Locke & Key Review: An Ambitious Second Season Pays Off In Spades

Sophomore Slump: Undetected.

Locke & Key Season 2 is the type of television you wait all year for; the perfect October adventure that will hook you from its opening moments, and keep you engaged until the final credits roll.

In many ways, Locke & Key’s second season is reminiscent of older Halloween classics — an amalgamation of films like Disney’s Hocus Pocus and Nickelodeon’s Are You Afraid Of The Dark? Slightly scarier — but not much — with plenty of romance and humor keeping the darker moments grounded.

Where Season 1’s biggest issues were lack of focus and identity, Season 2 knows exactly what it wants to be. The series nails a consistent tone of spooky family fun, with thorough lines that keep every story focused, connected, and undeniably intriguing throughout each engrossing episode.

Season 2 is bigger in every way, building on the foundation it’s already laid. Episode 1 hits the ground running and never looks back, expecting its viewer to remember the cornerstones of the first season, with little time for expositional reminders. 

The show essentially doubles the ground it has to cover with its use of dramatic irony that spills over after Season 1’s big finale reveal. The awareness of Gabe’s true identity feels like being let in on an exciting secret, and the series cleverly plays with that knowledge throughout the entirety of the season. 

It’s always enjoyable to watch a story unfold from the villain’s perspective, a tool so rarely used in television.

Gabe — or should I say, Dodge, though they rarely appear in female form this season — is now at a clear disadvantage. Their hijinks (with new sidekick Demon!Edin in tow) add opportunity to amp up the humor and hellfire, as they struggle to regain the upper hand.

Plenty of Season 2’s success can be attributed to Gabe and Edin, who make for a menacing — if not deliciously mismatched– duo. Gluck and Jones play their respective roles with utmost dedication, and the two are a perfect balance of comedy and horror; dark and threatening when needed, comical and blundering, otherwise.

Where Jones is able to play both versions of Edin — human and demon— maliciously, Gluck is faced with the task of portraying two very separate versions of Gabe. One is the face of pure evil, while the other, is still Kinsey’s well-meaning boyfriend.

Gluck executes both with outstanding ease, giving nuance to Dodge in ways they previously lacked. He breathes new life into an arguably one-note character, and his moments with Kinsey play so earnest at times, it’s enough to make the audience second guess his motives.

Gabe’s good nature all but disappears in Kinsey’s absence, however, transforming him back into pure terror. With a sharper grimace and bloodier hands, Gluck delivers the most threatening version of Dodge yet.

Locke & Key still fails to define what, exactly, Dodge is looking to gain from the keys, but the idea of being fueled by nothing other than pure chaos is equally intriguing as it is terrifying, and Gluck entirely understands the assignment.

While Dodge and Edin are certainly a threat, the danger stems beyond the demons from the black door, and instead, focuses much of its energy on a different type of villain. Magic, it seems, threatens to ruin the Locke’s with its mere existence.

It’s an intriguing curveball, pivoting the kids against a more ambiguous opponent in ways that both add intensity, and expand the world beyond the confines of Season 1’s conflict.

The search for a way to remember magic does more than providing interpersonal conflict for Locke And Key’s characters — it drives much of the story, adding emotional gravitas as the kids struggle to hold on to the memories they’ve collected.

It’s all very much an allegory for losing one’s childlike sense of wonder; the damage caused by the realities of adulthood, and what happens when we lose touch with our most innocent selves. That conjecture leads Duncan to a better place — and more active role — in the season, and an opportunity for Ashmore to show what he’s capable of as an actor.

As Duncan struggles in the space between remembering magic and rejecting it, Ashmore is faced with running the full gambit of emotional prowess. His character faces some of the heaviest scenes of the season, stuck between depression and guilt as he works his way through the reality of his past.

He also gets some of the most fun material. While Darcy Stanchfield’s Nina Locke is stuck with a side plot that feels misplaced until the season’s final episode, Ashmore is the first adult able to play in the kid’s world.

