After the big discovery at the end of last week’s episode, the secret military operation is on high alert going into this week of IT: Welcome to Derry. But before we get into Shaw’s next plan, we learn about some of his childhood. Episode 3 opens with a flashback to 1908, showing a young Shaw walking through a carnival with his dad.
Shaw and Rose’s summer
Shaw is easily scared by attractions at the carnival, including a very creepy elderly man missing an eye. But the most memorable part of his day is when his dad’s car breaks down on the way home, and he meets a Native American girl named Rose. This is the same Rose who owns the second-hand shop in Derry in present day.
It becomes evident through flashbacks that Shaw and Rose spent a lot of time together one summer, including an incident in the woods where that same old man from the carnival chases him down in the woods, turning into a huge, spider-like creature.
Back to 1962, and Lilly is leaving Juniper Hill, still struggling with whether to tell the truth about Ronnie’s dad or not. At school, she tells Ronnie all that’s happened to her and says that even if she does tell the police, no one would believe her. They need proof. Lilly proposes they try to capture the monsters on camera, but they need someone to help them develop the photos.
Dick’s close call
At the military base, Shaw and Fuller are confused about the discovery and need real answers. They recruit Dick again, this time having him flown around in one of their planes to see if he senses anything around. While on the plane, he begins to feel something, and suddenly he’s walking through water to something ahead. There’s a stage with Pennywise’s name on a door. The door falls down, and glowing eyes appear, asking Dick, “Who are you?”
Dick then sees visions of people dying in war, as objects begin falling from the sky. As he looks up, he sees people floating in the air, one telling him he needs to get out of there. Suddenly, Dick snaps out of it, and he’s back on the plane, only the cargo door is wide open, exposing the back of it. Fortunately, Leroy is there to save him from flying out.
Dick debriefs with Shaw later, telling him he felt like whatever he saw was not meant to be seen. He thinks that something bad will happen if they keep pursuing this thing, and he doesn’t want to continue. But, of course, he doesn’t give the orders.
Disturbing Derry
We then get a bit about Rose’s life. She’s taking part in a town council meeting with other Native Americans in town, talking about the car the military dug out. This is when we learn one of the dead people inside was Al Bradley, who was part of the Bradley Gang Massacre of 1935—the same one from the book, from 1929. People are upset about the military’s digs, as they could be disturbing sacred remains, but Rose suggests sending a cease and desist letter before getting more involved.
After receiving the cease and desist, Shaw goes to visit Rose, acknowledging it had been 50 years since they last saw each other. Shaw lies about why they’re performing the digs and offers to work with her so that they can avoid any important areas. She seems open to it and tells him she’ll talk to the council about it.
Shaw makes a few interesting comments when seeing Rose again, mentioning that he hadn’t even remembered her—or Derry. This, along with another flashback of the two, stresses an overarching theme that the town makes people forget things. It doesn’t seem surprising to Rose that his memories disappeared.
Lilly and Ronnie’s plan
Lilly and Ronnie enlist Will and Rich to help them take photos, explaining everything that’s happened to them. While discussing the situation at the secret hangout spot, Rich begins telling them about his uncle, who knew how to conjure evil spirits. That’s enough of an idea for Lilly and Ronnie, who convince the boys to go with them to a cemetery to try to do it.
Over at Leroy and Charlotte’s, Dick comes over for dinner to get to know the couple a bit better. At one point, Dick asks where Will is, which confuses Leroy. While they’re alone, he confronts Dick, saying he never told him he had a son. He understands Dick has some special power and tells him to stay out of his head. Dick, on the other hand, is happy to. He explains that while he was in his head during the attack on base, he realized he had no fear, and because of that, he has no plans to mess with him.
The kids try their hand at conjuring a spirit, but after a while with no success, they give up. Ronnie gets upset that Will doesn’t believe what she saw, and the girls leave. As they start to bike home, the exit to the cemetery somehow keeps getting further and further, while statues begin to move and tombstones crack. Of course, they did conjure a spirit, after all. But not just one.
Getting closer to IT
Ghosts of their friends who were killed at the movie theater appear, flying through the air after them. They try to take photos but aren’t able to, that is, until Will catches the camera and gets left behind. He finds himself in front of a mausoleum and follows a spirit in there. When the other kids find him, he now believes Ronnie and Lilly.
The group sneaks into Derry High School to use the darkroom in secret, and to their relief, it’s working. They look through the photos, most disturbed at the last one, which shows glowing eyes from the mausoleum. It’s a clown.
Episode 3 of IT: Welcome to Derry slows things down just a tiny bit compared to the first two episodes, but there’s still excitement and intrigue. Plus, we’re getting closer, it seems, to seeing Pennywise. That reveal is going to be awesome.
Watch new episodes of IT: Welcome to Derry on HBO and HBO Max every Sunday night at 9:00 p.m. ET, and check back with us at Show Snob for our weekly recaps.