Disclaimer: I’m a blind film critic. Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of man?

Dairy: Population… declining. Andy Muschitti really hit Gold with his remake of It in 2017 and the sequel just two years later. Taking the whole book and splitting it into two chapters, plus casting some wonderfully talented new kids, really paid off for him. As you know, nothing in Dairy ever really stays dead, so warner Bros eventually wanted more of this series, and a prequel was born.

It’s a dangerous thing to go back before the thing you created, because it is like you want to provide context, but is anyone really asking for it? Welcome to Dairy as a prequel is intriguing because we know Pennywise can’t be killed, and has to wait for the Losers Club for that.

Honestly, the first episode was phenomenal. it was absolutely brutal, and instantly memorable, but it set the bar so high. In the first episode, it plays out like we’re being introduced to our new losers club, and they’ll be investigating from here. The first episode did this thing with a lampshade that I think is permanently engrained in my brain. But as quickly as we came to love these kids, they quickly became the victims of Pennywise.

This launches into a mystery of who was responsible, as none of the bodies were found. Two girls who survived, Ronnie (Amanda Christine) and Lilly (Clara stack) survive, but couldn’t possibly tell anyone what they experienced. Who would believe them? People already think Lilly is crazy, after she lost her father in a terrible accident. She has frequented the local asylum. Ronnie is trying to figure out how to get the truth out there, because the racists in town are pinning it on her father, Hank (Steven Ryder), because he worked where the kids went missing, and he’s black. Going back 27 years from the first film puts us square in the civil rights era, which is full of racists still.

We will later pick up Will (Blake Cameron James), who is a science buff that just moved to Dairy with his military father (Jovan Adepo) and mother (Taylor Page). His dad is involved in a secret military project, and his mom is a civil rights activist, who later in the season helps Hank a lot.

Basically, the military knows about the fear, and seems to be tracking it down, but for what purpose? there’s also a local indigenous population that watches the area where Pennywise hunts every 27 years. This is all just a basic setup, because there are eight episodes for you to uncover everything this show has to offer.

I’d argue, it offers a lot in the beginning. Shocking violence. Promising young actors. Inventive frights. the show balances its racist overtones quite well with the rest of the series, really leading to a boiling point in the penultimate episode.

If I’m being honest, I think the series as a whole is flawed, because of the decision to provide answers early on to things best left unanswered. I apologize in advance for some moderate spoilers here, as I’m trying my best to avoid a lot of the good twists and turns. we do learn the history of Pennywise. The first stories, told from the indigenous perspective say this is something their people have been dealing with since long before the colonizers. they date the crash landing really far back, and tell the story of how a little cage was created for it through fragments of alien rock. So, he has a perimeter, which is why we haven’t had Pennywise Takes Manhattan.That all made sense.

But, then Andy overplays his hand as a director by deciding that history isn’t enough, and we have to answer why Pennywise? While he does that, I’m also not sure he actually answered that question. We meet a real clown from a traveling circus, who It meets when in the form of a child. he’s fascinated that kids are attracted to the clown, and I guess decides he needs to become Pennywise? Considering It can morph into anything, something this show only lightly plays with, it still doesn’t really answer why he’s been Pennywise for almost a century by the time we reach his final Chapter.

For something so powerful, and designed to get fear at all costs, and who has been roaming the area for a millennia, it is hard to absorb the idea of permanently changing his look based on a brief encounter with a mediocre clown. Kids like lots of things, and are finicky in the moment. They can be easily swayed. Hell, in this day and age, a clown wouldn’t work. Some people are afraid of them, but most haven’t really seen one, since the circus really isn’t a thing anymore. So who would he become? SpongeBob?

The finale, also introduces a concept which could have been played with a much lighter touch. Basically, Pennywise makes some statements about the kids, and it is a bit jumbled, but probably should have been left as an Easter egg. Nope. Instead, he found it more interesting to have a character explain the nonsensical stuff they roped in here, and then had this one final scene at the asylum to drive it home. It felt like they were talking to the dumbest guy in the audience, who doesn’t get the twists unless verbally explained. Like, that guy still doesn’t understand the end to the usual Suspects, and has no idea who keyser soze is. Well, this ending is for that guy.

But dammit, around all the unnecessary exposition is a cast of characters to root for to either live or die, wonderful casting of youth performers, brilliantly inventive gore, and an expanded Bill Skarsgard performance that should earn him an Emmy nomination. It started strong, and finished weak. Some will defend the ending, and it wasn’t all bad, but there’s just a lot of heavy handed revealing of magic tricks.

there are also some profoundly stupid moments. Like, at a funeral, one character slips in to console the father, and when the father asks “who are you?” The response is “I’m still working on that.” It is a line that feels cool for the audience, because we’ve followed that character on an eight episode journey, but when you actually think about it… the father really has no idea who he is. And while they reinforce the idea that leaving dairy causes people to forget, I’d argue the events of the finale are impossible to forget, and now I need a sequel to answer how the town moved on from it.

Isn’t this the problem with a lot of horror? If you start breaking it down, what does it really all mean? That’s why I stayed positive, because this is a horror series, and it fails only when it tries to expand on the lore, or answer the big questions. The rest of the time, it is disturbing, intense, and terrifying. As it should be.

The audio description here is exceptional. Just the one scene with the lampshade made me want to Kool-Aid man from the room. but, then they had to describe the nightmare Ronnie has, which is just something no one could have ever expected. it is a very creative, brutal, and gore filled show that the audio description team nailed in every single way possible. And that’s not even mentioning the opening credits, which are so totally unsettling.

A promising concept, occasionally wanders to far when trying to give answers we don’t need, but is held up through terrific acting and unforgettable scares.

Fresh: Final Grade: 7.2/10