While It: Welcome to Derry has changed a lot of Pennywise’s villainous lore, the evil entity’s new backstory found a particularly ingenious way to reverse the killer clown’s modus operandi. It: Welcome to Derry changed Pennywise’s powers numerous times, but the opening scene of season 1, episode 7, “The Black Spot,” took things further than ever.

The episode’s extended cold open was set in 1908, and the flashback focused on Bob Gray, a carnival worker who performed onstage as Pennywise the Dancing Clown. A favorite of local children, Gray was an ordinary human children’s performer, with an adoring daughter and a late wife who once performed as part of his act.

Although he looked just like It: Welcome to Derry ’s killer clown Pennywise onstage, 1908’s Gray was a genuinely ha

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