The Pilot

Love the path this is headed. Grotesque and not walking on egg shells. Let's just say nobody is safe and they're not afraid to show it right out of the gate!

Some scenes pay homage to the movie making it easy to follow for new viewers or people who have followed the feature length movies. I admittedly haven't read the novel, started many times, but do love the movies both old and new.

Looking forward to how the tell the story!

The first episode of It: Welcome to Derry is simply magnificent and serves to redeem the director who failed with It: Part Two. And anyone complaining that It didn't appear clearly didn't understand the first movie and its premise, it's about It's influence on Derry and its people. It's not just about fear, but its power over the collective. And the episode delivered that very well - not to mention the ending, which features a twist that, at least for me, was unexpected.

The opening scene was strong, very good visual effects and sounds overall. I will not be talking about the story-line too much. All I gotta say is, for starters it is pretty good. Some moments I felt like they wanted to keep the show a bit mainstream to aim a more general audience --not to say it doesn't extend, but it does give up some of the immersion to the story at times, But I do respect what they are doing and HBO never falls behind for me. The nightmarish sequences are really good and mostly unexpected, which adds quality to the frights.

Overall I can say it's pretty well-made. Use of visual storytelling and sound effects are top notch. I do love a good horror flick. Hopefully this show will deliver it.

Before watching, I was just hoping to see Pennywise. I tried not to consider any connections between the TV series and the other two films or other stories in Stephen King's universe.

The first scene in the car is one of the most shocking, sickening, and graphic openings I've seen in years. Let the audience know that this isn't a Stranger Things-type story. There are two main storylines: a gang of inner-city kids who are linked by Matty, a kid who might be "It"'s first victim here, who goes missing. I've loved them all from the very first episode. Their characters are distinct and unique. Like the movies, they face "It" in the form of their own fears or traumas. The other storyline follows two pilots who have just been transferred to a military base in the town, encountering mysterious and unusual things within the base. They'll likely encounter more unusual things in the town later on. But as military men, they seem ready to fight.

One clever thing is that this episode is titled "The Pilot," which could refer to the pilot episode of the series, but also hints at the characters of Jovan Adepo and Rudy Mancuso, two pilots who have just been transferred to the city a well.

Director Andy Muschietti, who helmed both films, also directed the first episode of the show. This guy is really good at using visuals to tell a story. It straddles the line between creepy, gross, and downright hilarious. I hope they can keep this momentum going. Finally, I salute their audacity. I never thought they'd get off on it like this from the start. No one in this story is safe.

It borrows a lot from the IT movies that came before, which makes it look cheap and tacky. These kids feel like Temu versions of the original kids. Two main boys in this episode are just knockoffs of Richie and Stanley from the original movie. The only good thing is production quality the rest is kinda "meh" and the acting is not good. It's not really scary or creepy it just feels random and considering the runtime is almost 55 minutes, the story seems slow. As a pilot it's meant to hook people and I'm personally not, but the series might get better.