It: Welcome to Derry Episode 6 — “In the Name of the Father” Deepens the Myth, the Trauma, and the Terror Beneath the Town

Episode 6 exposes Derry’s darkest truths as Pennywise lore and real-world terror collide.

Episode 6 of It: Welcome to Derry, “In the Name of the Father,” is one of those chapters where the show stops feeling like a prequel novelty and steps into its own identity—haunted, painful, and constantly circling the question of who this town chooses to protect, and who it chooses to sacrifice. It’s another 4.5-level episode for us, but one that arrives with a surprising amount of psychological weight.

This hour pushes us deeper into the aftermath of Dick Halloran’s descent underground. The visions he endured in the tunnels—visions tied to Pennywise’s realm—linger over everything. And while the show hasn’t fully cracked open Halloran’s role in the greater mythology yet, it’s clear the series is using him to build connective tissue to the deeper King universe.

At the same time, the tension inside the Hanlon household hits a breaking point. Will’s near-death experience has pushed Major Hanlon into a panic-state, furious at everything he can’t control and terrified of the things he can’t accept. Charlotte feels the same tremors in the air, even if she doesn’t have the whole truth. And her entanglement with Hank Grogan continues to escalate the danger—not just for her marriage, but for the entire family. When she realizes who Hank has been sneaking around with and how he escaped, she becomes even more entangled in the chaos, even helping hide him by enlisting Black Air Force men from the community.

Lily, meanwhile, has become fixated on the sacred stone—one of the only objects believed to weaken Pennywise’s hold. Her conviction that it can kill the creature pits her directly against Ronnie, who is done with lore, done with fate, and focused entirely on her father’s survival. Their clash is one of the most emotionally grounded moments in the episode, two young girls divided by fear, loyalty, and suddenly incompatible priorities.

But nothing in this episode hits harder than watching the town of Derry flip its mask. One moment, friendly neighbors. The next, a whiskey-soaked, gun-waving mob scouring the community for Hank Grogan. The visual echo to real-world terror—yes, that kind of terror—doesn’t feel accidental. The show knows exactly what it’s doing when it pushes the racial tension to the surface. When you see the mob descend on the Black Spot, it becomes painfully clear: the horror in Derry didn’t begin with Pennywise.

The kids continue to anchor the emotional heartbeat of the series. Marge’s moment of standing up to the girls who pretended to accept her is a small but meaningful triumph—one of those rare bright spots in a story built on shadows. Meanwhile, the storyline involving Taniel and the Native American threads is conspicuously absent here. His escape from the soldiers last week seemed like the beginning of something, not the end, so the silence is noticeable. It’s safe to assume the show is holding that storyline for a late-season pivot.

What does get a spotlight here is the origin of Pennywise’s chosen form. The show is slowly unwrapping why “the clown” became its preferred face, and Episode 6 gives the clearest hints yet. Not the full answer—not even close. But enough to confirm the writers are steering toward a revelation they believe is worth saving.

Tonally, the episode leans into the broader issues simmering beneath the supernatural: the racial hostility, the systemic fear, the quiet violence of a town that only appears wholesome on the surface. HBO has made a habit of weaving Black history and generational trauma into genre work—Lovecraft Country, Watchmen—and Welcome to Derry is now firmly in that lineage. Whether that’s the version of the prequel everyone expected is another matter. But it’s undeniably compelling, even if sometimes predictable in how certain outcomes (especially those involving the Black Spot) are telegraphed.

The looming question is whether the horror will hold. The supernatural horror is still present, still pulsing, but at times it feels overshadowed by the real-world violence. And maybe that’s the point: that Pennywise was never the only monster in this town. The horror of Derry is systemic, generational, human. The clown just feeds off the rot that was already here.

Still, this episode lands with power. It’s messy and charged and unpredictable—even when you know where some of the history is going. It ends with the mob finding Hank’s hiding place, and now we’re staring at a standoff that feels both inevitable and frightening. The tension is real. The fear feels earned. And the possibility that Pennywise could sense this emotional rupture—and exploit it—feels very, very likely.

Welcome to Derry continues to surprise us with how bold it’s willing to be. Another 4.5 out of 5 for Episode 6 from HMU.

We’ll be back next Sunday for the next instant reaction. This show keeps digging deeper—into lore, into terror, and into the wounds that never healed. Whether Pennywise shows up next week or the town shows just how monstrous it can become on its own… we’ll be watching.