IT: Welcome To Derry Has A Black Spot In Episode 7 Like Sinners (Photo Credit –Prime Video)
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IT: Welcome to Derry has become a show where the smoke still hangs in the air after it ends. The show’s 7th episode, especially, exudes this feeling as it landed like a gut punch with all its twists and intrigue. However, the riveting episode also prompted fans to wonder if the show tiptoed near the grounds that Sinners walked on earlier this year.
‘The Black Spot’ twist hit screens on HBO Max with a force, leaving viewers gaping at the fire, the screams and the familiar dread that Stephen King so often inflicts on his audience. But was the trope original?
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The Black Spot Became A Haven Before It Burned Down
The series has been building the Black Spot gradually, brick by brick, taking the tiny mention in the 1986 King novel and stretching it into the heart of the season. Director Andy Muschietti leaned right into the emotional weight of the film, showing how Dick Hallorann and his fellow Black soldiers had no true space in Derry. They were side-eyed at the local bar for laughing too loudly and left standing at the door of a town that never wanted them inside. Hallorann used his shining powers to help General Francis Shaw hunt a fear-heavy entity that could end the Cold War, but he made his own demand in exchange—a safe hangout where he and his friends could relax without being stared down.
Subsequently, Shaw gave them a rundown off-base spot that looked like it could collapse with one strong wind. However, with care, music, and sweat, the soldiers turned it into a warm place where the Black residents of Derry could dance, sing, and feel human for once.
By Episode 6, the Black Spot had a rhythm flowing through its walls, and when Rich, Marge, and Will arrived to visit Ronnie and her framed father, the doors opened without a hint of hesitation. Rich hopped on the drums, and Marge watched him with soft pride. For a moment, the scene felt as hopeful as anything in the show.
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However, the moment did not live long as former police chief Bowers returned with white men in masks and guns, ready to drag Hank away. But the people inside refused to hand him over, forcing the mob to retreat only so they could lock the doors from outside. Within seconds, Molotov cocktails shattered through the windows, before flames swallowed the music and the laughter. The people inside screamed as the room turned into a furnace.
Most heartbreaking of all, Rich’s final moments protecting Marge sliced through viewers with a sharpness no one expected. The fire in that small building did more than kill; it echoed the ugliest truths of America, the tales of mobs tearing through Black communities with fire as their chosen message.
Sinners Delivered A Firestorm With Similar Painful Echoes
Anyone who watched the episode felt history breathing down their neck, and yet the sense of familiarity had another layer to it. Ryan Coogler’s Sinners, one of the year’s standout horror films, carries a similar story in its bones. Coogler’s story takes place in 1932 Mississippi, where the Smokestack Twins, played by Michael B. Jordan, create their own all-Black juke joint inside an old sawmill.
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It served as their own version of freedom, much like the Black Spot. Music filled their nights there, and the joy in the room had the same beating heart as the club in Derry. Sinners even rolled out one of the most stunning musical scenes of recent years, a tribute to the history of Black music.
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In Coogler’s world, the threat came from vampires led by Remmick, a pale force that needed an invitation before entering. When Grace Chow let them in and hurled a Molotov cocktail, the juke joint exploded into fire, turning the celebration into a brutal fight among burning beams. By dawn, most were dead, with the vampires being defeated, and Smoke fell in his final clash with the KKK. He took the racists down with him, and the story closed with a bittersweet afterlife reunion.
Pennywise Turns The Black Spot Into His Feeding Ground
In Derry, the fire did not bring peace, though. Instead, it brought Pennywise slithering out of the shadows and feeding on the terror as he always does, picking off anyone who could not escape fast enough. The flare of violence opened the door for the clown to feast, and the sight of him in those flames pushed the horror into an even sharper realm.
Now, ever since the 7th episode aired, people have been whispering whether Coogler was inspired by the Black Spot in King’s book. But the acclaimed director said that that was not the case, “I was at home listening to a blues record as I often would to remind myself of my uncle, the idea hit me.”
Apparently, Sinners came from his heart, not from Derry. Still, even Muschietti noticed the echo. However, he called it a coincidence, praising the film made by Coogler. He also added that the Black Spot chapter was always intended to be part of the interludes they introduced into the series. So, Sinners didn’t influence the inclusion of the trope in Episode 7.
Both Stories Stand On The Back Of Pain, Power, And Survival
Both stories give the Black community a bright moment before hate tries to stamp it out. Both bring in supernatural monsters, one wearing fangs and the other wearing a clown’s grin.
What lingers is the resilience. In Sinners, Smoke fights until the fire takes him. In IT: Welcome to Derry, the survivors of the Black Spot are pushed straight into a finale where that same spirit will carry them forward, even with Pennywise waiting in the ruins.
