Locke & Key Summary

No spoilers, but let’s talk about the premise and what happened in season one. Locke & Key is a young adult styled horror themed show about the Locke family. After Rendell, the father, is killed in seemingly a random attack by a student he was counseling, Nina takes her kids, Tyler, Kinsey, and Bode back to Massachusetts and the Keyhouse, where Locke, grew up.

There, Bode meets an imaginary friend, or so he thinks, in the well house, Dodge. And he starts to hear strange whispering sounds that lead him to keys. These keys all of magical powers, like a key that opens a door to anywhere. Unfortunately, Dodge is not just an imaginary friend, but an entity from another dimension who bonded to Lucas, one of Rendell’s friends from high school, years ago.

Dodge wants the keys, and in particular wants the Omega key, one that will open the door blocking off the portal. Using the student who attacked and killed Rendell, Dodge tries to get the keys that she needs in order to complete their plan. Meanwhile, Tyler, Kinsey, and Bode are dealing with a new town and that adults don’t know about the keys. Eventually, though, they manage to defeat Dodge and throw her through the portal back to her dimension, or so they think.

Locke & Key Season 2

Season two picks up shortly after the events of season two. Really when the kids next year of school starts. And of course, as viewers, we know, that the issue at hand is Dodge. She is still around, but the kids don’t know that. So what is Dodge’s plan going to be now?

The style of the show stays very much the same. It is still a young adult show with horror elements to it. For me, the feel of the show leans more into those horror elements, but not too much. But one of the things that this season does, it dig more into the lore of the Keyhouse and the Locke family. It is shown early on, but really delved into towards the end of season two.

What Doesn’t Work?

I think the one knock people might have from season one still remains. If you read the comic by Joe Hill you know how much darker and twisted that is. While Tyler, Kinsey and Bode are all around the same age, the world and how they interact with it is much less fanciful. They struggle with life more, and the actions of the student are grimmer.

For something on Netflix, I think that the changes work. But while season two is a little bit darker, it is not that dark horror. So if season one is not your jam, then season two is not going to be either. Now if season one grew on you, this might feel a bit more like the comics. And I think as someone who read the comics and likes the show, I see more nods to the comics in this one. There are in season one, but more direct references I feel here.

What Works?

I really think that building on the lore works well in this season. We get to find out not about where the portal goes to, but more of the history of it. More of what Dodge wants as well, which is intriguing. The house and lore are so intriguing that it’s hard not to want to know more about it and see more in the world. The portal to another dimension is that element that just feels different and out there from other shows.

I think they also toned down the teen drama a little bit. Watch the first few episodes, and you will disagree. But the further you get into the series, the more you see that drop away. There is still drama, since they aren’t going fully horror, drama needs to exist in some other ways. But it isn’t as much as times in season one. And a lot of that is that Tyler, Kinsey, and Bode feel like a weight has been lifted with Dodge being gone.

I appreciate, as well, that there is more adult involvement and that some of that involvement, while similar to the comics, is handled better. I think that they create a more interesting story that way. And it feels like the adult involvement makes more sense in this case.

Finally, the acting is still very strong. Bode, as a kid actor, is not always the best, nor the new kid actor in there as well. But Gabe is amazing (Dodge’s current form), and the other two kids, Kinsey and Tyler do a very good job as well. I love it when a show does well with the casting. And their mother, Nina, is very good at being confused.

Who Is It For?

I think it is for fans of Stranger Things. Another Netflix property with a similar feel, but more of a kids on bikes focus. This feels like it’s a tad more cleaned up from that and while it blends fantasy and horror, the feel is not quite the same.

As for fans of the comics, I do think that season two is likely to be appreciated more. But it is young adult in tone versus the comics. So if you dislike season one, season two is unlikely to change that. And I can understand that if expectations starts differently that this might seem very off. But if you go into season one knowing it is young adult, you’ll likely be able to appreciate it more.

Locke & Key Season 2 Final Thoughts

I like this show a lot. For me, I do not mind the young adult feel, nor am I sure that I would love to watch something that sticks perfectly to the comics. This helps balance out some of the trauma that they went through by showing off the wonder of the Keyhouse and what it is to be a Locke. The decisions that Tyler, Kinsey, and Bode face still are heavy, but there are more moments in there.

