Pennywise Debuts in 'Welcome to Derry' Episode 5

In the fifth episode of the HBO series "It: Welcome to Derry," the long-anticipated debut of Pennywise, the shape-shifting entity from Stephen King's novel, unfolded in the shadowy sewers beneath Derry's Neibolt House, drawing both a group of local children and a U.S. military squad into a deadly confrontation. The episode, which aired Sunday on HBO and HBO Max, marks a pivotal turn in the prequel storyline set in 1962, 27 years before the events of the 2017 film "It."

The narrative centers on two converging paths. A band of children, including Lily and her friends, venture underground after discovering clues about the creature terrorizing Derry. To counter Pennywise's reliance on fear as sustenance, they take their mother's anxiety medication, dulling their emotions and temporarily shielding them from the monster's influence. Meanwhile, a military team, led by Sergeant Leroy Hanlon and including Captain Pauly Russo, descends into the same lair on orders from General McKenzie Shaw to capture and weaponize the entity. The soldiers, aware of Pennywise's vulnerabilities through prior intelligence, carry a meteorite shard believed capable of harming it.