(Warning: Spoilers ahead.)

Killing off more than half the kids featured on the first It: Welcome to Derry poster was an unexpected, audacious way to conclude the premiere. While it was shocking, heartstrings remained untugged; eyes were dry…until now. Enter—or should I say exit— Rich Santo (Arian S. Cartaya), whose sacrifice in the show’s penultimate episode is top-tier tear-jerker material.

The HBO horror prequel to one of Stephen King’s scariest novels is a gorefest. The high body count is matched by the gallons of blood and extreme VFX. Still, rather than becoming desensitized to the unfolding extreme violence, the showdown at the Black Spot is an emotionally gutting and brutal inferno lasting 10 minutes. It will be hard to forget.

Given how much the young Derry residents have been

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