Locke & Key Season 2 Finale

  

Created by: Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez

Developed by: Carlton Cuse, Meredith Averill, and Aron Eli Coleite

Starring: Darby Stanchfield (Nina Locke), Connor Jessup (Tyler Locke), Emilia Jones (Kinsey Locke), Jackson Scott (Bode Locke)

Although I've really enjoyed both these seasons overall, I do have some criticisms. 

The first season's finale was a bit overly complicated and although I got the gist, it kind of went over my head. In both seasons, I've failed to understand the primary motivation behind the villains. They seem to want the keys, but to what end? I still don't know. Thus, all the Lockes are simply trying to stop them from getting the keys and also keep their family together. And while that's obviously succeeded in creating two great seasons because I do find myself very invested, it's also left me at a bit of a loss. Also, one of the primary plot conflicts is that adults don't remember magic, and this is solved midway through season 2. Yet the family neglects to use this solution on their mother, who feels vocally left out and this brings her into something of a depression. This is remedied in the finale, but it could have been solved much earlier, and I don't understand why it wasn't. 

Yet despite those relatively minor things, I've greatly enjoyed this series and this season. I was particularly excited that this season focused much more on forging and creating new keys, a very logical next step from the first season. This was perfect plot progression as far as expanding the mythology. The first season did a great job of introducing the idea of magical keys and their locks and it dropped (major) hints as to where the keys came from. This second season kind of put the parts together and really showed us how the keys are created, going so far as to have the main characters create new keys. 

I was also very impressed by what this season did for the show's adults. I was the most impressed by Erin Voss (Joy Tanner). It was established in the first season that she was trapped inside her own head by the Head Key, leaving her body in a vegetative state for multiple decades. This season, the Locke kids discovered that her state was due to the Head Key and were able to undo the damage, bringing her mind back and reviving her. It was an incredible moment that had me near tears and it was very exciting for me to watch Erin reclaim what was left of her life, despite having lost two decades of it. This led to the next adult: Duncan Locke (Aaron Ashmore), who simply had no recollection of a large and very important part of his life because it was defined by magical keys. Erin, who was an integral part of this time in his life, discovered a key that could unlock magical memories. She used it on Duncan and this allowed him to reclaim that huge chunk of his life. Thus, two adults with huge trauma, healed. (Or at least able to begin healing.) And finally, as mentioned above, the final adult was Nina. I was frankly stumped why they didn't use that memory key on Nina immediately. But in one of the last moments of the season, Bode finally saw fit to show her some great magic and then use the key to let her retain it. Finally, the whole family will be in the know with magic! 

Overall it was a very fun season and especially the first half kept me clicking "Next Episode" over and over, which is very unusual for me. I'm very excited to see what happens next, since season 3 has already been greenlit!