Shaw, and we, find out he’s been to Derry before. Hallorann and Hanlon fly together and begin to learn what they’re really looking for and the kids, led by Lily (Clara Stack) and Ronnie (Amanda Christine) search for proof of what’s been tormenting them. And find it.

This is two thirds of a brilliant episode and a confounding third act. We’ll deal with that first. The episode closes with a nighttime chase through the graveyard with the kids, on bikes, playing keep away with Pennywise and its ghosts for a camera with proof of their existence on it. On paper, it’s a great scene, and one that shows the newfound bond between the kids that lays the groundwork for every generation of the loser’s club to come. In practice, it’s full of VFX that look substantially cheaper than everything we’ve seen up to now. Worse, the sequence has almost no fluidity which a chase like this absolutely needs. You can do cheap, and you can do dull, but fi you do both then you have a problem, and this episode does both. The idea is superb. The execution isn’t.

The kids themselves are great, especially Rich (Arian S. Cartaya) and Will (Blake Cameron James) bringing family-taught belief and scientific method to the fight. The fact they get photos of the ghosts too is compelling, and a twist I didn’t see coming. I’m excited to see where it goes next episode, even with the rough execution here.

The other two thirds of the episode function much better. Hallorann’s nightmare meeting with Pennywise is great and gives endlessly impressive actor Chris Chalk a couple of great moments as his character is assaulted with visions of endless war and some familiar looking iconography. There’s pure menace to this sequence, and doubly so to the moments that follow it when Hallorann bargains his success into a better drinking venue for the black officer. A venue we know will be called The Black Spot and whose fate is going to be a big part of the end of the season judging by the credits…

But this episode belongs to Shaw (Diesel La Torraca and James Remar) and Rose (Violet Sutherland and Kimberly Norris Guerrero). The flashbacks to 1908 have real heart to them and La Torraca and Sutherland excel as the younger versions of the characters. They also do work in direct conversation with the adults, their lives changed by a nightmarish interaction with Pennywise that may set up both the slingshot central to the original story and why Pennywise is so fond of playing with his eyes. Like last week, it’s the perfect balance of heartfelt new ground and set ups for what we already know.

In the present of the show, Norris Guerrero is magnetic as the older Rose, now running the town second-hand store. She’s a pragmatic survivor, a woman keeping her community together despite the monster that comes down from the woods regularly and the show looks set to challenge her inherent conservatism, even if its grounded in survival and compassion. Remar’s Shaw is the perfect opposite; a soldier where she’s a Native, an establishment figure intent on breaking the world where she’s a leader who knows the world needs to be repaired. Their careful, gentle sweetness is the highlight of the episode, and also the bass note for its tragedy. Shaw’s returning memories, and the slingshot he keeps in his office, driving him closer to the truth when it should be making him run.

Verdict: This show is two for three on episodes doing a lot of heavy lifting. It’s moving with a confidence the second movie notably lacked and balancing its ensemble with grace and intelligence. The ending here is disappointing but nothing more and the rest is, as usual, very good. Plus the pacing is a sprint and I’m very excited to see where it goes next. 7/10

Alasdair Stuart