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Pennywise’s lurking terror continues to take over the town in ‘It: Welcome to Derry,’ as the eldritch horror’s feeding spree stays unbroken. Episode 2, titled ‘The Thing in the Dark,’ picks up right after the horrifying, bloodfest at the theater, which resulted in the death of three children. Of the two survivors, Ronnie and Lily, the latter finds herself in a tough spot as she’s forced to remain the only witness to a brutal case whose real facts might just end up landing her back in the madhouse. However, in the absence of any concrete answers, Ronnie’s father, Hank, the projectionist at the theater, ends up being implicated in the mess. Meanwhile, Leroy Hanlon’s family finally arrives in town. As Charlotte and young Will settle into their new home, the Major himself learns some hard truths about the real reason behind his stationing in the eerie town. SPOILERS AHEAD!
Hank Grogan Becomes the Prime Suspect of the Theater Attack
After It attacks Teddy and the others at the local theater, Lily emerges from the incident as the sole survivor, alongside Ronnie. Since the latter was never in the actual screening room, it leaves the former as the only witness to her friends’ mysterious deaths. Naturally, the authorities retain no actual leads from her statement. Even so, they set their sights on a prime suspect: Hank Grogan, the projectionist who was previously hounded by the cops after Matty’s disappearance. Despite Lily’s insistence that Hank was not present at the scene of the crime, the bigoted cops are eager to pin the blame on someone to deliver a satisfactory conclusion to the case. Therefore, they start lurking around the Grogan residence, sniffing around for any dirt.
Amidst the growing tensions around the house, Ronnie also receives a terrifying visit from It, wherein she is haunted by the monstrous spectre of her mother, who died, likely during childbirth. The visit instills a greater fear in the kid about her father’s fate, which compels her to visit Lily at the school. During lunch, she urges the other girl to tell the authorities the actual truth about the night at the theater so that they would be forced to drop their bogus, racist theory. Nonetheless, Lily remains scared about what would happen to her if she actually tells the truth about watching her friends get torn apart by a mutant, gargoyle-esque flying baby. Given her track record, she already has an intimate knowledge of what happens to kids who are deemed insane by the adults in their lives. Therefore, in an effort to save herself another trip to the Juniper Hill Asylum, a place of nightmares, she refuses to modify her statement to include the real truth of the events.
Hanlon Learns the Truth About the Air Force Base’s Top Secret Project
The few days that follow the arrival of Hanlon’s wife and son in town prove to be particularly eventful for the Major. While Charlotte remains perturbed by the town’s tendency to look the other way toward everyday injustice, like kids bullying one another, Will faces the brunt of the same phenomenon as the new kid in a predominantly white school. Inversely, Hanlon finds himself dealing with a different peculiarity. At the air base, the Chief informs him that one of his attackers has been caught and identified as Masters, one of the racist officers at the base. His motivations behind the attack had more to do with his dislike of the Major than any Russian-spying purposes. Still, Hanlon can’t help but remain suspicious of the entire affair. During the attack, his assailant had used a specialized handgun from Russia that takes years of training to master.
As such, Hanlon ends up paying Masters a visit in an effort to prove that he isn’t the real attacker and had instead submitted a false confession. Once his theory is concluded to be correct, as proven by Masters’ inability to use the same gun from the night of the attack, the Chief finally reveals the truth to the Major. As it turns out, the entire debacle, the attack, and Masters’ fake confession, was an orchestration set up as a test to determine Hanlon’s skills and loyalty. The real reason behind his arrival at the base isn’t a rare plane model, but rather a high-profile assignment. Apparently, the Chief has learned about an elusive weapon hiding in Derry that is strong enough to kill people through the sheer terror that it harbors. With Dick Halloran’s help, the base has been running a secret project, digging up various sites to find this weapon. Hanlon has been assigned to the same case to help Dick and the others in their search. Shortly afterward, the mission bears promising fruit as one of he dig sites excavates a mysterious car from the depths of the earth, populated with skeletons of a dead family.
The Police Arrest Hank Grogan, and Lily Gets Sent to Juniper Hill
As the case of Teddy and the other kids’ deaths remains unsolved, the authorities of Derry begin to get restless. The fact that the bodies of none of the kids had been retrieved is devastating enough on its own. Therefore, the governor and other officials are eager for Police Chief Clin Bowers to close the investigation as soon as possible. During a conversation at a bar, they make it quite clear that they don’t care whether or not the person who gets blamed for the incident is actually guilty or not. The implication remains clear: Bowers has to find a way to arrest Hank or risk losing his job in the future. As a result, the Chief ends up cutting Lily’s school day short and bringing her into the police station for another round of questioning.
This time, Bowers makes subtle threats about how, without any actual suspect, the sole witness of the event, Lily, would begin to look suspicious to the general public. Her recorded history of mental health struggles will only add further fire to this theory, compelling people to call for her admission to the insane asylum sooner or later. Afterward, Bowers asks her if she can be certain Hank wasn’t at the theater, tricking her into giving a statement that would allow the cops to bring the projectionist in. Unsurprisingly, this invites a lot of anger from Ronnie, who feels betrayed by her friend. To make matters worse, a visit from It at the supermarket results in a destructive emotional breakdown, which puts a stain on Lily’s reputation. In the end, despite everything, the kid finds herself once again accused of insanity, leading to an admission at Juniper Hill.
Read More: It Welcome to Derry Episode 1 Recap: Matty’s Disappearance
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