1935, Juniper Hill Asylum. A little girl is scared after seeing a creepy clown, and a nurse is interested in seeing IT, too. The adult asks the child to show where she has seen the clown — then a red balloon invades the black and white scenario, and Pennywise appears.
After the explosive introduction of the dancing clown in 29 Neibolt Street, In the Name of the Father slows down a bit, rearranging the pieces for the grand finale while providing some much-needed information about Ingrid Kersh and her connection to the clown form of IT.
It all starts with Lilly going to Ingrid’s house as usual; no one answers her at first, but she enters anyway. After going up the stairs to her friend’s room, she sees some strange things: an old photograph, a wig, and a clown outfit.
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After questioning Ingrid about it, we discover that Mrs. Kersh is the nurse in the opening sequence. She is also the daughter of Bob Gray, the performer behind the human version of Pennywise, the Dancing Clown. Ingrid is Periwinkle, the little girl who appears in the Now You See It‘s 1908 flashback dressed up as a clown. Not only that — we learn that Ingrid has been dressing up as Periwinkle and following the kids in their adventures. Why? She’s been waiting for Pennywise to show up. She expects that if “her father” — because she is deluded thinking her father is trapped in some kind of curse that turned him into the evil clown — sees her dressed up as the old times, he will be released from the curse.
Now we know why Will escaped easily from the clown in the cemetery: he wasn’t taking photos from IT, but from Ingrid instead. Same thing about the telescope jumpscare. That’s why Ingrid encouraged Lilly to gather a group of friends, so the nurse could follow them and wait for Pennywise’s appearance. That’s also why she seemed genuinely worried for Lilly going down the sewers — because she doesn’t want Lilly to die. But she does want to help her “father” — even at the cost of other children’s lives. After all, Ingrid fed Pennywise with children during the 1935 cycle, making her similar to Henry Bowers in the way she’s helping the Creature.
That revelation is interesting for many reasons, but the one that stands out to me is that along with Rose, Ingrid is one of the characters who has been present in all three cycles that the series intends to portray, possibly making the overall arc culminating in how (and why) the Creature has taken over its favorite form as Pennywise from Bob Gray in the 1908 cycle, with season two further developing how the relationship between Bob Gray and Ingrid in 1908 shaped up Mrs. Kersh to be the Creature’s helper in the 1935 cycle.
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| “In the Name of the Father” – IT: WELCOME TO DERRY. Pictured: Amanda Christine as Ronnie, Blake Cameron James as Will. Photo: Brooke Palmer/Max ©2025 HBO Max, Inc. All Rights Reserved |
Lilly runs away terrified from the house of the woman she once trusted, but that’s not the last we’ve seen of Mrs. Kersh — as the Augury (one last big, bloody event that marks the end of the cycle) approaches in the Black Spot, Ingrid dresses up as Periwinkle. What is her plan? Will she be able to see the truth before it’s too late? How will she react once she learns that IT is a creature that manipulated and used her, dressing up as her father? We’ll have to wait just a bit more to discover.
This episode also shows the consequences of the adventure in the sewers: Leroy argues with Will for going down into the tunnels, hitting his son; Dick is disturbed, seeing ghosts and with his powers malfunctioning after the Creature messed with his head; and Lilly and Ronnie have a big fight, as Lilly wants to bring the children together and kill the Creature with the dagger, while Ronnie thinks they don’t stand a chance.
Meanwhile, Charlotte takes Hank to the Black Spot. There, Ronnie and Hank finally reunite. And while Will, Rich, and Marge go to the Spot to try convincing Ronnie they should find a way to fight the Creature, we get to see how the place works and how important it is. While Will has a nice chat with Hank, Rich and Marge have fun. This duo is the strongest part of the episode; there’s an especially tender moment earlier in which Rich takes care of Marge’s eye. Then, at school, they get vulnerable with each other again, with Rich sharing his nightly routines of what he does after hearing the voices from the pipes. That’s when the Pattycakes appear to encourage Marge not to become a “freak” and abandon her new friends, and in one of her best moments, Marge finds the courage to confront the bullies.
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| “In the Name of the Father” – IT: WELCOME TO DERRY. Pictured: Matilda Lawler as Marge, Arian S. Cartaya as Rich. Photo: Brooke Palmer/Max ©2025 HBO Max, Inc. All Rights Reserved |
It pains me that it took so long for Rich and Marge to find each other; their dynamic is fun, cute, and endearing, and it’s a pleasure to watch Matilda Lawler and Arian S. Cartaya acting as a duo. If anything, this episode makes Marge’s development more impressive, highlighting how insecure she started and how much she’s grown. There’s even a moment in which Rich and Marge are kind of drunk at the Spot, and she’s charmed by him playing music, and that was one of the most bittersweet scenes of the episode — it felt like the calm before the storm, that sweet moment before tragedy strikes.
After all, Charlotte planned to temporarily house Hank at the Black Spot, get him out of town, and then leave with Will, regardless of whether Leroy goes with them or not. Hank should stay just a few hours hidden there. But in a small town, even the walls have ears, and some of the worst people of Derry discover fast where Hank is. With that, the episode ends with the Black Spot surrounded by several cars, from which masked and armed white people emerge. The Augury is about to happen.
Looking at it as a whole, In the Name of the Father is not my favorite episode, and yet it has some of my favorite scenes. Marge and Rich are the obvious highlights, and there are also some interesting choices here, as the use of black and white for the 1935 scenes, with the red of the blood and the balloon serving as contrast in the scenario. The episode manages to create beautiful moments of friendship, companionship, and first loves — but its main reveal regarding Ingrid makes it contrived, the pacing hurting the moments of fear and tension. Anyway, at the end of the hour, I had only one thought: Rich is the only main kid who hasn’t had a scary moment alone with the Creature. All of the other kids had at least one scene showing their particular fear to us. This worries me. I think that this solo moment between Rich and IT is coming next week, and it saddens me to theorize that he may not get out of this alive…