Stephen King sequel IT: Chapter 2 introduced Pennywise's human origin story to give the character more depth but ended up almost ruining Pennywise's scariest trick. He went from being an intangible personification of fear, as shifting and intangible as the worst nightmares, to being something conquerable. Even stranger, this IT: Chapter 2 human origin story also contradicted his plot hole-inducing backstory in the same scene.

Released in 2017, Stephen King’s IT was a blockbuster hit that earned largely positive reviews. The ambitious adaptation split the doorstopper novel into two movies, with the filmmakers being aware the sprawling, multi-generational story needed more than one movie to do its complex plot justice. However, while IT fared well with critics, its 2019 sequel IT: Chapter 2 was not so fortunate. Despite an impressive cast, IT: Chapter 2 failed to recreate IT’s success, with critics citing the sequel’s uneven tone and pacing problems as its biggest issues. Although IT made the wise decision to adapt the childhood and adult stories of the Losers Club as two distinct movies, the second of these was tonally muddled and overlong.

Related: Every Stephen King Book & Story That's Been His Favorite (& Why)

While there were a lot of issues with IT: Chapter 2, one of the most glaring problems came in the form of Pennywise’s backstory. The sequel explains the story of the man who became Pennywise the Dancing Clown and appears to imply he was a real person (as distinct from one of the titular IT’s many manifestations). However, Chapter 2 almost instantly walks back this explanation and implies he may never have had a human form, a confusing, contradictory backstory that could ruined Pennywise's scariest trick. Although Pennywise is one of Stephen King’s best villains, his IT: Chapter 2 backstory is a mess that doesn't hold up on closer inspection.

The Problem With IT: Chapter 2’s Pennywise Backstory

It-Chapter-2-Pennywise

Pennywise the Dancing Clown’s backstory is explained by Ms. Kersh, the old lady who Bev meets in her former apartment shortly after returning to Derry in IT: Chapter 2. Kersh (who is named after The Empire Strikes Back helmer Irvin Kershner) claims in conversation that her father joined the circus to make ends meet during her childhood. Bob Gray seems to be the man she’s referring to, as he can briefly be seen in a photo beside Pennywise the Dancing Clown’s circus cart with Ms. Kersh as a child. However, as a Freddy Krueger-style villain, Pennywise (or IT, technically) has been in Derry in some form since time immemorial. This is later shown in IT: Chapter 2 when the sequel mentions the native Americans that the monster killed the last time the Ritual of Chud was attempted.

This begs the question that if Pennywise is just one of many faces worn by this immortal evil, then who is Bob Gray? Was he, like Henry Bowers, someone who existed as a Derry native before he was possessed by IT and convinced to become a monster? Could Bob Gray, like Adrian Mellon (the gay youth murdered by a homophobic mob in IT: Chapter 2’s standout opening scene), be a victim of Pennywise who the creature later appeared as? IT: Chapter 2 never clarifies this and the sequel fails to even explain whether the character existed at all or if he and his daughter were all part of Pennywise’s elaborate attempt to terrify adult Bev.

More importantly, making Pennywise human undermines exactly what made IT so scary in the first place and ruins his scariest trick. The creature was always adaptable to its victims, manifesting as their biggest weakness - like Bev's father - to ensure they'd never be able to overcome it. Even remotely hinting that IT started as a mortal makes Pennywise and IT vulnerable and the fact the monster invests in a fake origin backstory is even more confusing when IT's powers are so efficient up to that point. It's an unnecessary dilution that serves no great purpose beyond narrative confusion.

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Is Bob Gray Really Pennywise In IT: Chapter 2?

IT Chapter Two Losers Kids Pennywise

While the scene is pretty minor in the grand scheme of IT: Chapter 2’s story, Bev’s confrontation with the old lady was pivotal to the movie’s marketing. The earliest trailer for Chapter 2 was composed solely of the scene, yet the movie never properly explains who Bob Gray is. From the evidence provided by the novel, the character seems to be just another one of Pennywise’s many alter egos, but the name is only an alias the shape-shifting monster made up. However, like Cary Fukunaga’s original IT script, IT: Chapter 2 does take a lot of liberties with the text it is adapting.

However, the sequel does not offer an alternative explanation for Gray’s character, and the fact that the movie’s Mike and Ben are both professed Derry history buffs means one of them would surely have noticed evidence of a circus entertainer who looked like the killer clown terrorizing the Losers Club. Therefore, Bob is seemingly not a real person with a real daughter, meaning the backstory is a lie. What is still unclear is why Pennywise would take the form of Ms. Kersh and make up this elaborate tale to scare Bev when she was already visiting the apartment to see her father - a character who Pennywise repeatedly transformed into before and after this scene to terrify her.

How Ms. Kersh’s Story Creates A Plot Hole

mrs. kersh from it chapter two

As proven by Eddie and Richie’s subplot, IT: Chapter 2 failed to flesh out many elements of its complex story. However, Ms. Kersh’s story in particular creates a plot hole that is never satisfactorily explained. After Ms. Kersh claims her father joined the circus she becomes a monstrous hag, whereupon Beverly books it out and escapes into the hallway. There, she encounters a more-human-than-usual Pennywise the Clown applying greasepaint and pulling chunks out of his own face. Is this a flashback to Bob Gray - a real person and circus employee - being possessed by IT and becoming Pennywise or did Gray never exist and is this just one of IT’s forms making up a backstory?

Seemingly, the latter answer is correct given the reveal of what Pennywise and IT are. However, King’s tendency to have characters driven to madness by supernatural forces, as seen in The Shining and sequel Dr. Sleep and the story of the sequence make it look much more like Bob Gray was a real person who IT drove insane and turned into Pennywise, who IT then adopted as his most used form. This backstory would make perfect sense and the fact it appears not to be true makes the moment a strange non-sequitur with little explanation. The entire scene creates a confusing plot hole and it is one of many issues that IT: Chapter 2 struggles to explain, almost ruining Pennywise's scariest trick as a result.

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