After a long —but thankfully not 27 years-long—wait, Andy Muschietti’s terrifying adaptation of the classic Stephen King novel IT has come to its end. IT Chapter Two is an even scarier conclusion to the tale that began two years ago with the release of IT Chapter One, and, thankfully, the Losers Club is back in all of its glory to rid Derry and planet earth of the horror most commonly known as Pennywise.
While this adaptation of the novel is a spectacular one, there are still elements to the story of IT that honestly just don’t make any sense. The story relies on a lot of suspension of disbelief, but there are parts of the film that can’t be reasoned away or explained away no matter which way you try to look at it. So, here are 10 things about IT Chapter Two that just don’t make any sense.
The Chinese Restaurant Not Flipping Out On The Losers Club
When the Losers Club finally reunites in Derry, they go to the local Chinese restaurant, catch up on old times, and jog all of the memories that they have apparently forgotten in the years they’ve spent away from the bizarre town. But, unsurprisingly Pennywise seems to be aware of their return to Derry, and he decides to terrorize the hell out of them in an attempt to get them to go away.
They have a lot of intense and terrifying hallucinations, which understandably leads to them freaking out and trashing their private room in the restaurant, but the waitress who finds them in that state seems confused but barely fazed by seeing what they’ve done.
Henry Bowers Escaping
The IT Chapter One bully Henry Bowers has apparently spent his entire life in a mental institution for the criminally insane after murdering his father in the prior film, but, once Pennywise wakes up from his slumber, he assists in Henry’s escape. He gives Henry his trusty switchblade back, and Henry uses that to escape the institution and return to Derry to attack the Losers Club once again.
And, not to dishonor Henry’s considerable skills as a homicidal crazy person, but how did a mentally unstable middle-aged man manage to escape from an institution that is specifically designed to keep someone like him captive using only one small knife?
Hockstetter Driving Henry Around
Pennywise can obviously do a lot of terrifying and real things himself. However, it has been pretty clearly established that the majority of the crazy things that he makes “happen” are simply illusions designed to terrorize and confuse the people who are seeing them. This is why Hockstetter’s sudden and apparently real return to Derry to help out the newly freed Henry Bowers doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.
Hockstetter is the one who gives Henry the knife, which is a real knife, and Hockstetter is even the one who is driving Henry around, and he’s actually getting where he’s going, so this clearly isn’t an illusion.
Beverly Not Bailing On Mrs. Kersh
When the Losers Club returns to Derry, they all need to find their individual artifact that means something special to them in order to complete the ritual of Chud. And, in order to do that, Beverly Marsh must return to the apartment where she lived and had so many unpleasant experiences.
She actually makes pretty quick work of finding her artifact, but she seems to feel obligated to spend time with the apartment’s elderly occupant, Mrs. Kersh. There is pretty obviously something off about Mrs. Kersh, but Beverly still sticks around until things start getting the way you’d expect things to get when a creepy old lady shows up in a Stephen King movie.
Bill Letting Dean Go
After Bill rediscovers his beloved bike, he goes for a ride around Derry and happens to pass by his old house. He sees that there is actually a little boy living there, and he’s understandably concerned. When he goes by the sewer where Georgie was taken, he hears Georgie’s voice and, even more understandably, totally loses it.
And then Dean, the little boy who now lives in Bill’s house, shows up and asks what’s going on. When Dean makes it clear that he hears Pennywise’s voice in his house, Bill desperately warns him to be careful. However, he doesn’t do much more to stop him or get him out of harm’s way.
Belief Being All It Takes To Win
Well actually, this is something that could have made sense if it weren’t for what happened, or apparently didn’t happen, in IT Chapter One. The key element for defeating Pennywise in Chapter Two is essentially believing that what they’re doing will kill him, except… didn’t all of the Losers already believe that at the end of Chapter One?
Eddie clearly believes that he can kill the monster when he attacks it to save Richie in the cave. However, that move obviously doesn’t wind up being a killing blow to Pennywise either, so it’s strange that it seems to work the one time it really needs to but not at any other times.
The Losers Club Wanting To Run Away
When it becomes clear that Pennywise has returned after his 27 year hibernation, Mike Hanlon rounds up the Losers Club and demands that they return to Derry to help him defeat It once and for all. And, once the Losers realize what Mike is asking of them, the vast majority of them either don’t care or are straight up ready to flee town to get away from this messy situation. However, why would a bunch of forty-year-olds be too scared to do something that they were bold and brave enough to attempt when they were still just barely teenagers?
Stanley’s Death
So as IT Chapter Two begins, we see all of the Losers Club in their separate lives being called by Mike Hanlon and asked to return to Derry as soon as possible. Although everyone besides Stan does it, it appears that no one in the Losers Club besides Mike even remembers what happened with Pennywise until their memories are jogged back in Derry.
But, in order to avoid a confrontation that Stanley knows he can’t handle, he commits suicide instead. However, if everyone in the Losers Club can’t even remember what happened in Derry, then how would one unexplained phone call from Mike Hanlon be enough to cause Stanley Uris to kill himself?
Eddie’s Death
After repeatedly freezing in the face of danger and trying to avoid this confrontation with It at all costs, Eddie forces himself into action when Richie Tozier is in danger from Pennywise. Eddie heeds Beverly’s advice that the weapon he has can kill monsters if he believes it does, and he deals what actually does appear to be a fatal blow to Pennywise.
However, the fatal blow appears to be a fake-out, and, as Eddie is proclaiming that he killed the monster, he takes a giant claw to the chest from It. But believing does appear to make it true just a few moments later when the Losers kill Pennywise for good, so why didn’t this actually work?
The Ritual Of Chud
When the Losers Club head down into the buried bowels of Derry to where It seemed to originate from, the plan that they’ve laid out to destroy Pennywise for good is a Native American ritual called the ritual of Chud. While it initially seems like the ritual is working, Pennywise battles back against the Losers and reveals that the ritual was never effective to begin with. He also reveals that Mike already knew this. Mike explains that he thought that they could make it work, but, given Mike’s preparedness and understanding of Pennywise, it’s hard to believe that he’d lead the Losers down there with a plan A he knows is going to fail and no plan B.
