No origin story concerning Derry, Maine, would be honest without appraising one of the most savage moments of its history: the racist arson that burned down the speakeasy known as The Black Spot. “It: Welcome to Derry” saves that brutal crime for the first season’s penultimate episode, although showrunners Jason Fuchs and Brad Caleb Kane methodically build toward it throughout the season.

Stephen King’s readers had to know that the show would get there eventually, regardless of the prequel’s time shift to 1962. Most of the contextualizing interludes in King’s 1986 novel come from Mike Hanlon, the sole Black member in the group of kids known as the Losers Club, who confront and eventually defeat the demonic entity known as Pennywise (Bill Skarsgård).

Mike hears about the raging fire at Th

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