If You Haven’t Watched LOCKE & KEY on Netflix, Cancel Your Weekend Plans [REVIEW]

For two weeks now, I've been battling some awful little virus that makes me feel like poop. The best medicine for awful little viruses is fluids and lots of rest. So, I've pretty much become one with my bed recently. And, I've watched a lot of TV. I found a new show on Netflix that I really liked. It's called LOCKE AND KEY and it combines heartbreak with mystery, with ghosts, with fantasy, with magic. It kind of reminded me of The Haunting of Hill House but not nearly as scary.

So, first off, I'll warn you. If you read further, you might get a couple spoilers. So, enter at your own risk. 

The show tells the story of the Locke children who, along with their mother, witness the murder of their father Rendell by one of his students. Upon moving to their late father's childhood home, they find magical keys that allow whoever possess them great abilities like fixing broken things, controlling others, going inside your mind, and unlocking doors to any location in the world. The youngest sibling, Bode also unknowingly releases a malevolent being into the world and upon his family that is after the magical keys.

They soon find that their father and his group of friends followed along a similar path when they were young but being the keeper of the keys led to unthinkable tragedy.

I don't normally consume a LOT of TV unless it's just on in the background while I'm doing other things. Most of my Haunting of Hill House viewing was done while I was cleaning closets or my kitchen. But I was able to be totally invested in this show. And, I wanted to be. It was smartly written - I found out this morning that it was based on a comic book series by the same name.

There were 10 episodes in the first season (fingers crossed that there are more to come) and I was totally invested in each episode. Most of the time, a series like this will have an episode or two that drags on because it's setting you up for something really big. But something really big happened in every episode of this one.

The second thing I liked was that it wasn't full of bad language and imagery. There is parental discretion was advised for 14 and under which makes sense - there were no f-bombs but a few dicey words. There were also a couple of steamy sex scenes, some gore, and some scary parts that would give littles nightmares. But it didn't make me jump out of my skin every time I heard a noise like HHH. The show had a strong writing with lots of twists and plenty of mystery that it didn't need to overwhelm the viewer with a bunch of unnecessary sex, gore, and language. I'd compare it to Stranger Things but set in modern times.

Finally, I loved that they gave you all the answers you needed to feel satisfied but left the ending open to more seasons in the future. Like I said, I really hope Netflix picks up the second season which I read is already being written.

So, if you are a Stranger Things fan or just have ten hours to kill, I'd highly recommend LOCKE AND KEY.