Eat, Hunt, Prey? HBO releases historical DERRY interlude..
Young native American Necani (Kiawentiio) sits quietly, but restlessly, at the feet of her elders as the community looks at the threat of the encroaching foreigners who seem to take more of their land every day. She wonders why her tribe won’t venture into the nearby woods as a means of defense – after all, despite the legends, how dangerous can the area really be?
But when no-one listens, she heads off herself, reluctantly taking Sesqui (Morningstar Angeline) and Kino (Isabel Deroy-Olson) with her. But there is every reason to fear the forces within and the trio grow uneasy with the sanctuary that Mitig (Longmire, Dark Winds’ Zahn McClarnon) offers them.
They are right to be afraid… something very old, dangerous and hungry is watching them… ready to devour them. Even worse, it seeks to escape…
The unannounced drop of a Welcome to Derry-related episode over the Hallowe’en weekend was a nice surprise – if only because in this day and age, the marketing machine usually gears up weeks or more in advance and limits that ‘surprise’ factor or extras turn out to be mere fan wish-list rumours (Stranger Things, I’m looking at you!)
Running to only thirty minutes, the story is streamlined and the idea of a young warrior recklessly heading out to prove themselves but who should probably have listened to the warnings of their elders, is an overtly familiar story.
Tonally and thematically, this feels a little like a mismatch with Predator-prequel Prey, though with less attention to detail. The special didn’t push many boundaries and anyone who was looking for era-accurate representation would have been largely frustrated by a string of anachronisms.
None of the cast quite measure up to Amber Midthunder’s Prey performance and it’s likely the native Americans never said ‘Wait up, guys!‘ Equally, their clothing seemed a general mismatch of cultural stereotypes and touchstones with materials that no dirt ever seems to linger upon. It smacks a little of a special being done as something of an afterthought or gathering unused footage for a thread that was trimmed away for the sake of the main trunk of the story. Admittedly, it’s all very well put together and a love-letter to deep-dive Stephen King enthusiasts… but also the kind of thing that used to appear as a solid DVD extra rather than a standalone broadcast.
Even if not essential, what we have here is not irrelevant or opportunistic, there is – thankfully – a narrative reason for the story. It draws on the Native-American aspects and elements introduced in Welcome to Derry‘s first season. (The series, in cooperation with real-life historical tribes created the fictional Shokopiwah tribe, blending existing peoples of the time). The special fills in a little more of the back-story of the area, in particular the meteorite/holy stone relics that seemed to provide protection from the otherworldly entity that would become the Pennywise persona (on which much of the rest of the saga is based). Here we see how they ended up where they did, encircling the area as a kind of cosmic electric fence… but at a cost.
Once the tension breaks and the monster(s) of the piece shows up things get more frantic. There’s no sign of Pennywise per se (as noted, this part of the saga predates him) and it’s a little worrying that we get a character that looks little more than a live-action, albeit darker version of Dungeon & Dragons‘ cartoon Dungeon-master see image below). However, when the VFX department and some creative cinematography come into play, we get a more impressive creature of the gnashing teeth and extended limb variety, consistent with some of the scarier aspects of what we’ve seen before.
If the tale is fairly simplistic, the cast – many of Native American heritage – handle everything thrown at them with aplomb.
Again, this isn’t an essential story and you can easily watch the main series without seeing this if you wish – it merely adds another layer to proceedings – a footnote given traction. But die-hard King fans will relish the inclusion of the turtle avatar, part of the author’s depiction of the original cosmic balance (but mostly exorcised from the previous tellings of the main IT story) and a handful of other easter-eggs if you know where to look and listen.
8/10
Welcome to Derry is available on HBO Max…