Locke & Key is another terrific comic book adaptation for Netflix

Over the weekend, Netflix released its newest binge-worthy show, Locke & Key. Based on the Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodríguez comic book series of the same name, the show follows the Locke family — Nina (the mom), Tyler (the eldest son), Kinsey (the brooding sister), and Bode (the youngest child) — as they maneuver through the grief of losing the family’s patriarch, Rendell, who was murdered right in front of them by a troubled youth.

But if you think that description — vague as it is to avoid revealing too much — makes the show sound like it’s some hokey high school drama, don’t worry: there’s more to come. You see, following Rendell’s death, the Locke family decides it needs a change of pace and moves into an old, sprawling mansion called Keyhouse, which has more than its fair share of secrets hidden in the walls.

LOCKE & KEY – Credit: Christos Kalohoridis/Netflix

The story unfolds quickly from there: Bode (Jackson Robert Scott) gleefully searches the Keyhouse grounds and begins to hear the whispers of the several keys hidden on the property. Oh, and he also makes a friend with someone he calls “Echo” who lives down a well. Totally normal stuff, not haunted or weird at all, do whatever the mysterious voice in the well tells you, Bode.

Each key is powerful and can do something unique. One key can take you anywhere in the world you want to go, as long as you’ve seen the place before. One key allows you and your friends to take a walk through your head, another causes fiery explosions, another allows you to look like anyone, etc. The keys are cool, and I want some.

While Bode searches for keys, the brooding Tyler (Connor Jessup) goes to parties and gets wasted in order to forget the fact that he couldn’t get to his dad in time to save him. Similarly, the bookish Kinsey (Emilia Jones) finds it hard to make new friends because she feels guilty that she hid herself and Bode while their father was being killed.

LOCKE & KEY, photo courtesy Netflix

The kids have constant flashbacks to things their father told them, stories he read them, and how they could not save him. It’s heavy stuff, and an effective counterweight to all the whiz-bang fun with the keys.

And it all comes together as the show goes on. The more you watch Locke & Key, the more you understand Rendell’s place in the story, and it isn’t just about being murdered in the beginning.

So what we have here is a moody show focused on younger characters dealing with their own real-world issues in between fighting malevolent forces, but all of it still has a high adventure stort of feel. It gives me Stranger Things vibes that way, as well as some Haunting of Hill House.

Ultimately, Locke & Key is another successful foray into the world of comic book adaptations for Netflix. And just like The Umbrella Academy before it, Locke & Key is instantly bingeable. It’s driven by interesting, and pays off our investment in the end.

Grade: A+

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