages to run the attackers out of the barracks. Still, with the masked individuals’ identities hidden, it’s evident that the threat hasn’t been totally erased yet.

A Horrifying Screening at the Theater

Although Ronnie is reluctant to help out Lily and the others, their conversation about uncanny voices singing from the shower drain ends up catching her attention. As it turns out, the kid has also been hearing eerie mutterings and singing for a long time now, starting some time around Matty’s disappearance. Unlike Lily, she has been able to identify the song as a number from the musical ‘The Music Man,’ the last film Matty saw before his alleged death. As such, she finds herself helping the kids sneak into the local theater after hours to screen the film for them so that they can confirm everyone was hearing the same song. While she preps stuff in the projection room, the other kids end up having an emotional moment, grieving over Matty’s fate.

However, things take an even weirder turn once the film begins playing and the song comes onto the screen. On the big screen, Matty is clearly visible as one of the faces in the large crowd in the song. Furthermore, as Lily and the others begin calling out to him, he even responds to their voices, turning to face the audience. Nonetheless, instead of finding comfort in his friends’ presence, he begins hurling accusations at them, blaming them for his demise. Shortly afterward, the same mutant gargoyle-baby that attacked him flies out of the screen and begins attacking the other kids. By the time Ronnie is able to rush out of the projection room and come to her friend’s rescue, most of them, including Teddy, Phil, and the latter’s younger sister, are already dead. The sole survivor of the incident, Lily, is drenched in her friend’s blood, still holding onto the young girl’s detached arm.