THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED SERIES. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
Fear is an ultimate tool because can only face but never run from IT .
PLOT
Based on the Stephen King novel, the 1990 limited series, consisting of two estimated 90 minute episodes, follows a group of adults, formerly estranged childhood friends who reunite to confront something from their troubled past. On a rainy day in 1960, young George Denbrough (Tony Dakota) went out to play with his paper boat, only to be killed by a supernatural entity that takes the form of a clown named Pennywise. After his funeral, his older brother Bill, who suffers from stuttering, would notice a strange phenomenon of his family photo album bleeding and a picture of his dead brother winning, but his parents don’t notice and dismiss it. During the summer of ‘60, he would befriend six other kids his age who are able to bond over fending off bully Henry Bowers. His group he calls ‘The Losers Club’ includes: asthmatic Eddie Kaspbrak who has an overprotective mother, Ben Hanson who lost his father to the Korean War, Beverly Marsh who instead had an abusive father, comical Richie Tozier, Jewish Boy Scout Stanley Uris and African Michael Hanlon who notices that their neighborhood in Derry, Maine has had a pattern of accidents every 30 years that no one notices. The bond of the Losers Club would also come from shared experiences involving Pennywise. The entity is proven to be a shapeshifter when turning into Ben’s father near a swamp. It turns into a werewolf to scare Richie. It taunts Eddie in the school showers of being a germophobe. It even explodes blood in Bev’s bathroom which her dad doesn’t notice the way she and the others do. Stan & Mike would be the last to see the entity when it tries attacking the group through the scrapbook. Knowing how dangerous this creature is, the kids vow to confront it in the sewers to defeat it before anyone else can get hurt. The day they go, Stan gets separated due to Bowers who plans to kill them all, with the assist of his hesitant friends Victor Criss (Gabe Khouth) & Belch Huggins (Chris Eastman). They don’t get a chance due to It attacking the bully trio, leaving Bowers traumatized to the point his hair turns white. Stan regroups with his friends and joins them in a circle to unite their strength, but it gets broken when It catches him. The other kids are able to stop It by using their imagination against it. Eddie imagines his inhaler to have battery acid and Bev slingshots silver earrings at it, causing the creature to retreat when its face cracks open and a light force seeps out. When the kids leave the sewers, they vow to finish It should it return. 30 years later, Pennywise does just so and begins another feeding spree when killing another child named Laurie Ann Winterbarger (Chelan Simmons) just outside her backyard. With Mike being the only one to have never left Derry as he got older, working as a librarian, he is able to reach out to the fellow members of the Losers Club to come back and live up to their old promise. Bill has grown up to be a writer and happily married to his wife Audra (Olivia Hussey) but when Mike calls and tells him It has returned, his stuttering returns and he heads back to his old neighborhood. Ben has become an architect and Richie grew to be a successful comic before they both return to Derry. Eddie still lives with his mom but instead in New York and chooses to break apart from her when Mike calls him. Bev is now a fashion designer who would be in an abusive relationship with her boyfriend and Tom Rogan (Michael Ryan) and officially break up with him too when Mike calls. The Losers Club catches up at a restaurant, but the horror returns when It frightens them in public and taunts them when informing Stan killed himself out of fear. At the library, they form a unity circle to maintain their strength and crash at a hotel with Mike’s workplace being no longer safe for them. Things only get more dangerous when Mike gets attacked by Bowers who escaped from an asylum, instructed by Pennywise to kill them all. That backfires when he inadvertently stabs himself due to Ben and Eddie interfering. This causes Mike to be hospitalized, but he still chooses to help by giving Bill the silver earrings he went back for in the sewers 10 years prior. The remaining five members of the Losers Club head to the sewers themselves, but Bill finds out along the way that It abducted Audra who came to Derry hoping to help him deal with his private matter he didn’t want to talk to her about. Pennywise also taunts him of Georgie’s death by not only showing his paper boat but transforming into his brother. Feeling guilty ever since due to being apparently too sick to go with him that day, Bill is able to accept on the spot it wasn’t his fault for what happened because he couldn’t have known it would. Going further into the sewers, the Losers Club find Audra webbed up in a catatonic state. They then find It in its true form that is a giant arachnid. Bev shoots at it with the silver earrings, but misses. When she goes to get them and try again, the guys get caught in a trance with the entity’s ‘deadlights’ until Eddie intervenes when using his imagination as an advantage like before. Sadly, the entity is fatally strangle him before Bev strikes back. Together, the remaining four finally defeat It by removing its heart. They then leave with Eddie’s body and the catatonic Audra. The series ends in an epilogue as a recovering Mike narrating of his remaining friends go on with their lives happily: Bev & Ben marry each other and conceive their first child, Richie gets his first movie and befriends a costar that resembles Eddie, and Bill cures Audra of her catatonia by riding her down the street in his childhood bicycle.