Even as he immerses himself back into the world of magic — and therefore, the main storyline of the show — he never overshadows his scene partners, careful to only subtlety elevate moments while the younger actors shine. 

Magic’s antagonism also provides a surprisingly poignant subplot for Connor Jessup’s Tyler, whose emotional range soars this season.

A complex story about the choice between loving and letting go, the show puts genuine effort into building and deepening Tyler and Jackie’s romance, before tragically ripping her away in the penultimate episode.

Something that makes Locke and Key successful is its willingness to say goodbye to characters who matter. In taking the story to those darker places, the stakes skyrocket, and the show strays the typical structural framework of its genre, making for a much more nail-biting experience.

Moments like Jackie’s unexpected death are exactly what make the series bigger and scarier than ever before. Those beats are only able to execute themselves properly, however, because Bode is often removed from the season’s main conflicts.

The series opts to keep the youngest Locke relevant through subplots that are lighter in tone (there’s a sequence involving a giant spider that is especially delightful), and carefully brings his side stories back to the major conflicts when the time is right.

Keeping Bode off-screen for the gorier moments allows Locke and Key to reach new depths, but the show never forgets where its heart lies: in the Locke sibling dynamic.

The Locke’s love for one another sings this season, and the show is at its best when the three are solving a problem together, or simply enjoying each other’s company.

Season 2 maybe 10 episodes of nonstop action, but we are treated to a delightful pause in the show’s first few sequences that highlight how good the Locke’s have gotten at controlling keys, and how much they enjoy using them.

It’s a moment of refuge for each character before the chaos begins, but also an establishing shot in how formidable the Locke’s now are as opponents, and the challenge Gabe will have in besting them.

Each of the Locke’s has grown since we’ve seen them last, and that growth is impressively consistent within the characters as the series unfolds.

Locke & Key may be burning through story at record pace, but it never loses sight of the integrity of its characters. 

The keys themselves are used an impressive amount throughout the season, but new key discoveries combined with those already discovered mean a ton of keys, and things move quickly as the story progresses.

Locke & Key doesn’t undermine the intelligence of its audience, nor does it alienate fans of the source material. The show assumes viewers can follow what’s unfolding in front of them and integrates plenty of Easter Eggs for those exceptionally familiar with the comics.

If you aren’t one of the comic aficionados, different keys used for various plans of action can be hard to keep up with, so grab your cheat sheet, and start taking notes. 

If you do manage to keep up — and if you watched Season 1, chances are you will — you’re rewarded with an absolute banger of a season; one that takes big swings and continuously keeps knocking things out of the park, all the way through. 

With the explosive last act, it feels like all the story that can be told, has been, before last-minute plot twists (even more epic than Season 1’s”Gabe is Dodge” reveal) crack open a whole new beginning; one that will have you clamoring for more, and thankful to Netflix for greenlighting Season 3, before Season 2 even began.

I’d keep talking, but I have to go watch it again. 

Random Thoughts:

• Nina’s romantic storyline feels contrived but will be essential to Season 3’s story.
• Where can I find a giant gummy bear? Asking for a friend. 
• Letting more kids in on the secrets of the keys made for such fun moments of reprieve. 
• Nina and Bode’s memory moment was absolutely beautiful and well earned.
• I am so intrigued by what Lucas and Ellie’s roles will be in the third season. 
• What will the Key House look like without Tyler leading the way? Will he remember anything?
• Lovely to see more LGBTQIA+ representation, but even more would be welcome. 
• The humor this season is truly top tier. 
• I want to know more about the Locke ghosts!
• Scot and Kinsey forever, but will he come back from boarding school next season?
• I’m glad Kinsey gets her “anxieties” back. She’s grown, and they make her whole.
• Hallea Jones is a comedic icon, and I hope she somehow finds her way back in Season 3.

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What did you think of Locke & Key Season 2? Are you excited for Season 3? Share your thoughts in the comments below! 

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Locke & Key is airing now on Netflix.

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