As I begin this recap, it may seem like things are looking bleak in It: Welcome to Derry. But upon reflection, this is merely a matter of perspective. Pennywise, or "The Entity," as you may choose to name the cosmic evil lurking beneath Derry, Maine, thrives on fear. This is a crucial reminder as we dive into Episode 6, "In the Name of the Father." The kids now know their worst fears are all too real, and it's tearing them apart. The adults – some of them, at least – fear not just for their own lives but for the lives of their families, resorting to panicky violence as a means of "protection." The racists are out in force, and for Pennywise, things are looking perfect.
While we're not supposed to root for Pennywise, this episode is as much about him and his backstory as it is about the titular fathers who, in all their radically different circumstances, are grappling with their responsibilities. A murderous child-eating dancing clown may not necessarily need a backstory, but when in Rome... And besides, if the idea of Daddy Pennywise resonates beyond the typical DeviantArt boards where that kind of thing typically lives, so much the better for this show's financial future.
Welcome to Derry hasn't been immune to gimmicks, and the one in Episode 6 is a tasteful use of monochrome – with Schindler's List-style splashes of vivid color – in 1935-set flashbacks revolving around Juniper Hill. We'll return to these later, as some of the best Pennywise moments of the season are contained within them. But it's worth noting that "In the Name of the Father" begins here, even if it doesn't linger long.
Instead, we pick up right after the psychedelic set-piece in the tunnels under the Neibolt House. That little adventure confirmed to the kids and indeed to Leroy that the creature they were hunting is real and manifests as the most profound terrors of its victims. But the reactions are different. Will, for instance, is bravely determined to follow the mission through to its logical conclusion, whereas Leroy is focused only on keeping his family safe. This means Will being confined to the (relative) safety of the base. Things get nasty, and Leroy, out of anger, slaps Will around the face. Will immediately assumes that he's under Pennywise's sway, which is a nice way of folding the paranoia of how the Entity operates into the very confusing sentiments that swirl around parenthood.
But there's also the paranoia of the era to consider. While it's sometimes easy to forget that this show is set in the '60s, the lingering mob-justice mentality swirling up around the search for Hank is a cogent reminder. Who better to track down a Black fugitive than a gang of drunk, racist white dudes? If you were a fear demon, you'd definitely camp out somewhere where lynch mobs were liable to pop up at the slightest provocation. It's easy work indeed.
Hank finds refuge at The Black Spot, a juke joint run by the Black airmen on the Army base, a place ironically supposed to be the only safe haven from Pennywise's influence. Much like how Sinners harnessed the idea of a juke joint – its musicality, sense of community, and contagious feeling of freedom that seeps within its walls, even if not necessarily beyond them – It: Welcome to Derry's Episode 6 utilizes it to facilitate several poignant scenes. Here, Ronnie's reunion with her father unfolds, and Will joins them. Later, Rich and Marge, now a full-fledged member of the Losers Club after her gruesome eye loss and using the lingering wound to torment the Patty Cakes, get slightly drunk, play drums, and party the night away, blissfully unaware of the mob of white men assembling outside.
Amidst all this chaos, "In the Name of the Father" unveils a backstory of Pennywise that we didn't know we needed. And it chooses an unusual avenue for this – Ingrid, Lilly's only trusted confidant. After experiencing another horrifying vision and visiting Ingrid at home, Lilly stumbles upon her family photo albums and spots a man, supposedly her father, who looks oddly suspicious. As he should – Ingrid reveals that her father was a circus clown named Pennywise. Uh-oh.
The monochrome flashbacks reveal Ingrid's backstory, which I've been deliberately mischaracterizing as Pennywise's history to keep the surprise that Pennywise, as we know him, is not Ingrid's father. Instead, the memory of her lost father is what Pennywise used to manipulate Ingrid into consistently feeding it children while working at Juniper Hill. Pennywise played dad – Bill Skarsgård is having a field day here – to prey on Ingrid's desperate wish to be reunited with the father who was taken from her. Incidentally, that's the exact same kind of desperate grief that the alien-worshipping cult Infinitas in Apple TV+'s rubbish sci-fi series Invasion was built around. People will believe anything.
But the story is illuminating all the same, and clearly important to the Entity, since the Pennywise identity is the one it settled on for the most part, although we don't yet know why. Lilly isn't thrilled to hear this, obviously, and dashes off when Ingrid lunges at her, her one true confidante now revealed as a turncoat (I suspect it was also she who tipped off the white mob about Hank being at The Black Spot). The kids are not okay. Neither are the adults. And that will only make them more vulnerable than ever.
