INSTANT REACTION — WELCOME TO DERRY EPISODE 4: “THE GREAT SWIRLING APPARATUS OF OUR PLANET’S FUNCTION”

Charlotte Hanlon pushes for the truth as Pennywise’s presence begins to surface in Episode 4.

Episode four of Welcome to Derry delivers the most culturally layered, socially pointed, and mythologically rich entry of the season so far — and still manages to hit you with a brutal reminder that yes, beneath all the racial tension, generational trauma, and Native history… you are still watching It.

This week’s installment pivots its attention toward Charlotte Hanlon (the always-solid Taylour Paige), who steps fully into the spotlight as the series’ moral engine. Determined to uncover why Ronnie’s father Hank was arrested and now headed to Shawshank, she pushes deeper into a justice system built to shut her down. Paige plays Charlotte as a woman who refuses to be intimidated — even when the police and the town’s old guard clearly want her quiet.

At the same time, the Hanlon household is cracking. Charlotte interrogates young Will about his sudden attitude shift, and he deflects with the guarded paranoia of a kid dealing with far more than he can articulate. The show continues to do a great job showing how family pressure, social pressure, and supernatural pressure all collide in small-town America.

Meanwhile, Lily and Marge circle back toward their friendship, though, of course, Derry’s mean-girl ecosystem feels one prank away from full Carrie mode. (A perfect King nod, intentional or not.)

But the biggest shift of the episode?

Major Hanlon finally has his first direct encounter with It.

With the red balloon making its long-awaited reappearance, the show officially signals that the slow burn is over — the entity is beginning to reveal itself to the adults as well as the kids. The series has been teasing the dread; now it’s starting to let it breathe.

Episode four also deepens the Native American lens on the creature through Joshua Odjick’s character and the introduction of Taniel. Their scenes expand the mythology into something older, more spiritual, and more rooted in stolen land and generational pain. Their tribe has a name for It, a history with It, and warnings that have carried through time — warnings the town has always chosen to ignore.

And then there’s the Marge sequence. A violent, disorienting, unmistakably It-style nightmare that drops straight into the episode like a razor through silk. It’s grisly, bizarre, and absolutely necessary — a reminder from the showrunners: “Yes, we’re talking about oppression, migration, racism, and cultural erasure… but don’t forget what this world really is.” A world governed by a cosmic predator.

This is the episode that proves Welcome to Derry isn’t just expanding King’s universe — it’s reclaiming it. Black history, Native history, and supernatural horror are braided together into something fresh, urgent, and unsettling.

Rating: 4 out of 5 from us at Horror Movies Uncut. Pennywise is coming — and the show is finally leaning in.