Episode 6 of IT: Welcome to Derry, titled โIn the Name of the Father,โ delivered major shocks. Viewers learned the terrifying truth about the mysterious nurse Ingrid Kersh and watched tensions in the town of Derry reach a breaking point. The episode ended with a dangerous mob closing in on the Black Spot, a safe haven for several main characters. The new episode is now available to watch on HBO and Max.
The episode also deepened the show’s themes of fear and family. It showed how fathers, both good and bad, shape the lives of the children around them, setting the stage for a major confrontation in the final two episodes of the season.
What Ingrid Kersh Was Hiding
The biggest surprise of the episode was the full revelation of Ingrid Kersh’s secret past. Played by Madeleine Stowe, Ingrid was exposed not as a friendly helper, but as a dangerous ally of the evil plaguing Derry.
Lilly Bainbridge discovered the truth after a fight with her friends. She went to Ingrid’s home for comfort and found a photo album in the attic. The pictures showed a young Ingrid with her father, who was revealed to be Bob Grayโthe original human Pennywise the Dancing Clown. When Ingrid arrived, she admitted everything to a stunned Lilly. She explained that she believes the monster wearing her father’s face is still her dad somewhere inside. Her twisted goal is to be reunited with him.
โShe also reveals what happened to Mabel in the prologue of this IT: Welcome to Derry episodeโฆ Ingrid sacrificed some kids to the entity, believing that deep inside IT is her father.โ
This was shown in a black-and-white flashback to 1935. A younger Ingrid, working as a nurse at Juniper Hill Asylum, led a terrified girl named Mabel to the basement to meet “the clown.” She fed children to the creature, hoping it would fully become her father again. Ingrid also has her own clown persona named Periwinkle. She was the clown seen in the graveyard earlier in the season and the one young Will Hanlon photographed. The episode ended with Ingrid putting on her full Periwinkle costume, ready to meet the monster she calls father.
Where Hank Grogan Is Hiding
While Ingrid’s story unfolded, the search for Hank Grogan intensified. Wrongly accused of murder, Hank escaped police custody when his bus crashed in the previous episode.
His hiding place was revealed through a tense family argument. After Major Leroy Hanlon punished his son Will for going into the dangerous tunnels, Will’s mother Charlotte decided to leave Derry. Before going, she told Leroy where she helped hide Hank: inside the Black Spot. The Black Spot is a club and gathering place run by Black airmen from the local military base. It became a temporary safe house, with plans to smuggle Hank out of town.
This set up a heartfelt moment where Hank’s daughter, Ronnie, was finally reunited with her father at the club. However, the safety of the Black Spot was about to be shattered. Fired from his job, the racist ex-detective Clint Bowers got a tip about Hank’s location. He then stirred up a group of angry white men, telling them they could find Hank at the Black Spot. The episode ended as this armed mob arrived at the club’s doorstep, creating a major cliffhanger.
Fathers and Fear in Derry
The episode’s title, โIn the Name of the Father,โ pointed to its central theme. It explored how different fathers influence their children, often through fear.
The conflict between Major Leroy Hanlon and his son Will exploded. Leroy, grieving the death of his friend Pauly and terrified for his son’s safety, forbade Will from returning to Derry. Will defiantly said he would never let his friends die, implying his father had. This led Leroy to slap his son, a moment that showed how the town’s fear was corrupting even a loving father.
โWillโs sobbing โItโs got to you, tooโ as he sees firsthand how even his โfearlessโ father can be warped by ITโs influence.โ
In contrast, the episode showed the beginnings of a sweet connection between two other kids. Marge and Rich shared several scenes that highlighted a budding friendship, and possibly a first crush. In a standout moment, Rich helped Marge remove the bandage from her injured eye and told her it was “the coolest thing” he’d ever seen. This gave Marge the confidence to face her former friends, the Patty-Cakes, using her injury to scare them off.
Meanwhile, Dick Hallorann continued to struggle with terrifying visions from his experience in the tunnels. He drank heavily at the Black Spot, trying to numb himself, while the ghostly voices in his head grew louder.
A Town on the Edge of Violence
The growing anger in Derry finally boiled over in Episode 6. The search for Hank Grogan was used as an excuse for racial violence.
The mob heading to the Black Spot is based on a group from Stephen King’s original novel called the “Maine Legion of White Decency.” In the book, this racist group burns the Black Spot to the ground, killing almost everyone inside. The show has hinted at this historical tragedy before, and the arrival of the mob suggests this horrific event is about to happen in the series.
The show has chosen to depict this racial tension with more subtext than the book. Instead of showing explicit KKK-style robes, it focuses on the casual, drunk racism of ordinary townspeople being stirred up. The mob’s attack puts multiple main characters in extreme danger, including Hank, Dick Hallorann, Will, Ronnie, Marge, and Rich, who are all at the club when it is surrounded.
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What the Final Scene Means for the Story
The last moments of Episode 6 set up major events for the rest of the season. Two dangerous paths are now converging.
First, Ingrid Kersh is fully embracing her role as Periwinkle. Dressed in her clown costume, she is likely planning to meet the entity she believes is her father. Her betrayal leaves Lilly Bainbridge completely alone. With her friends divided and her trusted adult revealed as a monster, Lilly’s only weapon is the mysterious crystal shard she found in the sewer.
Second, the Black Spot is under direct attack. The racist mob at the door creates an immediate crisis. According to King’s book lore, Dick Hallorann and Will Hanlon are known to survive the fire, but the fate of everyone else insideโincluding Hank, Charlotte, Ronnie, Marge, and Richโis unclear.
The final two episodes of the season will likely show the tragic burning of the Black Spot and force the scattered group of kids to reunite if they hope to survive both human evil and the supernatural clown.
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