Time for another recap of IT: Welcome to Derry. After Episode 2, Episode 3 is here in wonderful form revealing more of the town’s secrets. Alright, everyone. Let’s jump in to another recap. As always, beware the spoilers.
IT
A young boy named Francis visits a 1908 carnival, where a barker lures him into a house of mirrors and freak show. Inside, he glimpses a lurking figure who turns out to be an old vagrant, frightening him into fleeing. His father scolds him for being a “sissy.” When their car breaks down on the way home, Francis is sent to buy water from Native Americans at the roadside. Lacking five cents, he trades the slingshot his father won for him. He later plays with the Native American girl and her friends, ignoring her warning about the woods. He encounters the vagrant again, who reveals itself as IT. As IT attacks, the girl saves Francis by hitting IT with a rock using the slingshot, allowing them to escape.
In 1962, at Juniper Hills Sanitarium, a doctor updates Lilly’s mother on her condition. Lilly confides in a nurse that she feels responsible for Ronnie’s father’s arrest, and the nurse returns her charm bracelet. At the Derry jail, the police chief questions Hank Grogan about his whereabouts on the night of the child murders, revealing that an eyewitness saw him on Jackson Street.
At Derry High School, Ronnie’s locker is vandalized with “Hatchet Hank is going to fry!” Lilly brings her rubbing alcohol and vows to tell the police what she saw at the theater, even though she expects not to be believed. She proposes taking photographs of IT to prove Hank’s innocence.
General Shaw and Colonel Fuller examine photos of a car found at a dig site and assign Dick Hallorann to fly over the area with Major Hanlon. Shaw gives Fuller a cigar box meant to motivate Dick. During a rainy day in camp, Dick is retrieved from a collapsing tent and introduced to Hanlon and Captain Russo. When Dick opens the cigar box, he discovers the slingshot Francis once traded away, revealing that the Native girl grew up to be Rose, the local antique shop owner. A flashback shows Francis and the girl escaping the woods, where she explains that IT cannot leave the tree line.
At a tribal meeting, members discuss the military’s activities at the dig site. A young man reports that the unearthed car belonged to a gang involved in a 1935 massacre. Rose volunteers to investigate firsthand.
The Shining
Aboard the helicopter, Dick uses a psychic trance to guide the crew toward the real buried weapon. His vision places him in Derry’s sewers before Pennywise’s carnival wagon, where a woman warns him to flee. In reality, he opens the helicopter’s ramp while entranced but is saved by Hanlon. Later, in the base infirmary, General Shaw asks Dick whether he saw IT. Dick says IT saw him. Shaw offers assistance, and Dick asks only for better downtime accommodations for his airmen. He privately warns Shaw that pursuing IT is extremely dangerous.
At a diner, Rico and Will are interrupted by Ronnie and Lilly, who ask Will to help them develop film for their evidence plan. Later, Rico teases Will about having a crush on Ronnie, which Will denies.
At the antique store, General Shaw, now known to be Francis, visits Rose. They reminisce about their forgotten childhood together and discuss the military’s “soil samples.” A flashback shows Francis leaving Derry when his father received orders. Rose warned him that Derry makes people forget, even when they don’t want to.
Ronnie, Lilly, Rico, and Will visit the Derry Standpipe to plan photography of IT. They note that IT rarely shows its true form. Rico claims IT is an evil spirit his Santería priest-grandfather told him about, prompting Lilly to ask if he knows how to draw such a spirit out.
Dick later joins Major Hanlon’s family for dinner. The conversation reveals that Charlotte is “overqualified” for local work and had been active in the civil rights movement. This contributed to their relocation. Dick hints at his psychic abilities, his “Shining”, and Hanlon warns him to stay out of his mind. Dick replies that Hanlon is not someone he would “fuck with.”
The kids attempt to summon IT with a fake prayer circle fabricated by Rico. Ronnie storms off when she believes Will doesn’t trust her, and IT arrives, splitting them up in the cemetery. Using spirits of dead children, IT chases each of them. Their camera is repeatedly lost and recovered until it lands at Will’s feet, where he is attacked by a mummy-like figure. Will returns with his broken bike, apologizing. The group reconciles and breaks into the high school darkroom to develop the film. The photos reveal Susie, Phil, and a clownlike figure in the crypt, whose eyes suddenly glow, revealing that it is IT.
