The pieces are finally coming together. After the gruesome tragedy at the school shop class, the children of Derry are desperate for answers and revenge. Meanwhile, General Shaw’s “Operation Precept” has moved from a theoretical mission to a tactical one.
With the military looking to weaponize fear and the new Losers’ Club looking to conquer it, all roads lead to one infamous address. The sewers are open; the clown is waiting, and the mid-season climax is here. Let’s find out what happens on “29 Neibolt Street.”
IT: Welcome to Derry — “29 Neibolt Street” — Recap
Picking up immediately after the psychic intrusion, Daniel is left physically reeling, spitting up on himself. Dick Hallorann (Chris Chalk) offers an ominous confirmation: “It’s done.” General Shaw (James Remar) is finally willing to reveal the truth. He explains that the local tribes call the artifacts “Pillars.” These are 13 items carved from the same cosmic object that the monster fell to earth in. While the natives once contained the entity, it has since broken loose.
Daniel is part of a long line of protectors. Hallorann has pulled the locations of these pillars from Daniel’s mind, giving Shaw a roadmap to retrieve them. He plans to weaponize the monster to end the Cold War. Leroy (Jovan Adepo) is furious, realizing he has been brought into a suicide mission.
At the hospital, Marge (Matilda Lawler) is recovering after mutilating her own eyes. She apologizes to Lilly (Clara Stack) for not believing her, and the two reconcile, vowing to protect each other. Later, the gang gathers on a rooftop where they are stunned to find Matty (Miles Ekhardt). He looks rough but alive. He claims he hid in the sewers, where the monster feeds at night. He delivers grim news: Teddy was killed immediately and Susie bled out, but he claims Phil is still alive, paralyzed but waiting for rescue. He is terrified to return, fearing his abusive father more than the monster.
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Elsewhere, Native elders discuss the “Augury,” a bloody event that occurs every 27 years to satiate the monster for a few decades. The town is getting nervous.
During a prison transfer, the bus carrying Hank Grogan (Stephen Rider) crashes near the Neibolt house after an attack by a grieving father. Charlotte Hanlon (Taylour Paige), witnessing the chaos, has a terrifying vision of a creepy man. Hank uses the crash to escape.
Rose confronts General Shaw (Francis), realizing the government drugged him five years ago to unlock memories of their summer together. This manipulation twisted his desire to save people into his current obsession with the weapon. Rose reconnects with Daniel, giving him a secret talisman for protection.
Leroy moves his family onto the airbase for safety. Charlotte overhears that Hank has escaped near Neibolt Street.
The storylines converge at the haunted house on Neibolt Street. The group of six, Lilly, Marge, Matty, Will, Ronnie, and Rich, descend into the sewers to save Phil. Simultaneously, the military begins its operation. It is a death trap. Soldiers are picked off in the darkness. Dick Hallorann suffers flashbacks of his abusive father while practicing his “Shining,” and Leroy hallucinates that Charlotte is attacking him.
Laughing gas begins to fill the tunnels, rendering the kids incapacitated. They find the bodies of Teddy, Susie, and Phil. They are all dead. The “Matty” they found on the roof reveals his true form, slowly shifting into Pennywise (Bill Skarsgård). This was a trap.
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In the chaos, Leroy nearly shoots his own son, Will, while hallucinating. Captain Pauly Russo (Rudy Mancuso) jumps in front of the bullet, saving Will but sacrificing his own life. Pennywise corners Lilly, but she is saved when the talisman Daniel received drives the monster back.
The next day, Hank hijacks a car driven by Ingrid Kirsch (the woman Lilly spoke to earlier). Once safely in the woods, they embrace, revealing they are allies. At the base, Leroy gives his official report on Pauly’s death, and Shaw offers hollow condolences. The episode ends with a traumatized Dick Hallorann trudging out of the sewer, where he sees a vision of the now-dead Pauly walking around.
Is the IT: Welcome to Derry episode — “29 Neibolt Street” — worth watching?
“29 Neibolt Street” finally gives us what we tuned in for. After weeks of dancing around the edges, Bill Skarsgård’s Pennywise takes center stage, and the results are terrifying. The sewer sequence is the highlight of the series so far. It uses claustrophobia, laughing gas, and nightmarish hallucinations to create a sequence that feels cinematic and dangerous. The twist with “Matty” is particularly cruel, a great piece of horror storytelling that capitalizes on the hope established in earlier scenes only to crush it.
It is a shame that this effective horror is shackled to a narrative that continues to drag the series down. The military subplot is officially the show’s greatest liability. General Shaw’s grand plan to “weaponize fear” to win the Cold War feels like it belongs in a different, much worse show. It takes the cosmic, unknowable terror of Stephen King’s creation and tries to fit it into a standard government conspiracy box. The result is boring.
We are also hit with a barrage of new lore that feels more confusing than intriguing. The introduction of “The Pillars,” “The Augury,” and magical talismans is heavy-handed. The show stops the action to dump exposition on us rather than letting the mystery of Derry unfold naturally. It makes the world feel smaller and less scary.
The new Losers’ Club remains a bright spot. Seeing Marge return, bandaged and determined, adds a real sense of stakes to their mission. Their chemistry works, and you genuinely fear for them in the tunnels. However, the adult storylines suffer. Pauly’s death should be a major emotional moment, but because it happens within the dull military context, it lacks impact.
This episode is a frustrating mixed bag. It proves the show can deliver high-quality scares and iconic villain moments. Yet, it insists on burying those moments under a mountain of convoluted lore and a military plot that no one cares about. If Welcome to Derry could just get out of its own way and focus on the horror, it could be great. Right now, it is just okay.
IT: Welcome to Derry premiered on Friday, October 26 on HBO. “Neibolt Street” aired on November 23.
