Spoilers for It follow: Welcome to Derry Episodes 1-4.
So far I have found the worst thing in Ono: Welcome to Derry be by a significant margin downward trend belonging episode quality. “The Great Rotating Machine of Our Planet's Functions” turns things around for the series at the crucial midpoint of the season, delivering some of the best drama and horror we've seen in Welcome to Derry while still bringing the temperature to a boil.
Armed with photos from last week's controversial graveyard set, the “Welcome to the Core Group of Derry Kids” (assuming no more napkins like the premiere) – Lilly, Ronnie, Will and Rich – march into Chief Bowers' office to find that the dollar store ghoul kids they captured have disappeared from their photos. Even though the clown is still visible, Bowers quickly sends the kids packing, which shouldn't come as a surprise considering how little interest the guy seems to have in solving crimes in Derry. Peter Outerbridge has done an excellent job by this point, playing Bowers' seething rage at these moments, with much more control than his grandson (Losers Club nemesis Henry Bowers) will have in the future, and the more wounded he is by the escalating events in the city, the scarier he becomes.
This tension is heightened by Charlotte's conversation with him about Hank Grogan's treatment in custody, which touches on Charlotte's experience as a civil rights activist in the South. Outerbridge and Taylor Page trade politely but succinctly about the racial dynamics at play here, giving both performers the opportunity to have two conversations going on at once, and Bowers' unconvincing insistence that Derry “isn't the South” and that Hank Grogan gets as much of a fair shake as a white man only adds to the ominous atmosphere. This is highlighted when Charlotte does see Hank, as we learn that he was having an affair with a white woman in town at the time of the murders he is accused of, and he fears he will be lynched as a result.
Welcome to Derry establishes Hank as a genuinely good man, so we should take that fear to the bank. Here, Stephen Ryder gives his best performance of the season as Hank becomes overcome with emotion at Charlotte's suggestion that his refusal to provide his alibi is anything but a sacrifice for the safety of his family and secret lover. Considering how much Hank is concerned about this lover's identity as it relates to everyone's safety if the news gets out (and it will), it seems smart money is being made on being the wife of a Derry cop. Looks like Chief Bowers would be absolutely pissed if such an argument reached his doorstep…
While Charlotte and Leroy disagree on whether to get involved in Hank's case, thanks to some clever deductive reasoning on Will's part, the kids realize it's fueled by fear. Here “Welcome to Derry Seeds”Chekhov's gunis sure to backfire on them in later episodes: Lilly gives each of her friends one of Mommy's Little Helpers, an anti-anxiety drug that Lilly believes will keep children from feeling afraid. The Tablets and Pennywise: a match made in Derry. I'm both excited and terrified to see how Welcome to Derry pays off. This speaks to the overall narrative effectiveness of “Function of the Planet”, both in the way it looks to return to the threads of the first three episodes and provide meaningful updates, while Dominos sets itself up for a knockdown in the back half of the season.
As for the back half of this episodeOnce Planet's Function finishes its homework and paves the way for the rest of the season…it's party time. The second half of “The Function of the Planet” picks up steam, starting with Will and Leroy's meeting at the Kenduskeg River, with Leroy making some effort to get closer to Will as the school year begins to move away from them both. The easy chemistry between Jovan Adepo and Blake Cameron James shines through in what truly feels like their first time here, as Leroy goads Will about his crush on Ronnie Grogan and gives him fly fishing tips. As Leroy returns to the car, Will is dragged underwater by something with Leroy's face burned, which in his frantic story to his father, Will compares to how Leroy looked after the plane crash early in his career. This was another great example of how Welcome to Derry was able to use those brushes with Pennywise to flesh out the characters' backstory or fears in a way that felt natural and enjoyable. And Marge's prank on the unfortunate Lilly gets the ball rolling in stunning, delightful Raimi fashion.
Welcome to the 1960s Derry setting and the heavy emphasis on America leaves simpler archetypes and stereotypes, such as the unpopular girl sensitive to her Coke bottle glasses, which seem quite strong, so when the camera lingers on Marge squirming over a nature film in class about parasites living in the eyes of snails, the math starts to add up and this week's 2+2 = fu, fu, fu, fu. The “Pattycakes vs. Lilly” theme has felt underdeveloped so far, and while I still don't buy Marge attacking Lilly in exchange for popularity, it at least got us to “Welcome to Derry's best rude moment.” When Marge decides to call off the prank and tell Lilly honestly about her behavior, her eyes are cruel. Judge Doom out of her head, sending Marge stumbling into the carpenter's shop to bring this ocular confusion to an unforgettable conclusion.
Sure, Marge the snail's eyes have that creepy CGI sheen to which so many scary things in Welcome to Derry fall prey, but the whole scene is so nightmarish and sly from the start that the authenticity of Matilda Lawler's reactions conveys the effects. This is Evil Dead stuff of the highest order, and I always have a place in my heart for it. The episode could have ended right on that high, but instead we're treated to an extended flashback sequence that adds some intriguing new details to the Pennywise legend with great flair thanks to the brilliance of Dick Hallorann.
With Will's attack in mind, Leroy questions Hallorann and Shaw about the true nature of Operation Guidance. This gives Leroy a front-row seat to Hallorann's psychic interrogation of Thaniel, a member of Derry's First Nations community and Rose's nephew, as Hallorann searches for answers to the “beacons” or “pillars” associated with Pennywise buried beneath Derry. Hallorann finds himself in a dark void of illuminated doors (cool), doors that his grandmother's ghostly voice urged him to keep closed (a nice nod to some History of the Hallorann family we find out in Doctor Sleep). Hallorann flashes back to Thaniel, where his Aunt Rose asks him to tell the legend of their tribe about Gallu, their name. A level deeper in Thaniel's mind, the legend plays out as we see both His arrival on earth and how Rose and Thaniel's ancestors first figured out how to counter it.
Thaniel's story unfolds at a thrilling pace, almost like a quick, self-contained short film to end the episode, and with an extra layer of danger added by the fact that it's all experienced in real time Halloran. Last week's episode had Pennywise talking to him while he was glowing, so having Hallorann witness such a delicate chapter of It's story while mentally vulnerable gave the episode a deep sense of unease that is well-enhanced by the sound design. The low trills are reminiscent of Stanley Kubrick's sound mix from The Shining while Hallorann and Danny were having visions. The information Hallorann gleans from Thaniel's story also gives the character of Operation Commandment more nuance and a logical connection to Pennywise's cosmological origins than I expected. “Welcome to Derry” still has work to do to convince me that Operation Commandment is worth our time, but at least some of what Hallorann's vision reveals gives it a more solid footing.
