![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Review: _Locke & Key_ (TV)
Just finished (like, a minute ago) the Netflix adaptation of the graphic novel Locke & Key. So it's time for a quick review. (No big spoilers.)
tl;dr -- solidly good adaptation. Not slavishly faithful to the original, but it gets the themes and characters right, and is a satisfying story unto itself.
Background: the original Locke & Key was a fairly substantial series, written by Joe Hill (Stephen King's son) and illustrated by Gabriel Rodriguez. It ran for 37 issues, and was collected into six volumes. There have also been some followup stories since it ended, but the main series constitutes a complete novel unto itself, with a proper beginning, middle, and end.
The Netflix TV series ran for three seasons, totaling 28 episodes. I'll be doing a little compare-and-contrast, but mostly focus on the TV version here. I do recommend the comic -- it's a great story, which leans a bit more into the horror aspect than the TV show -- but they're not quite the same. Season 1 of the TV show broadly follows the lines of the comic, but things gradually diverge from there, and Season 3 is very much its own thing.
As we start the story, the Locke family is broken. The father of the family, Rendell Locke, has been brutally and pointlessly murdered, and the family is bereft. Needing a change of scenery, Nina (the mother) decides to move the family to Rendell's home town of Matheson, MA. (Lovecraft, MA in the original comic, which was a little unsubtle; IMO changing that was probably wise.) They move into the family homestead of Keyhouse, a sprawling Victorian mansion. (Which is apparently at least 250 years old, but let's not quibble about the architectural anachronisms.) Along with her come eldest son Tyler (16, I think?), daughter Kinsey (15) and 12-ish Bode.
Gradually, they begin to stumble upon the family secret: the keys. The house is full of keys that whisper to the kids, especially to Bode. Each key is unique, and each possesses its own distinct magic. One lets you go anywhere; another lets you walk into someone's head and see their memories. One commands fire; one opens the mysterious doorway in the cave deep beneath Keyhouse. But only the kids can perceive the magic -- anyone over 18 can't truly see it, and can't retain memory of it.
(Okay, mostly. Suffice it to say, almost everything I am saying here comes with caveats. This series involves a lot of magic, and very little is hard-and-fast.)
The history of the keys, the house, and the family slowly unspool, mainly over the course of Season 1 but details continue to emerge throughout. (As do ever-more keys.) Suffice it to say, while the TV series is less a horror story than the original, there are still demons and death involved, woven in amongst the kids exploring their magical toys.
I won't get too deeply into the plot, noting that the first two seasons mostly resolve, but each leaves a big problem in its wake. You do have to watch all three seasons to get a complete story. That's generally fine -- there's a little bit of Netflix middle-of-the-season sag here and there, but it never drags terribly.
I did find myself caring about the characters. Nina is far more important in the show than I remember her being in the comic -- she is a recovering alcoholic, and her brushes with magic, which she is unable to remember if she is sober, do nothing to help with her mental state.
She and the kids all get pretty strong arcs; in general, this is a more honest and realistic coming-of-age story than the comic is, with Tyler graduating and trying to figure out his life, Kinsey dealing with relationships (both good and bad), and Bode learning that magic doesn't solve every problem. But I found Nina's arc the most relatable, slowly dragging herself away from tragedy, reconnecting with her kids, and making a new life.
The production isn't remarkable, but solidly good -- I never found myself complaining about the writing, acting or production values. They use enough CGI to make the magic feel real, but understand that basic practical effects are often the best option when they suffice.
There are no major content warnings -- which on the one hand means they play it a little safe, but also means that I think it's probably fine for older kids. There's some violence (and, y'know, evil demons), but by the standards of modern TV it's pretty middle-of-the-road.
And yes -- the series ends, pretty conclusively. The ending is quite different from that of the comic (the story has gone in very different directions by that point), but IMO is quite a bit stronger because it is more character-focused.
So overall, recommended. Not a work of art, but a good solid watch that pays off well.