THOUGHTS
Looking back, there are many things that hold this series back from sharing the same quality we identify from the two part movie adaptation we got in the 2010s. Most of the problems come from the budget that prevent a lot of leeway as in not producing enough episodes to explore more of the lore that the novel has. And because of this series also being distributed by abc, the violence is extremely tame. When these factors are so noticeable, you start to wonder what can showrunner Lawrence D Cohen and director Tommy Lee Wallace bring to the table that still entertains us decades later. I can honestly admit that the practical effects of It itself have aged well in my eyes because I got arachnophobia so I know how unsettling it’d be for a giant alien of it to be. But the biggest strength that everyone universally agrees is Tim Curry as Pennywise. Before Bill Skarsgard exceeded expectations in the movies, Curry set the standard on how bad our inner fears can be. Scene by scene, it is downright maniacal for taunting his prey because it says best on how they’re more delicious when afraid. The main identity being a clown was smart because it was a way to be deceptive which infamously worked on George. The mistake it took on both episodes is taking too long to make a move, which gave the Losers Club an advantage to overcome all their fears and achieve personal victory. Pennywise was a scene stealer in the same vein as Freddy Krueger or Chucky, but there’s no doubt the story would not be investing had we connected with a colorful group of protagonists we genuinely connect to in their given screen time due to having relatable issues that hold them back from being content with their lives until facing them head on. And through each actor, child and adult, we’re able to capture everything they’re feeling from start to finish. Bill definitely felt the most pressure to move on from his past because through both Jonathan Brandis and Richard Thomas, he had the most regret to cope with since he lost his brother to something unimaginable. He felt he could've prevented it if at lest one thing was different, such as being sick, but he gets redemption by taking part in slaying the creature which prevents his wife from having a similar fate. Mike was basically the lighthouse keeper of the group because through both performances from Marlon Taylor & Tim Reid, he was most protective of the past to the point he had to make sure his old friends came through with the promise. He stayed in Derry all this time because he also had to make sure someone knew when it came to the inevitable return of a great threat or else nobody would be prepared. With a personal mission over, there's no doubt he can now live as he pleases without any more to worry. Relating was Richie was easy to follow because thanks to both Seth Green & Harry Anderson's performances, we saw his sarcasm transition as a way to brighten the mood, only to be a shield to hide how scared he was of It. As he got older, the character accepted shields don't deal with the problem unless he took a stand with his friends, which he luckily did. From Adam Faraizi to Dennis Christopher, we clicked with Eddie for feeling fragile when had an immense amount of courage all along. He grew up misguided thinking he was sick, but once realizing his mom was holding him back physically, until he broke free at each opportunity he took. His death stank because like the others, he deserved to have another chapter where he wasn't afraid anymore. Personally, I had a stronger connection towards Ben because thanks to both performances by Brandon Crane and John Ritter, he was shy until he found somewhere to fit in which he never thought he’d find after losing his dad. While the guys were the first to treat him with open arms, he was at his most comfortable when he met Beverly. He was head over heels for her because he relates to the extra layer of vulnerability they have and uses his poem to let her know how he feels. Thanks to both both performances by Emily Perkins & Annette O’Toole, we saw there was no doubt about her inner conflict. Despite her originally crushing over Bill for his genuine leadership, she ends up with Ben because he was the first guy to genuinely care for her without wanting anything in return, nor the need to judge. Once she figured out he wrote the poem, it set the stone they always were meant to be. Through Ben Hallur & Richard Masur, we understood how Stan was most afraid because he couldn’t fathom something he wasn’t able to understand. As a kid, all he knew was facts & religion, and none of that really helped him digest reality that is the threat that the group had to face. And as an adult, he took his life because he doubted he could defeat It since he was close to being devoured as a child. While I don’t condone suicide, I understand how he felt and wish he had better confidence in himself as the others did. As I think about it now, I’m sure he’d be proud of his friends defying the odds twice. I think through each member of the Losers Club, the personal challenges they faced represent how we must always fight for free will once innocence is taken away because we’ll never adapt as we wish. Pennywise may have been the central villain, but it was not the only one causing terror. We don't get to know much of Henry Bowers in this adaptation but from the young Jarred Blancard showed him to have such personal torment that he chooses to take out on the innocent. Once you transition to the adult Michael Cole, you see how consumed he became of all evil thanks to It. He was far off to the point where is relief he is put out of misery by the Losers Club. This series can be looked at as fine to rewatch every now and then, but there’s so much things that didn’t make sense to me to where I don’t think the movies were able to fix. Like did Pennywise have an original picture on it to taunt Mike or made one of its own with its array of abilities that are challenging to explain? I know this sets up the Loser Club reunion, but it’d be appreciative if we knew how It’s powers work. The same can be said on how it knew Stanley died when his death happened outside of Derry. I mean It could’ve also killed Mike before the others reunite because it’s not like there’s a rule for It to not kill adults, especially since Eddie dies an adult. Personally, no matter how iconic Georgie’s death is, the one way it could’ve been avoided in both iterations is if he had a string on the paper boat to avoid losing it. If we’re talking about inconsistency, I’d point out how there’s a lack of umbrellas on the rainy day set for Georgie’s funeral which is an oddly big deal due to how no one covers the kids or the priest. Forget the dramatic flair, that’s just a dick move. I can’t even buy the fact Bev thinks Billy wrote her the poem when Ben quickly checked up on her after running from her dad. I mean that would’ve been the red flag for me. And how far is the Barrens? When the Losers Club were kids, they walked it, but they drive to it as adults. Considering the Barrens had blueprints, it surprises me we never got a map on how far the place was from town. Lastly if Pennywise doesn’t want them to be there to defeat it, it should’ve not taken Audra as a hostage. Ignore this, then you can still appreciate everything that was done to be interesting. To wrap up, IT is an impressive series for being an uplifting kind of tale of its genre. If that’s the mood you’re looking for, good luck getting through this.
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