WARNING: The Following contains major spoilers for It: Welcome to Derry episode Seven.
In all of Stephen King‘s works, few occurrences are as upsetting as the fire at the Black Spot.
Chronicled in the Second Interlude of his 1986 novel It, this story follows a group of Black servicemen stationed at the Derry Air Force Base who turn a decommissioned storage shed into a popular speakeasy to combat the Whites Only policy in Derry’s other establishments. Jealous of the location’s popularity, members of the Maine Legion of White Decency (a fancy title for the KKK) descend on the Black Spot and burn it down, accidentally trapping dozens of patrons inside. King’s horrific description of this roaring fire rivals anything else in his vast catalogue, blending racist cruelty with painful gore. Perhaps the Interlude’s sensitive nature is why nearly four decades and two adaptations later, we’ve never seen the fire at the Black Spot committed to screen.
But episode 7, “The Black Spot,” of It: Welcome to Derry pulls us into this devastating vignette while exploring the forces responsible for striking the match.
Due to the altered timeline (see our recap of episode 1), creator Andy Muschietti‘s version plays out slightly differently. Originally set in 1930, King’s literary racists set a small fire in the kitchen, perhaps intending to simply damage the building. Yet, the hundreds of dancing patrons become trapped inside, leading to sixty deaths and many more injuries. Though perhaps difficult to capture a massacre of this scale on screen, Muschietti instead leans into intentionality.
Demanding the fugitive Hank Grogan (Stephen Rider) come out, a gang of Derry racists barricade the doors and use torches to set the building ablaze, shooting in the windows and picking off anyone who happens to escape. King’s Interlude follows several instances of blatant discrimination in the heavily segregated military barracks, laying the groundwork for this egregious hate crime. But, set in 1962, Muschietti’s fire takes place in a different world. Previous episodes have noted Derry’s northern enlightenment, and this purposeful crime shows that racism can be just as deadly when not spoken out loud.
Just moments before, several of Derry’s prominent citizens, led by former Police Chief Clint Bowers (Peter Outerbridge), barged into the Black Spot demanding Hank. Each wears a different Halloween mask referencing faces It wears in King’s novel. A vampire, wolfman, and hobo are all among the many forms the shapeshifting monster takes to terrorize its prey. This moment also nods to another of King’s lesser-known villains: Andre Linoge (Colm Feore). Based on one of the author’s rare screenplays, Storm of the Century is a 1999 miniseries set on the quaint Little Tall Island. When a brutal nor’easter rolls in off the water, a madman begins terrorizing the town. This mysterious demon causes acts of unspeakable violence, promising more if citizens do not submit to his will. “Give me what I want, AND I’LL GO AWAY,” he vows, while demanding one of the Island’s children to serve as his evil protege. Muschietti doubles down on Clint’s villainy by using this phrase to capture Hank.
Muschietti takes us inside this deadly inferno in a jaw-dropping and emotional action sequence. Yet, in the midst of this terror, Constant Readers may notice a deft inversion and subtle reference to King’s original source material. While the literary fire begins in the kitchen, Muscietti’s Dick (Chris Chalk) uses the small enclosure as a means of escape. Stomping through floorboards rotted by a leaking icebox, he’s able to create a tunnel under the blaze. This appliance proves beneficial for Marge (Matilda Lawler) as well. In a heartbreaking twist, Rich (Arian S. Cartaya) convinces her to climb inside to shield herself from the deadly smoke, sacrificing himself for the girl of his dreams. This tender moment references two more sinister iceboxes found elsewhere in King’s literary canon.
In one of Its more disturbing vignettes, the literary Beverly Marsh stumbles upon Henry Bowers and Patrick Hockstetter lighting farts with friends in the otherwise deserted junkyard. Alone, Patrick gives Henry a handjob and offers oral sex, to which Henry responds by punching him in the face. He proceeds to threaten Patrick with revealing the truth about the “secret fridge” Patrick has been using as a torture device. The budding psychopath traps small animals inside and then leaves them to die. Worried, Patrick attempts to dispose of the evidence, but opens the icebox door to a supernatural horde of flying leeches. These disgusting creatures drain him of blood before Pennywise appears to drag him away. Though horrific, by this point in the story, we’ve seen Patrick murder his infant brother, and his gruesome death will undoubtedly save an unknown number of future victims.
Another sinister icebox rears its head in King’s 1972 story “The Mangler,” also referenced in episode one. When an industrial speed ironer becomes possessed by a demon, detective John Hunton hears a similar story about a mysterious refrigerator in the town dump. This icebox is constantly filled with the corpses of birds and rodents, suspected of harboring a similar demon. The dump overseer finally removes the door when a neighborhood child is found dead inside.
Drawn by the fire’s suffering and pain, Pennywise (Bill Skarsgård) appears inside the blaze, feasting on those untouched by the flames. Well-fed, he emerges for one last victim — the town’s cruel butcher Stanley Kersh (Larry Day) — before returning to sleep for another 27 years. With little regard for her murdered husband, Ingrid (Madeleine Stowe) begs his killer to stay, believing It to be her long-lost father. The episode opens with a flashback to 1908 and a human performance from the notorious clown.
Charming and kind, Robert Gray (Skarsgård) takes the stage as Pennywise the Dancing Clown to delight an audience filled with kids. Muschietti can be seen looking on with approval while grinding the organ behind the crowd. Backstage, Gray has a tender moment with young Ingrid (Emma-Leigh Cullum) in which he graces her with the name Periwinkle, an homage to her late mother’s stage persona. But a sinister figure watches in the distance.
Later that night, Robert Gray (holding a handkerchief monogrammed with the initials R.G.) is drinking on the edge of the carnival perimeter when a creepy boy approaches asking for help. Though he balks at first, Robert enters the forest with the sinister child, never to be seen again. Wearing this innocent disguise, the Entity mutters, “The children seem drawn to you,” confirming a long-held fan theory that the shapeshifting monster killed Robert Gray and appropriated his likeness as a default persona.
It will also confirm this while taunting Ingrid outside the burning Black Spot. Finally seeing through his monstrous disguise, she demands to know where her father is. Pennywise cruelly states that he ate Robert Gray, but can still feel him reaching to her from inside his inhuman form. The horrified woman then finds herself caught in the clown’s powerful Deadlights (see our recap of episode 3), perhaps explaining her witchy appearance when meeting with an adult Beverly Marsh. Stemming from interdimensional space, these powerful beams are known to cause death or insanity, but something different may be happening here.
As paramedics clear the scene, we see them cart a catatonic Ingrid away. But just moments before she’s loaded into an ambulance, the silent woman darts her eyes toward the surviving kids. Has she been infiltrated with the Entity’s evil or somehow fallen under Its spell? With only the season finale remaining, Ingrid’s fate may hang in the balance until Beverly pays her a visit 54 years down the road.
For more on It:Welcome to Derry, check out episode by episode coverage from Bloody FM’s The Losers’ Club: A Stephen King Podcast.
