For the adaptation of Joe Hill’s graphic novel Locke & Key, the road to television has been a long and winding one. After numerous false starts the series finally came together at Netflix under the guiding hand of Carlton Cuse, who has shepherded such shows as Lost, The Strain, Bates Motel, and Jack Ryan, to name a few. That the series was trapped in development hell for so long is now part of its appeal in some ways, building curiosity as to the reasons why so many people sought the material out but, for one reason or another, simply couldn’t make it work. Now, Cuse has the power of the almighty Netflix behind him, and a solid cast to bring Hill’s supernatural story of a strange and wonderful (or terrifying) house and the family haunted by it to television. And in doing so, it seems that Cuse has opted to follow in the footsteps of similar titles peppered throughout Netflix’s absurdly crowded catalog.
On one hand, it’s easy to see why Locke & Key would look and feel so similar to the likes of Stranger Things, The Umbrella Academy, The Haunting of Hill House, and Lost in Space. They’re all huge hits for the streamer (presumably, considering Netflix’s stance on sharing such data), and now that Netflix is feeling pressure from a slew of newcomers to the streaming television game, it stands to reason that certain shows with high expectations would need to follow a formula of some sort. But while the aforementioned series have all attracted (presumably) sizable audiences by playing a somewhat similar tune, they’ve each brought something unique to the table as well. In the case of Locke & Key, that unique something is a little harder to identify.
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There is an intriguing set up to the series, one that plays out in serviceable fashion in the premiere. The Locke family, Nina (Darby Stanchfield) and her children, Kinsey (Emilia Jones), Tyler (Connor Jessup), and Bode (Jackson Robert Scott) relocate to the dilapidated Key House following the death of Rendell Locke (Bill Heck). Upon their arrival, the family is greeted by his brother Duncan (Aaron Ashmore), who rounds out what’s left of the Locke family and helps deepen the mystery of the house, the keys stashed around it, and the many special properties possessed by both. The premiere dutifully establishes the Locke family’s painful past while also teasing the mystery to come, and the result is a very Netflix-friendly bingeable television show that doesn’t encourage viewers to continue watching so much as it pushes them into the next episode.
But even before the first hour is up, it begins to feel like Locke & Key is more mechanical in its storytelling than the shows it’s clearly hoping to emulate. Part of that is because the show has an inordinate amount of information that it has to try and make clear to the audience in order to hook them and sell them on the story (if they’re unfamiliar with the comic books, at any rate) but the other part of it is an overwhelming sensation that Locke & Key is too concerned with recreating the sensations that Stranger Things, Hill House, and Lost in Space were able to do more organically. That eagerness to be a part of the group puts some undue pressure on the series itself, and as such Locke & Key feels like a lesser offering.
It’s difficult to pinpoint exactly what doesn’t work. That’s partly because there’s a lot to like about Locke & Key, and partly because what doesn’t work is dispersed so irregularly it doesn’t entirely register right away. After some time, however, it becomes clear that the show’s most glaring shortcomings are all tied to its similarities to other Netflix products. As a result, no matter how faithful this adaptation is to the source material, it registers as a rather generic approximation of too many series that have come before. That’s saying something considering Stranger Things is born of ‘80s pop culture nostalgia, and Hill House and Lost in Space are modern-day iterations of decades-old properties.
Throughout its run, Locke & Key manages to keep things lively with a tantalizing enough mystery and some fun and unusual revelations about the house and the magical keys that imbue it with so many special properties. But after a while, the mystery begins to go stale, and episodes begin to fall victim to an overwhelming sense that wheels are simply spinning to fulfill an obligatory episode count. Yes, even in 2020, it seems some shows are still running too long — both as episodes and seasons — and Locke & Key is perhaps one of the first serious offenders. Though it’s long-awaited arrival will no doubt please many fans of the comics, this series isn’t quite the auspicious live-action adaptation Hill’s work deserved.
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Locke & Key season 1 premieres Friday, February 7 on Netflix.
