Whether you're unclear as to how all the pieces of Netflix's new hit show Locke & Key fit
together, you want answers to some of its bigger questions, or you're simply hankering
for some hints as to where season two might head… this is what you need to know.
First thing's first: At the end of the day, Dodge won.
Dodge's real goal wasn't stealing the Omega Key.
It was opening the Black Door.
She didn't need the Omega Key to accomplish that.
She simply had to trick Tyler, Kinsey, and Bode into opening the door for her… which
they do, despite Kinsey's eventual better judgment.
"Does this feel right to you?"
"If you have any better ideas, I'm all ears."
"Best available idea doesn't make something a good idea."
Dodge's scheme isn't shown on screen chronologically, so here's roughly how it works: First, Dodge
uses the Identity Key to transform Ellie into, well…
Dodge.
Then she straight-up knocks her out.
Next, Dodge uses the Crown of Shadows to summon an army and leads an attack on Keyhouse.
While the stakes feel real, they're not.
Dodge intends to let the kids win.
Then she drops Ellie's body, disguised as her own, where the children can find it.
In order to dispose of Dodge for good, Tyler, Kinsey, and Bode need to put her back in the
Wellhouse.
Unfortunately, no one knows where Ellie hid the Echo Key, so instead, the kids decide
to open the Black Door using the Omega Key and dump Dodge inside.
See where this is going?
The children and their friends throw Ellie's disguised body through the portal even as
one of Dodge's demonic peers escape.
Dodge's biggest threat, Ellie, is gone, her other enemies think she's no longer part of
the equation, and now she has an equally powerful and hungry partner in crime to help out.
The Lockes think they won, but Dodge got everything she wanted.
Of course, getting rid of Ellie and opening the Black Door isn't the only way that Dodge
has set herself up for success in season two.
As the final moments of Locke & Key's first season reveal, she's also earned Kinsey's
trust and her heart by using the Identity Key to masquerade as Gabe, a member of Kinsey's
friend group.
As the season-closing montage implies, Dodge has been masquerading as Gabe since the very
beginning.
It was Dodge in the lobster suit.
It was Dodge who tortured Eden using the Music Box Key.
It was Dodge who stole Kinsey away from Scot.
That tracks.
Gabe doesn't appear until after Bode gives Dodge the Anywhere Key in the first episode,
and his pitch-perfect emotional manipulation of Kinsey always felt a little predatory.
The Dodge-Gabe deception echoes one of the graphic novel's main plotlines, although it
works a little differently in the book.
The Identity Key doesn't exist in the comics.
Instead, Dodge uses the super straightforwardly named Gender Key to switch between her male
and female forms.
Masquerading as a boy named Zack, the male Dodge who looks exactly like Ellie's old boyfriend,
Lucas becomes Tyler's best friend and Kinsey's boyfriend.
Expect something similar to follow in season two.
Still, it's not like Tyler, Kinsey, and Bode ended Locke & Key season one on a completely
down note.
While they might've been duped into a false sense of security, they did grow immensely
thanks to their adventures in Keyhouse, and were finally able to get over the death of
their dad, Rendell Locke.
When Locke & Key begins, Tyler blames himself for Rendell's murder.
When Tyler's former classmate, Sam Lesser, makes a crack about offing his father, Tyler
jokingly asks Sam to kill Rendell, too.
When Sam actually does murder Rendell, Tyler can't help but feel responsible.
Meanwhile, Kinsey can't forgive herself for being too afraid to fight Sam during the attack.
Ultimately, Bode's trauma is a lot more simple: He just misses his dad.
"I wanna see my dad… please."
However, after Sam visits Keyhouse and reveals that he's in league with Dodge, Tyler realizes
that Rendell's death had nothing to do with him.
Kinsey copes with her shame by literally dragging her fear from her head and trying to kill
it.
She only forgives herself once Tyler points out that she wasn't able to stop Sam because
she was too busy protecting Bode.
The youngest Locke sibling is now connected to Rendell's legacy through Keyhouse and the
magic keys, which Rendell also used as a boy.
The loss of Rendell will always be a big factor in the kids' lives, but as the season concludes,
they're also, finally, able to move forward.
"Your house is filled with amazing keys.
There's a key that can let you step outside your body and be a ghost…"
"Whoa!"
"...And another that can change the way you look."
One big mystery that Locke & Key's first season leaves hanging is the keys' true nature.
We know they're magic, but why are they in Keyhouse, and where did they come from?
If Locke & Key continues to stick to the comic books' mythology, we can find the answer there,
too: Quite simply, the keys are made out of the bodies of the Children of Leng a race
of demons straight out of H.P.
Lovecraft's playbook and were forged by the Lockes' ancestors in order to control the
forces beyond the Black Door.
In the comics, when a Child of Leng comes out of the Black Door, they don't just die
when they fail to find a host.
They actually turn into a substance known as Whispering Iron.
When Benjamin Locke discovered the Black Door during the Revolutionary War, he quickly realized
how dangerous it was and used the Whispering Iron to make the Omega Key, keeping the door
shut.
Benjamin went on to make a number of other keys, which he hid around Keyhouse for later
generations to find.
Again, later seasons of the Netflix show might retcon or streamline this history a little
bit, but the show's been faithful so far.
It doesn't seem likely to change too much.
Even for comic book readers, it's hard to tell exactly where Netflix's Locke & Key is
headed.
The first season burned through lots of the comics' major plot points at a pretty rapid
pace, leaving the future very murky.
Still, there are a few things we know.
We haven't seen all of Keyhouse's magic keys.
Without giving too much away, keys like the Animal Key, the Angel Key, the Owl Key, and
the Giant Key will look great on screen and should be lots of fun.
Duncan, the kids' friendly uncle, has very little to do in season one, but plays a much
bigger role as the story progresses and if you think Dodge is finished with Bode, just
wait.
The little guy is in for a very, very rough time.
The show also raises new questions that the comics never dealt with.
Kinsey's fear is attacking her classmates.
How will the kids stop it?
Ellie isn't dead, she's just trapped beyond the Black Door.
Is her time on the show done, or will she find a way back through?
There are a lot of loose ends to tie up.
Season two can't get here soon enough.
Until then…
"Aloha!"
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