‘Welcome to Derry’ Has Found Its Henry Bowers

Henry Bowers is an integral part of IT and its adaptations. He’s more than just a terrifying bully. Bowers represents the ills of humanity. Plenty of Derry residents turn a blind eye to the evils around them, but Bowers revels in and participates in them. There’s a moment in the book when he’s faced with another human more deeply disturbed than he is, and he scurries, but that doesn’t mean he’s above helping Pennywise achieve its goals.

The titular creature goes to great lengths to keep Derry undisturbed. Its influence over the town keeps the residents from paying much mind to the rampant death and destruction around them, turning them into docile snacks. It also helps keep outsiders from coming in and ruining the clown’s fun. While ITs powers certainly matter in this regard, it still needs help from human beings.

Some of that help can be indirect, with people turning a blind eye to atrocities or even nonchalantly taking part in them (sorry, Bradley Gang). Other times, IT can influence someone, using them to carry out specific ends, or pushing them further into madness. Tom Rogan, Beverly Marsh’s abusive husband, has a smaller role in the adaptations, where he is not seen again after Beverly fights back against him. The book handles things differently.

In the novel, Tom goes on an interstate trip laden with lying and assault that plays out pretty horrifically. He brutally beats up Bev’s best friend, all the while thinking about the terrible things he’ll do to his ex. Then, he ends up kidnapping Bill Denbrough’s wife, Audra, and, upon returning her to Pennywise, is scared to death. We never see it happen, but his body is found in a state of fright. Pennywise takes the evil already present in Tom, pushes it to the next level, and uses the man for its own dastardly ends.

Henry is, debatably, more important to ITs plans. He ends up taking the fall for the rash of disappearing kids in the late 50s when the Losers first battle Pennywise, and 27 years later, the evil clown helps Bowers escape captivity and sends him on a mission to murder the reunited group of friends. It’s a mission he almost succeeds at, but ends with Mike Hanlon in the hospital and Bowers in the afterlife. Now, in IT: Welcome to Derry, we’ve been introduced to a potential new human servant in Mrs. Kirsch.

Y’all, I thought Ingrid Kirsch was going to be a ghost. She’s introduced as the only friend Lilly Bainbridge has made while in Juniper Hill Asylum, and she’s weird from the jump. There’s something stunted about the way she behaves, making her seem almost childlike. Also, the first few scenes we meet her in play out like something out of The Sixth Sense. Instead, we were told that she is Ingrid Kirsch, a pre-existing IT character. Kind of.

I attach that caveat because, in the book and adaptations, Ingrid Kirsch is not real. Beverly visits her childhood home, thinks she rings her father’s doorbell, and is greeted instead by a kindly old woman named Mrs. Kirsch. After an undisclosed amount of time (maybe a lot, maybe a little), Beverly realizes that Kirsch is, in fact, Pennywise, who then morphs into her father and says some of the most disgusting stuff you’ve ever heard Steven Webber yell into your ears on a crowded bus (highly recommend the audiobook).

Ingrid’s last name is revealed later in the series, and it certainly caused me to cock an eyebrow. At first thought, you may assume that Pennywise had been in Lilly’s midst without her noticing. Much the same way that young Matty was revealed to be. However, that was not the case with Ingrid. Instead, we’ve now learned that Pennywise is her dad; No, not that Pennywise.

The end of the newest episode of Welcome to Derry saw Lilly find an old book of photos in Ingrid’s attic. In the photos, she sees a man who looks suspiciously like Bill Skarsgård’s evil clown. Things escalate further when Lilly sees a picture of him dressed as the same clown that tried to eat her just an episode prior. The reveal plays out much differently than I expected, and may end up being one of my favorite things the show has done so far.

We’ve actually seen this man before, during Beverly’s visit to Kirsch’s home in IT: Chapter Two. Now we learn that he was a clown who went by the name Pennywise, and Ingrid lost him when she was young. It may not have been as direct or planned out, but the seeds suggesting Pennywise stole its form from an actual human clown were planted years ago and are paying off in a surprisingly satisfying way.

This moment is successful because it takes something we already know from the lore (that Pennywise uses human servants) and goes its own direction with it. So much of the show has seen story elements remixed so lazily. Even this particular episode features a moment where all the kids get into a fight and split up, with one yelling that this is what the clown wants, and it feels ripped bear for beat from the first film. Yet it doesn’t even have the same weight, as it hasn’t been made clear that this group has to stay together. There aren’t even seven of them!

So, seeing them take an idea from the books and spin it off into something that feels new was refreshing. Ingrid doesn’t seem as evil or hateful as Tom or Henry (yet), but she loves Pennywise all the same, thanks to a presumed familial connection and, most likely, madness. Like Tom and Henry, it appears that Ingrid was exposed to the Dead Lights, which are the creature’s true form. While that (presumably) killed Tom, it turned Henry into a raving lunatic, and it seems to have done the same to Ingrid.

We now know that Ingrid made her own harlequin/Pennywise-like costume, and it was she who was photographed at the cemetery, which at least makes sense (as far as the picture is concerned). She wants to go back to her father and is convinced this entity is him, despite witnessing it devour a child. It turned into her dad, who showed her the Dead Lights, and she bought into it hook, line, and sinker.

The biggest question I have now is: why does this Pennywise need a human servant? Tom and Henry serve specific purposes, being able to do what Pennywise claims it can’t, which usually stems from whether people believe in it or not. Belief gives IT its power (and can lead to its downfall). So, when people don’t believe, Pennywise has to manipulate a human to get them instead. However, this Pennywise seems to be far more powerful than it was in the films. Why it has decided to keep Ingrid alive is beyond me, but I look forward to the answer. Maybe she can get her hands on a pesky MacGuffin that was recently introduced and make it a non-issue for her Fodder.

This is one of the biggest swings the show has taken so far, and I’m all for it. It probably helps that the reveal was spoiled for me, but not in the way I expected. Given most of the headlines I’ve seen, I assumed Kirsch would end up being Pennywise’s daughter whole cloth. The entity is capable of having children. However, it’s not that simple. The real answer is darker, sadder, will likely only get more so, and I am just as onboard as Ingrid was when she looked into them twirling lights.