Locke & Key season 1, episode 4 recap: The Keepers of the Keys

The Locke children start seeing the consequences of using the keys, and Bode makes a potentially powerful discovery about Dodge in episode 4 of Locke & Key.

Following their adventures inside their heads, in the fourth episode of Netflix’s Locke & Key, Bode, Kinsey, and Tyler are ready to get back to normal life and stay as far away from the keys as possible. But the draw of the Head Key remains strong—and it could potentially be disastrous in the hands of someone like Dodge.

Kinsey 2.0

Having destroyed her fear—an act witnessed by the villainous Dodge who now knows that the Locke children have the Head Key—Kinsey is a brand new person. She’s dyed her hair pink, is making lavish breakfasts for her family, and telling her mom off for not being there for the three of them because she is focusing on her work instead.

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Tyler doesn’t like this new version of Kinsey at all—it’s much too dangerous to mess around in their heads. Kinsey obviously disagrees—the fear she felt was a huge burden and she’s glad to be rid of it.

The lack of fear has also made Kinsey more daring—she apologises to Scot for not meeting up with him at the tribute concert he’d invited her to and asks him over to Key House instead. As an aspiring horror filmmaker, Key House’s haunted history is just where Scot wants to be, or does he?

Kinsey’s boldness seems to know no bounds—at Key House, she shows Scot the Head Key and invites him inside her head. Scot is initially unsure of what he’s seeing but when Kinsey shows him a memory of her and her father, he believes her and is delighted that magic is real.

For readers of the Locke & Key comics, we know that things are about to go sour for this pair soon but it’s great to see Scot’s unabashed joy at learning that magic is around them in some shape or form. He can enjoy it till it lasts.

Mothers and Daughters

Kinsey was clearly close to her dad, more so than Tyler, who had a fractured relationship with his old man. But Kinsey’s love for her father and her grief at his loss has manifested in passive-aggressiveness towards her mom. She feels her mom doesn’t do enough for them and has already missed out on too much of their lives already.

This theory is put to the test when Kinsey shows Scot one of her memories—she has always remembered being at an aquarium with her father and him sharing silly jokes with her. But her mother was also there, pointing out sharks that they could see.

Kinsey realizes that she had blocked her mother from the memory—she has spent so much time being angry with her mother for being an alcoholic and having to recover and then spending time on home renovations, that she hasn’t acknowledged how much Nina has been a part of her life.

The two reconcile by the end of episode four of Locke & Key and Nina looks relieved to have her daughter back the way she always remembered.

The Underdog

Meanwhile, Tyler tries to recoup some of his life at school. He’s had a falling out with his new friends—both terrible influences—and has become a social pariah. Fortunately for Tyler, English teacher Joe Ridgeway is happy to take him under his wing.

Ridgeway entertains Tyler with stories about a misbegotten attempt at becoming a boxer, and explains to Tyler how high school is the time to wear different hats—trying something new is great and will help Tyler feel normal.

It seems that Ridgeway has had his own grief to deal with—he mentions his wife, who has apparently passed on, and how she helped him discover new things to do. Of course, Ridgeway takes things a bit further than Tyler expects—he signs Tyler up for some activities that will help him get closer to his new crush, Jackie (Genevieve Kang).

They get along well but Jackie doesn’t think she and Tyler have much in common—she is an anglophile and Tyler doesn’t know much about England. If only there was some way to fix that.

Inside Tyler’s Head

If Kinsey could take something out of her head, surely Tyler can put something in? Tyler uses the Head Key for the first time in Locke & Key, and his manifestation is quite surprising—viewers see the front door of the Locke’s home in Seattle. We never see the interior but one can assume that it will look like the house inside, as well.

Bode had bought a book on Matheson to learn more about Key House and Tyler puts the book into his memories—he can instantly recall things about Matheson he had never known before. He does the same with facts about England. But this plan backfires somewhat.

Turns out, Jackie isn’t interested in England—she’s actually a massive Jane Austen fan who adores Austen’s final unfinished book. Tyler borrows the book from the library and soon, he and Jackie have something more to talk about.

