'IT: Welcome to Derry's shocking episode 1 ending, explained
There is only one acceptable reaction to the ending of IT: Welcome to Derry's first episode, and it's "What in the world just happened?"
While the entire episode is filled to the brim with horrifying scares (and Stephen King Easter eggs), its final moments deliver an unforgettable bloodbath that comes with the chilling message that no one in the show is safe. Let's break it down.
What happens at the end of IT: Welcome to Derry episode 1?
Much of Welcome to Derry's first episode focuses on uniting several of Derry's children in the search for missing kid Matty (Miles Ekhardt). There's "Loony" Lilly Bainbridge (Clara Stack), who's bullied at school over her father's gruesome death; oddball best friends Phil (Jack Legault) and Teddy (Mikkal Karim-Fidler); Phil's little sister Susie (Matilda Legault); and Ronnie (Amanda Christine), the last child to see Matty alive.
As the crew comes together, it feels like IT: Welcome to Derry is assembling its own version of the Losers Club from Stephen King's IT and the ensuing film adaptations. However, it quickly subverts that expectation by fully murdering several of these children in gruesome fashion, reminding you not to expect a straightforward rehash of IT and its own Losers Club.
It all kicks off when Lilly hears Matty singing an eerie rendition of "Ya Got Trouble" from The Music Man in her shower pipes. Ronnie puts the pieces together and remembers that The Music Man was also the movie Matty snuck into on the night he disappeared. She screens The Music Man for Lilly, Phil, Teddy, and Susie at the Derry movie theater in the hopes of getting some answers.
However, as Harold Hill sings about the trouble facing River City onscreen, the kids run into some trouble of their own. Matty appears in the movie, holding a swaddled baby and flanked by the eerie family who kidnapped him at the start of the episode. As he smiles a classic Pennywise (Bill Skarsgård) grin, Matty reveals that the baby he's holding is none other than the mutant winged creature from Welcome to Derry's unsettling opening sequence. He unleashes the creature — now much, much bigger — into the audience, where it tears into Phil, Teddy, and Susie. Of the five children who entered the theater, only Lilly and Ronnie make it out.
Don’t miss out on our latest stories: Add Mashable as a trusted news source in Google.
Could Phil, Teddy, or Susie still be alive?
A rule of thumb in TV and film is that if we don't see a body, we don't have explicit confirmation that any character is actually dead. In the case of Welcome to Derry's final scene, we know that Teddy is definitely dead, as the baby rips him in half and slams him into the projection booth. It's the first on-screen kill of the show, and it's fittingly brutal (and leaves no room for doubt).
But Phil and Susie's fates are still up in the air. In Phil's case, literally up in the air, as the last we see of him is the flying baby dragging him up towards the ceiling. Later, the baby chomps down on Susie's arm, severing it from her body. From there, we get no more glimpses of the unfortunate siblings, but based on Lilly telling Ronnie, "They're all gone," it's fairly clear that the pair are dead. Even if they are alive, what's the alternative? Getting carried off to Pennywise's lair? At that point, you're as good as killer clown food.
New episodes of IT: Welcome to Derry premiere Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and HBO Max.
Topics HBO
Belen Edwards is an Entertainment Reporter at Mashable. She covers movies and TV with a focus on fantasy and science fiction, adaptations, animation, and more nerdy goodness. She is a member of the Critics Choice Association and the Television Critics Association, as well as a Tomatometer-approved critic.
