Welcome To Derry, a new spinoff adding onto Stephen King’s “It” franchise, released on HBO late last year. The series tells of events following up to the first film. 

While the show was enjoyable, it had its ups and downs. 

The most outstanding element of this show is the characters. The viewers are presented with numerous well-written personas, with some scenes diving deeply into character backgrounds and life stories. With such a wide range of personalities, it is difficult to not have a character to love in this series. 

Additionally, with the series being set in 1962, it deals with touchy subjects revolving around racial discrimination and mental institutions. This is another element to the show that was done particularly well, highlighting the many issues of this time period.

The show primarily follows five adolescent children who would normally not find companionship within one another, challenged with solving the mystery of Pennywise’s existence. However, this show balances numerous plotlines within its run time, with many important events being crammed into only eight episodes.

Episodically, many moments were fast-paced and exciting. At other times, however, scenes could have had better pacing and were painfully slow. 

One controversial component to what could have been an amazing series include the numerous scenes placed in the show purely for shock factor. Many scenes are disgustingly grotesque and unnecessary, with the show potentially being better if these scenes were cut from the episodes entirely. Many viewers on social media have commented on these parts, displaying their dislike.

The plot itself was entertaining, regardless of the series’ faults. The show is a fun watch without too much commitment due to its low quantity of episodes. All in all, it is worth it to see this show through to the end.