Synopsis: After their father is murdered under mysterious circumstances, the three Locke siblings and their mother move into their ancestral home, Keyhouse, which they discover is full of magical keys that may be connected to their father’s death. As the Locke children explore the different keys and their unique powers, a mysterious demon awakens — and will stop at nothing to steal them.

Format: 10 episodes streaming on Netflix simultaneously.

Cast: Darby Stanchfield, Connor Jessup, Emilia Jones, Jackson Robert Scott, Petrice Jones, Laysla De Oliveira, Griffin Gluck, Thomas Mitchell Barnet, Steven Williams, Aaron Ashmore, Bill Heck, Sherri Saum, Coby Bird, Genevieve Kang, Felix Mallard, Hallea Jones

Directors: Michael Morris (1–2), Tim Southam (3–4), Mark Tonderai-Hodges (5–6), Dawn Wilkinson (7–8), Vincenzo Natali (9–10)
Writers: Joe Hill (based on the comic, 1), Gabriel Rodriguez (based on the comic), Carlton Cuse (developed by, 10), Aron Eli Coleite (developed by, 1), Meredith Averill (developed by, 3, 9, 10), Liz Phang (2, 9), Mackenzie Dohr (4), Andres Fisher-Centeno (5), Brett Treacy (6), Dan Woodward (6), Michael D. Fuller (7), Vanessa Rojas (8)

Provided something drastic doesn’t happen between this review posting and the show’s scheduled release on the 7th of February, Locke & Key’s long road to a live-action adaptation has finally come to its end. After many different incarnations and attempts to adapt this acclaimed comic series, Netflix has finally got the job done and delivered a fun series that, as someone who hasn’t read the comics, I enjoyed a lot.

Based on the comic series by Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez, it begins with Nina Locke (Darby Stanchfield) moving her three children — Tyler (Connor Jessup), Kinsey (Emilia Jones) and Bode (Jackson Robert Scott) — from Seattle to the small town of Matheson after the murder of her husband, Rendell (Bill Heck). As they move into Rendell’s ancestral home, Keyhouse, Bode comes across a woman in a well (Laysla De Oliveira) who tells him that his new home is filled with magical keys. Dodge soon tricks Bode into providing her with the keys to help her escape from her well-prison and sets her sights on obtaining more of them. The majority of the season sees the Locke children discovering keys, learning how to use them and finding out more about their father’s time in Matheson.

Based on what I’d heard of the comic series, I was expecting the show to be scarier or to have more jump scares or horror elements. Instead, the show is more of a contemporary fantasy with some horror themes and tropes weaved in. It definitely feels more family-friendly than I was anticipating which isn’t a bad thing, but if you were drawn in by the fact it’s from one of the people behind The Haunting of Hill House and were expecting something more like that, you may be disappointed. It also appears to have streamlined certain elements of the comics — a couple of the keys have been combined — and it’s played around with the order of events, all of which work to serve the series better.

Locke & Key does a solid job of balancing its many storylines and mysteries, and there are a lot. Each member of the core Locke family has their own storylines as they deal with moving to a new town, as well as processing the death of Rendell. These are all on top of dealing with Dodge and her plan to get all of the keys. The show does drag at various points with a number of exposition dumps and over-explaining certain things. This is understandable to a degree due to the large amount of lore and the set-up for this world and its rules. The mysteries are spread out well, with each episode giving just enough of a tease to keep you watching to find out more. The romantic storylines are probably the weakest aspect of the show; I wasn’t really invested in any of them and wanted the show to get back to the mysteries surrounding Rendell, Dodge and Keyhouse.

The core Locke family are all very good, although Nina often feels on the outer and separate to the main plot of the season with the kids. Her most interesting character story is quickly dealt with and while it did (and will) have repercussions, I wish it had been given a little more time. Emilia Jones was the stand-out performer for me, with Kinsey the character I was most invested in throughout the season. She makes a decision that results in an important change in an early episode and it was fun to watch the repercussions ripple out as the season progressed. She also had the more interesting friend group out of her and Tyler, with the Savini Squad a fun addition to the show.

Jackson Robert Scott is great as young Bode, never becoming annoying while playing the naïve younger sibling who doesn’t want to be left out of his older siblings’ plans. I particularly liked his friendship with Rufus (Coby Bird), the son of one of Rendell’s childhood friends, Ellie (Sherri Saum), who has been a groundskeeper for Keyhouse in the Lockes’ absence and who has autism. One of the first things Rufus does is give Bode a bear trap to protect himself from Dodge, so he quickly became one of my favourite characters on the show.

The mystery surrounding Dodge and her motivations is well revealed throughout the season, with each piece of information leading to more questions and making it much easier to justify watching “one more episode.” She constantly seems to be one step ahead of the Locke kids and makes for a good adversary for them to overcome. The involvement of Sam (Thomas Mitchell Barnet), Rendell’s killer, in her quest to obtain the keys builds perfectly over the season, leading to the high point of the season in my opinion: episode 7, “Dissection.” Sam goes from a one-note character that you are meant to despise to someone you feel sorry for and empathise with to a degree. This is mostly down to the performance of Thomas Mitchell Barnet, who plays Sam perfectly.

The keys are all interesting, even if some are vastly more interesting and useful than others. The standout is the Head Key, which freezes the person it’s used on and allows them — and anyone else — to enter a physical representation of their mind. This is a big change from the source material, but it’s a better fit for television and makes for some interesting visuals. My one issue with them: a lot of them were indistinct, so they were a bit hard to tell apart and to keep track of where they all were.

While the series drags at points and will dump information on you like a ton of bricks, the show’s mysteries and their payoffs will have you binge-watching episode after episode. With a likeable key cast (pun not intended), Locke & Key is a good addition to Netflix’s catalogue of content and I eagerly anticipate learning more about the Lockes and Keyhouse in season 2.

Locke & Key releases on Netflix February 7th, 2020.

Advance screeners provided for review.