The newest adaptation of Stephen King's It has introduced yet another generation of kids
to their worst nightmares.
The 1990 TV miniseries scared the jorts off every early millennial with a VCR and four
hours to spare.
But the 2017 version moves the setting to the late '80s, when milk cartons paraded pictures
of missing children, and the New Kids on the Block were every teen's guiltiest Walkman
pleasure.
Through a wildly entertaining funhouse of fright, the Losers Club comes together to
do what the adults can't and banish evil.
But do they really put an end to their shared enemy?
Let's take a look at what actually happens at the end of It.
The Losers Club is strong...
There's an undercurrent of teenage rebellion that informs the story of It.
We have a group of misunderstood, underappreciated, and in some cases even abused kids who, on
their own, are self-described Losers with a capital L.
Bill Denbrough has a stutter and bears the guilt of his little brother's disappearance.
Beverly Marsh has developed a wholly undeserved reputation, just as her father asserts dominion
over her girlhood in creepy and possibly even violent ways.
The delightfully foul-mouthed Richie Tozier is content to spend every second of his spare
time in the arcade.
Stanley Uris is constantly picked on for his yarmulka, though he can barely recite Hebrew.
Mike Hanlon is the home-schooled kid who's still considered "other" thanks to his race.
Eddie Kaspbrak is whip-smart, but constantly demeaned by his mother.
And Ben Hanscom is the new guy whose pudginess and affinity for the library makes him an
easy mark for the nastiest of town bullies.
By coming together, they ignite a uniquely fearless and fun force field against the demonic
being that's plagued their town for years.
They're not invincible
Unlike other kids, who are perhaps less subject to daily torture by their peers, the Losers
have been made to face their fears almost daily.
From bullies to oppressive parents to lost siblings, they've already been through the
worst life can throw at them.
So Pennywise, despite all its tricks, can only do so much to them … especially when
they're united.
However, they do seem to have a tendency to break apart a little too soon.
As we see throughout the movie, Pennywise constantly tries to separate them to individualize
the aggression, since he needs their fears to feed.
"Rich, what are you afraid of?"
"Clowns."
That scare tactic doesn't work so well when they're together, but apart, they're completely
vulnerable.
At the end of the film, they agree to reunite if the occasion calls, but they'll go their
separate ways in the meantime… which can't be good news for the next victims.
Standing alone, too, they're more likely to backtrack in their own unique ways.
Book readers and fans of the miniseries will know that Stan Uris isn't going to heal—inside
or out—quite as well as the others.
And as for Bevy, well …
Bev chooses herself… kind of
Apart from beating us over the head with metaphors about her reaching adolescence, It also lays
on the love triangle element with Beverly Marsh pretty thick.
Not counting her grotesque father, Beverly is the apple of not one but two pairs of eyes:
"January Embers" scribe Ben and the group's de facto leader, Bill.
It's Ben's kiss that summons her from her Pennywise-induced coma.
But it's Bill's lips she chooses to smooch before her departure to her aunt's, now that
she's a self-made orphan.
But neither of these fellas are important enough to keep her around Derry.
Ben and Bill are just roadblocks to her retreat from town… ones she happily bypasses, by
the way.
The bad news is that anyone familiar with King's writing will know that her dad isn't
the only guy who'll hurt her before it's all said and done.
Speaking of Mr. Marsh …
Parental plight
If you thought Disney movies had a heavy hand with parents, It went hard on the moms and
dads of Derry, too.
Beverly greases her dad with a toilet lid.
Henry Bowers knifes his old man in the neck just for making him look bad in front of his
friends.
And Mike Hanlon has lost his parents in a horrific fire.
Even the surviving parents are left a little worse for wear.
Bill has almost completely disregarded his parents' sensitivities over their lost son,
and Eddie defies his mother's orders and trashes his placebo prescriptions.
Part of the point of this story is to subvert the whole "parents know best" philosophy,
since, you know, they're largely ignoring all the missing and murdered children around
town.
It's basically a big metaphor for that moment when kids realize their parents aren't perfect
and begin to think that they can take care of themselves instead.
Henry Bowers is MIA
On top of Georgie and Henry's fire-spraying henchman Patrick Hockstetter, the other minor
who seemingly meets his maker in the movie is Henry Bowers.
After being coaxed into killing his old man by visions of It, his sudden sense of social
supremacy takes over as he goes on the offensive against Mike.
Mike manages to fight him off and pitches Henry into the abyss of Pennywise's well,
which is immeasurably deep.
But we shouldn't count Henry out just yet.
It's a well-known Hollywood rule that if a character's death isn't shown on-screen, you're
better off assuming it didn't happen.
On top of that, in the story, Bowers plays a bonkers part in future events.
So, his rage will likely linger just as long as that terrible scar he sliced into Ben's
belly.
What about the floating kids?
When Bill and the rest of the Losers come back together to rescue Beverly from It, they
discover her floating mid-air with her eyes glazed over.
"You'll float too!
You'll float too!
You'll float too!"
After they spring her from unconsciousness, they learn that she felt like she was no longer
alive while under the spell of the deadlights.
After the Losers manage to scare Pennywise away, the rest of the kids that have been
floating in It's underground lair start to drop.
Will they too emerge alive?
It's hard to tell.
Either way, though, it looks like little Georgie won't be coming back to captain the SS Georgie
again any time soon.
Although other lost children are potentially being dropped to safety or at least absolution
for their folks, Bill's left to grieve over the yellow raincoat Georgie wore while captaining
his paper boat on the street.
Why he isn't in the floating kid cloud is a bit of a mystery, so if you listen closely,
you can probably hear the Justice for Georgie hashtag being formed right now.
It isn't over
Although the Losers do manage to defeat It at the end of the movie, even they know the
fight isn't over.
We get a glimpse of It falling apart, but the creature clearly isn't dead.
As the news articles Ben has so carefully assembled indicate, It's hunger strikes again
every few decades.
So, it's just a matter of time before It comes back to claim another slew of victims in Chapter
Two.
And when it does, everyone in the Losers Club will reunite in Derry to finish what they
started -- almost all of them at least.
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