More Key House Secrets

Nina and Ellie are spending more time together for mutual benefit—Nina wants to know more about Rendell’s life in Matheson, and Ellie finds being in Key House cathartic.

Unfortunately for Nina, her search for answers about Rendell’s early life keep leading to dead ends—three of Rendell’s best friends died in school. Another friend, Erin Voss (Joy Tanner), had a kind of accident that has left her speechless for twenty years, and in a psych ward. Mark Cho, as we know, immolated himself in the Locke & Key premiere. Ellie’s the only one left from that group.

But Ellie could be helpful to Nina’s search—she asks Ellie about the omega symbol she had seen all over Rendell’s yearbook but Ellie doesn’t remember him drawing it on anything. Meanwhile, Ellie recalls a basement where Rendell used to have gatherings—his parents were never around so Key House was the place to be for students.

The favored party room has been boarded up but Nina takes matters into her own hands and breaks the wall down—the room remains untouched from Rendell’s teen years and Nina has fun exploring.

Ellie has a mission though and she focuses on one area of the room—but it doesn’t look like she finds her object of desire. What was she looking for? One of Key House’s special keys? A memento of Lucas? Or something more sinister?

Bode Protects Key House

Bode is rightfully terrified of Dodge, especially because of her total command of the Anywhere Key. But it looks like Dodge can get to Bode even without keys. While reading up on Key House and the well-house where he met Dodge, Bode hears Dodge’s voice and then sees her within the picture of the well-house in the book—can she really get to him through the pages of a book? With Dodge, anything is possible.

But this exercise also gives Bode more information about Key House—he learns from Rufus, Ellie’s son, that the well-house was used to execute defectors in the American Revolution. And Key House itself was commandeered during World War II as an army base.

History lessons aside, Bode realizes that keeping Dodge out of Key House has to be his priority—he takes to blocking all the keyholes with gum and arming himself with a stake fashioned by Rufus. Is any of that going to help against Dodge?

Dodge Wants a Key

Apparently not. While Tyler and Kinsey have a heart-to-heart about their use of the Head Key, Dodge uses the Anywhere Key to once again enter Key House. She has her sights on the Head Key and she won’t leave without it.

Dodge tries to scare the Locke family by setting the stove on fire—while Nina’s back is turned in the kitchen—and slamming all the doors and blowing out the bulbs on the upper floors. When that doesn’t work, she kidnaps Bode and surrounds him in a ring of fire—Dodge is making excellent use of the Fire Key.

But why go through all this? Can’t Dodge just take the keys she wants? Despite being terrified out of his mind, Bode realizes that Dodge has to be given the keys—she can’t just take them. Hence the histrionics and the fearmongering. It doesn’t work—armed with this new knowledge, Bode refuses Dodge access to the Head Key and she has to leave.

Dodge would have liked the Head Key because she needs it to get information out of Erin—Dodge’s former friend may not be speaking but she is aware of her surroundings and petrified of Dodge. What does Erin know?

We will likely soon find out one way or another, but in the meantime, Dodge arrives at Sam Lesser’s cell and bequeaths the Fire Key to him. Nothing good can come out of this.

Final Thoughts

The pacing of this episode of Locke & Key was excellent—tight, exciting, and with just enough space for emotion. I did find the new version of Kinsey to be a bit lackluster—the performance was fine but the writing, not so much. Girl loses her fear and decides she’s going to cook everything is a very regressive way of writing a female character. Tyler gets a speech about being a boxer, but Kinsey cooks—is this the 70s?

I do like the dynamic between Nina and Ellie—the two didn’t spend that much time together in the books but the show has created a lovely friendship that I hope will grow over the remaining episodes.

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Rendell and Nina’s relationship is rendered so well—the warmth and love that existed between them is palpable in every scene. It makes Nina’s loss that much more tragic.

Viewers should expect the story to get darker from this point on—the third volume onwards of Locke & Key didn’t shy away from quite graphic violence and very disturbing scenarios. The show has played it safe so far, and it will be interesting to see what happens in the remainder of the season.

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