Locke & Key: Welcome to Matheson Show Only

February 7, 2020 7:21 AM - Season 1, Episode 1

After the Lockes move into Keyhouse, Bode makes a new acquaintance--and a startling discovery. Tyler and Kinsey try to start over at a new high school. (Netflix original, IDW comic book adaptation)

Vulture Premiere Recap: Echoes

Rolling Stone - Alan Sepinwall ‘Locke & Key’ Review: Haunted by the Ghosts of Other Shows: Netflix’s new supernatural thriller, based on the Joe Hill comic, tries to do too much — and all of it’s been done before

Den of Geek (Spoiler-Free) Review - Netflix’s long awaited adaptation of Joe Hill’s graphic novels Locke & Key is a magical, coming-of-age horror that’s an absolute joy.

TV Line Review: Is the Fox-Turned-Movie-Turned-Hulu-Turned-Netflix Adaptation Worth the 10-Year Wait?

Collider Review: A Fun Dark Fantasy That Doesn’t Unlock Its Full Potential

Slashfilm - ‘Locke & Key’ Review: A Worthy Adaptation With A Few Compromises and Plenty Of Surprises

posted by oh yeah! (7 comments total)

Some of the reviews contain references to future episodes, but nothing too spoiler-y. And lots of them have book-to-show comparisons, but I put 'Show-Only' tagging on this thread because I've never read the graphic novel(s?), and wanted to keep this thread specific to the pilot/general impressions.

I've been so curious about this show, since it kept popping in and out of development over the last decade. I think I'd been under the impression it was some kind of superhero comic (confused it with 'Cloak & Dagger' maybe) or spy show, it wasn't until the Netflix promos started up that I learned it was YA supernatural. I've been itching to find a show that would be good for another binge-postathon, and was hoping this show might be a good candidate, but I'm undecided after watching this first episode.

I like the casting, and the look of the show (really liked the shatter-effect for entering the mirror, I'm so used to shows doing a gloopy-liquid-effect when people get sucked into mirrors), and I'm curious to find out the backstory of the house/keys/Keyes. But I don't have a strong spidey-sense on whether this is a show where watching in recap-mode will feel rewarding by the end or not.
posted by oh yeah! at 7:45 AM on February 7, 2020

I have only read a little bit of the comic but this seems so tame (I'm only about 4 episodes in). Who is this show even for? I feel like this show is trying to do too much -- be a family drama, be a teen drama, be a horror show, be a fantasy show ... and it just doesn't really manage to do any of those things. I think it leans too heavily in being a YA show in terms of production and music cues, as if they didn't know how to focus on teenagers without making it YA. If making it a YA show was a deliberate choice that would be one thing but it just sort of felt like they couldn't figure out what else to do here (and given its path to Netflix, that could be the case). A lot of it just feels sort of ... obvious.

The cast is good, though and I have kept watching it. I just keep waiting for it to turn into something else and it hasn't. I suspect it's not really going to. And maybe if I temper my expectations of what I think this show should be, I may come to appreciate it for what it is.

But it could just be that it's not very good.
posted by darksong at 9:58 AM on February 7, 2020

I binged this fucker.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 8:02 PM on February 7, 2020 [3 favorites]

I'm up to episode 5 now, will post a full-season thread after I get to the finale (tomorrow?) if nobody else posts it first.
posted by oh yeah! at 8:15 PM on February 7, 2020

I rather liked this, although it's the characters not the plot (which is fairly predictable, partly just down to pacing) that buoyed it IMO. On the other hand, if you think too much about people's reasoning in shows where magic is involved it never takes you anywhere good.
posted by axiom at 9:46 PM on February 7, 2020

I think it leans too heavily in being a YA show

I hear what you're saying here and in the rest of the comment - I'm about halfway in myself at the moment and without being spoiler-y I feel like the show overall is leaning towards the younger side of "Young Adult." More 13 than 16, yeah? No jump scares, nothing too gory or scary (so far, anyway.)

Maybe we've all gotten so used to YA media being borderline aimed at adults that stuff aimed at younger teens just seems a little off, I dunno.
posted by soundguy99 at 5:29 AM on February 8, 2020

Ok, full-season thread is posted now.
posted by oh yeah! at 12:08 PM on February 8, 2020