My TV Fortnight: Locke & Key

The theme of this issue’s column is All Good Things Come To Those Who Wait. After what seemed like a lifetime spent in all seven circles of Hades (or perhaps five minutes in front of the telly watching ITV’s Dancing On Ice), Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez’ masterpiece Locke & Key finally made it to our screens via Netflix recently. Excitement levels at Castle McFee duly reached Sinn Féin-singing-‘Come Out Ye Black And Tans’-during-the-vote-count-in-the-RDS levels.

Yes readers, you can safely assume I was more than a little keen to check out this long-awaited adaptation of the seminal fantasy/mystery/horror comic. Now if the word “comic” has you hitting the metaphorical unfollow button, let me just say hating comics because you don’t like superheroes is like hating music because you can’t stand Coldplay. There’s so much more to the form of storytelling than spandex-based shenanigans. I can guarantee you that no matter where your tastes lie, there’s a life-changing comic out there for you.

Back to the business at hand. After starting out life on Fox, Locke & Key almost became the Chinese Democracy of comic adaptations. Spending years in development hell, it seemed like this tale of would remain behind closed doors for good. Enter Netflix in 2018, who provided fans with the proverbial key (see what I did there?), recasting many characters and slightly shifting the tone to boot.

In a nutshell, Locke & Key is about a family who move into an ancestral mansion to escape their grief, and end up discovering that magical keys are hidden around their new home. Once you figure out how to use them, amazing, otherworldly things are possible. As hoped, the series is compelling viewing. Helmed by showrunners Carlton Cuse (Lost, Bates Motel) and Meredith Averill (The Haunting Of Hill House), this gorgeous looking ten-parter is a story of death, grief, secrets, loss and loneliness. All three Locke kids are perfectly cast: Connor Jessup’s performance as the guilt-ridden eldest sibling Tyler is perfectly weighted; Emilia Jones is superb as bereft misfit Kinsey; and Jackson Robert Scott as Bode steals most of his scenes.

A feast for the eyes and ears – the excellent soundtrack features the likes of Cherry Glazerr and Foals – Locke & Key variously calls to mind It: Chapter One, Stranger Things, Buffy The Vampire Slayer, and occasionally even Harry Potter. A few episodes in, the central mystery of the demonic Dodge is simmering away nicely. Some of the subplots are progressing swiftly too, and the references to the departed Rendell’s past leave me ravenous for more.