And I know there is going to be one more season. I think, many people, like myself, didn’t watch season two immediately when it dropped. There is just too much time between the seasons. But, thankfully, Netflix is already committed to a season three and they know it will be the last one. I want to see where the series ends, and while it might not be release day binge, I will watch it.

Do you enjoy Locke & Key on Netflix?

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Locke & Key follows a family who is moving back into the families home after tragedy has struck them. Rendell, their father, has passed away so Nina picks up and takes the kids from Seattle to Mattheson, Massachusetts. None of the kids, except the youngest, Bode, are excited to be there. But when Bode hears a voice in the well house talking back to him when he makes his voice echo, it’s clear that this isn’t a normal house. Soon Tyler and Kinsey are drawn into the crazy world that the house holds with many magical keys and Echo, the voice from the well who has gotten out. What does Echo want and why can’t their mother, Nina, remember anything about the keys?

Let me quickly give my thoughts on the show and then I’ll go into more depth. There might be some spoilers later on, but I’m going to try and keep them to a minimum. I really liked this show, even though it isn’t as dark and horrific as the first trade paperback, there’s definitely a very interesting and creepy story behind it. And that was enough for me, plus Joe Hill did the work on it to keep it in the spirit of the books, but not have to go fully dark. However, because of that it has much more of a YA feel to it, so if you’re a huge fan of the comics, know that before you jump in. There are a few things that stand out to me for the show.

The first thing is the acting. Most of the time, you have a cast that is mainly teen age (though teen in acting can be early 20’s) or kid actors, the acting will end up being suspect. However, in Locke & Key they do an amazing job. The actor who plays Bode, Jackson Robert Scott, does a great job. Bode is supposed to be a wide eyed 8-10 year old in the show, and you can really see that in the acting. He does a very good job of portraying an innocence and sincerity to his acting. And I won’t go into it a ton with the other actors, but the actors portraying Kinsey and Tyler, Emilia Jones and Connor Jessup respectively, do really good work as well. There are shifts in their acting as you get to see more of their character and as their characters change that are really well done. Even the adult acting is well done and it doesn’t just feel like so many YA stories where there’s a group of teens and no adults believe them and then the adults are wrong.

Another thing is that while this leans into horror tropes and supernatural elements that could seem cliche, it does a good job of keeping them different. When we were watching through it, it felt to Kristen and myself like several things we’ve seen or played before, Haven, Life is Strange, Oxenfree, and more, but it still felt unique. The element of the keys and how they work is really well done. And you can see where Joe Hill is borrowing form the work that his father has done before, but in a very respectful and well done way. I got numerous callbacks to IT in the show, and I appreciated that. It’s really that none of the tropes it used felt out of place or felt like they were forced in there because it’s horror or anything like that, it just flowed naturally.

Let’s talk a bit more about the story before I wrap up here. Like I said, the story is not going to be as heavily horror focused, which I’m fine with. While I love some good horror, there’s something whimsical about the keys that lends itself not just to horror but to this more fantastical element as well, and the show leans into that some more. As things unfold, there is definitely more horror and violence, but there’s also a sense of fantasy or magic to the story. Like I said previously as well, it doesn’t fall into the storytelling tropes of YA where the kids are smart and the adults are dumb and don’t believe the kids. It avoids some of that by a nifty plot device that they explain but also by just having the kids do their own thing. They use the grief of Rendell’s death and Nina’s reaction to it to drive some of why Kinsey and Tyler don’t bring as much to her as well, which I think is well done. And Bode is just too Bode to think about that.

So, I’ve said that I like the show, but would I recommend it to everyone? I’d lean towards no. It still has horror elements, so some people aren’t going to love that as much. Kristen actually stopped watching part ways through episode one because of some of the creepy stuff that was going on. But in the middle of the season, it hit more of that fantasy and whimsy, so I stopped and we rewatched it because I knew that she’d like it. So there’s definitely a piece where if people aren’t horror fans they’ll enjoy it as well, and like myself, Kristen and I are waiting for, hoping for, a second season to come out. Definitely an interesting show and if the trailer seems interesting, they do a good job and it’s worth checking out.

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