how well does the sequel to 2017's it adaptstephen king's classic novel while tying up all the loose ends from the first installment? let's roll up our sleeves, wade into the sewersand dig into the details of how the saga ends. this is the ending of it: chapter two explained. and before you open the door labeled "veryscary," be warned: spoilers await you. stephen king's novel it isn't just the storyof a creepy clown terrorizing some kids and then returning to do it all over again whenthey're adults. there's a whole cosmology to the saga, whichincludes a giant, godlike turtle that coughed up the known universe when it had a tummyache.
aside from a few subtle nods here and there,the movies mostly sidestep the ancient, interdimensional mythology of the book, but one element doesshow up in it: chapter two - the true form of it. when he goes to visit the shokopiwah tribeand takes one of their vision-granting concoctions, mike learns that it came to earth in a meteorstrike that left a crater in derry, and is made up of "deadlights," mostly orange butsometimes-blue spheres of light of immense power. though the lights can be seen in brief momentsin the first film, it appears entirely as deadlights as chapter two reaches its climax,and even after taking on other forms, the
deadlights are still visibly powering thecreature, becoming increasingly weaker as the losers literally bring it down to size. it's true form is revealed because the losersperform the ritual of chã¼d, a ceremony that differs pretty wildly in the movie from theway it works in the book. the movie's take on the ritual involves eachmember of the club burning a "token" of his or her childhood and reciting a chant to makethe deadlights turn dark, then trapping the deadlights inside a pyramid-shaped relic mikestole. the ritual is the key to defeating it in thebook, though it takes two tries 27 years apart. but the losers' attempt essentially failsin the movie, at least at first.
that's because it's revealed mike lied toeveryone in an attempt to simply bring them all back together. the ritual wasn't successful before when thenative americans tried to do it, and it doesn't kill it when the losers try this time, either. at least, not until they've gone through thewringer just a little bit more so they can truly overcome the fears that feed it. richie isn't exactly a tough nut to crack. "all right, rich. what are you afraid of?"
"clowns." his token for the ritual of chã¼d is a literaltoken from the local arcade. and, as is so often the case in the transitionfrom childhood to adulthood, his fear has morphed into anxiety. the adult richie throws up twice in it: chaptertwo and threatens to leave derry several times because he just can't stand the idea of losingwhat he's gained as a famous stand-up comedian. richie spends the first half of chapter twomercilessly needling his childhood pal eddie, and he doesn't hesitate to call stanley theweakest of the losers when he finds out about stanley killing himself.
he can be mean, and has a hard time expressinghis real feelings. richie has to visit the synagogue where stanleyhad a disastrous bar mitzvah, and more significantly, come to openly care about the well-being ofhis closest friend eddie, whom he finally can admit he loves, to overcome his self-absorptionand play a part in defeating it. for eddie's part, the fear he has to overcomeis also a sort of self-obsession. his hypochondria and fear of bodily harm areparalyzing. they hamper him from taking action both asa child and as an adult, like when he's confronted with stanley's bug-like severed head or tryingto rescue his mother from the leper he keeps seeing it as.
it isn't until he gives up one of his "gazebos"- his malapropism for "placebo" - in the form of his inhaler for his token and comes tobelieve in the monster-killing power of a makeshift spear fashioned from a metal fencepostthat he can work up the courage to mount a full frontal attack on it, weakening the monsterbefore the rest of the losers can deal their final psychological blows. eddie is fatally impaled, but in the serviceof saving his friends. after a lifetime of being frozen with fear,his final act is one of bravery. even nearly 30 years after his brother georgie'sdeath, bill is still plagued by guilt and feelings of responsibility.
he finds himself shouting down a storm drainjust like he did in his youth, and he conveniently gets georgie's paper boat back from pennywiseto use as his token in the ritual. he fears not being able to save the peoplearound him. eventually he tries - and fails - to saveanother young derry boy from suffering a fate similar to georgie's at the end of pennywise'steeth. it takes a full-on envisioned confrontationwith his younger self during the final showdown with it for bill to come to terms with whathappened and absolve himself of blame, telling himself that he was, in fact, a good olderbrother. with that resolved, he can help destroy it,and maybe finally write a decent ending to
his next novel. though ben has grown from a chubby, bulliedkid into a handsome, successful man, he still clearly feels ostracized. he notably keeps himself at a remove fromhis co-workers at his architecture firm, videoconferencing in from his massive, empty house. meanwhile, beverly is in an abusive marriagethat mirrors her relationship with her father. when she returns to her childhood home, it'sunfamiliar and inhabited by a woman who turns into a rampaging, unclothed monster. nowhere really feels like home to her.
after some amnesia-based uncertainty aboutwho really loved whom on beverly's part, beverly and ben finally find the linchpins to workthrough their fears: each other. beverly brings the postcard with the poemben wrote for her to the ritual of chã¼d, and ben brings the yearbook page bev and noone else signed. as ben is made to think he's being buriedalive in the losers' secret hideout and bev finds herself drowning in blood in the bathroomstall where she was tormented by bullies, they reach out to each other and break freeof it's spell. much like his parents found themselves trappedas a raging fire killed them, mike has trapped himself in derry while everyone else leftand forgot all about what happened there in
1989. "the farther away, the hazier it all gets. but me, i never left. so yeah. i remember all of it." he has appointed himself the chronicler andexpert on all things it, convening with the shokopiwah in hopes of unleashing ancientsecrets in time for the returning losers to defeat the creature. and it works - just not the way he originallysuspected.
more than the ritual of chã¼d, one littleproverb about living things having to abide by the rules of the shape they inhabit endsup being the key to taking down pennywise. when mike remembers that detail, he sets offa chain of events that leads all the other losers to bring the monster down to size withtheir words, calling it little more than a clown. their name-calling shrinks pennywise downso small that they can easily pull out his still-beating heart and destroy it. mike thrives as someone who rallies his friends,as signified by the way he brings a rock beverly threw at the town bullies as his token.
a major difference from the book's endingis that all the movie losers leave derry with the memories of their encounter with it intact- but to everyone's surprise, without the literal scars from when they cut their handsto signify their blood bond at the end of the first movie. the pain is exorcised. bill writes a book that's very similar tostephen king's it. ben and beverly go on boat excursions together,having finally found true companionship. richie finishes carving his and eddie's initialsinto a fence, finally revealing how much he cares.
mike leaves town at last. and everyone receives a letter from stanley,written before he killed himself. in the letter, stanley gives a rationale forhis decision to kill himself: not to escape facing down it, but to prevent his friendsfrom dying because he wasn't sure he could take another round with the creature. he knew if the losers weren't unified, they'dall die. when the adult losers look in a shop windowand see the reflections of their younger selves, stanley's there. "i never felt like a loser when i was withall of you."
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