Netflix's Locke & Key season 1, episode 9 recap: Echoes

In the penultimate episode of Locke & Key, a new key emerges that could turn the tide in the battle between good and evil. But who will get to it first?

The first season of Locke & Key is almost at an end. The penultimate episode is its strongest yet—shifting the story’s focus to Ellie and Lucas, ‘Echoes’ expands the world of the series while ramping up the tension.

We recap the tense ninth episode and unravel the many threads the series has woven so far.

Ellie and Lucas

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In the opening moments of the Locke & Key premiere, Mark Cho had received a phone call telling him about Rendell Locke’s death. In ‘Echoes’, we learn that that call was from Ellie, who was devastated by his loss.

But Ellie’s life was about to change drastically just a few months later—she was visited by none other than Lucas, her great love from high school. But the Lucas who came to her was different—he was obsessed with the keys and kept pushing Ellie to undertake more dangerous activities in order to secure them.

Ellie reluctantly helped—even entering Key House without permission to steal the Crown of Shadows. But Lucas still wasn’t happy—the crown needed a key to function. But Ellie didn’t want to do anymore—Nina almost caught her last time.

Then things got worse—Joe Ridgeway saw Lucas with Ellie and took a picture. While Ellie planned to just take the phone from Ridgeway, that wasn’t enough for Lucas—he couldn’t let Ridgeway live after having seen him.

Not only did Lucas murder Ridgeway, but he left Ellie behind to be caught. This is definitely not the Lucas she knew but with her son, Rufus, in danger, Ellie had no choice but to keep doing what Lucas asked.

However, when Lucas pushes Ellie to retrieve the Omega Key from Rendell’s urn, she puts her foot down. She won’t do this anymore, not for someone who isn’t the person she had once loved.

Ellie begins packing up essentials and tells Rufus that they are going to run away from Matheson and Lucas. But Rufus has a different idea.

Reinforcements

Lucas may think of Rufus as slow, but the boy is sharp and courageous. He has found Lucas’ stash of keys which he shows to his mother. Rufus believes that they need to fight their fear and Lucas, but they can’t do it alone—they need reinforcements.

When Bode comes to discuss the Lucas situation with Rufus, he takes the Locke boy into his confidence and asks Bode to assist him in his fight against Lucas.

But Bode can’t be the only one to help—he needs his siblings. Until that morning, Tyler and Kinsey had been shutting him out—especially after they had found the memory of Duncan’s where Rendell killed Lucas.

Bode eventually convinced them to bring him into their confidence—he’s been through the same losses they have, and experienced the same fears. They wouldn’t even know about the keys had it not been for him. They take a chance on Bode and show him the memory—Bode is disturbed, but more so because he knows Lucas is in Ellie’s house.

The three Locke children and Rufus are ready to team up to take down Lucas/ Dodge on Locke & Key, but they can’t do it without Ellie.

Fighting the Fearless

Before Rufus finds himself convincing Ellie to stay and fight, Kinsey confronts Ellie at school. She wants to know why Ellie is helping Lucas—she also tells Ellie how all the Locke children know about the keys. But Ellie can’t possibly explain her connection to Lucas—not yet.

But there are bigger problems at school—Eden, Kinsey’s nemesis, is terrified by the sight of a monstrous version of Kinsey.

When Eden confronts Kinsey about it, the creature reappears—slashing wildly at Eden. Kinsey, along with Tyler’s friends—Logan (Eric Graise) and Jackie—manage to bat it away with lacrosse sticks. The ‘thing’ disappears, leaving Kinsey and Tyler with a lot to explain.

Tyler takes the upfront approach and tells Logan and Jackie about the keys and Dodge—he even demonstrates using the Matchstick Key. They believe him, but Jackie thinks it’s a lot to take in. This relationship has had one too many ups and downs.

Meanwhile, this attack has surprisingly brought Kinsey and Eden closer—Kinsey’s fear only reacts to people she’s afraid of. Eden is smart and cool, and intimidating—exactly why Kinsey’s fear went after her. Eden is flattered and takes the news about magic well. Could this be the start of a new friendship?

But there’s more for Kinsey to deal with on Locke & Key —she has to tell Scot and Gabe about taking her fear out and how the lack of fearlessness opened her up to the possibility of dating both the boys. She won’t choose between them, so it’s up to them to decide whether they’re happy to be a throuple with her. Plenty to think about there! These Locke teens certainly know how to keep things interesting.

The Birth of Dodge

Relationships are the reason that the Lockes and Ellie are in this mess in the first place. Buoyed by Rufus’ bravery, Ellie decides to confide in the Locke children.

She uses the Head Key to show them about the faithful night that Dodge was born. Lucas—the real Lucas, that is—was a wonderful, sweet boy who Ellie loved dearly. The name Dodge was given to him by her because he was on the fencing team. Now it means something far more sinister.

Rendell brought his closest friends into the world of magic by sharing the keys with them—but he also became obsessed with the Black Door. When he eventually found the Omega Key and used it on the door, he ended up freeing the demons within. One of those demons attached itself to Lucas, though the friends didn’t know it at the time.

When they returned to Key House to rest in the basement, young Ellie (Sabrina Saudin) awoke to Lucas bullying young Mark (André Dae Kim) to give him the keys. When Mark refused, Lucas became violent, until young Kim (Ellen Olivia Giddings) tried to stop him. The possessed Lucas pushed Kim into a wall, killing her instantly. When young Jeff (Aidan Shaw) stepped in, Lucas wrung his neck.

Young Erin (Nicole James) and young Rendell (Nick Dolan) finally managed to hold Lucas back and Rendell struck Lucas hard enough to kill him. With three dead bodies on their hands, the remaining friends concocted the story of Lucas, Kim, and Jeff drowning in the caves. They also created a way for them to retain their memories of magic into adulthood and then divided up the keys between them:

· Rendell took the Omega and Anywhere keys

· Ellie got the Identity Key and the heretofore unmentioned Echo Key

· Erin took the Head Key

· Mark kept the Matchstick Key

At some point, one of them must have hidden the Crown of Shadows in the basement and boarded up the place. Ellie explains that the Crown of Shadows, once activated by the key, will allow the wearer complete control of all the shadows around them which can then force people to do the wearer’s bidding. No wonder Lucas wants it so much.

Content Warning: Discussion of suicide

Mark was also given another important task—hiding the remaining keys around Key House so they couldn’t be easily found. This is also why Mark had to take his own life when Rendell was killed—Key House would no longer be under Rendell’s protection, making the keys and anyone who knew about them vulnerable. Mark’s knowledge could not be passed onto anyone else—especially if they got the Head Key—so he had to kill himself.

Coronation

But the nightmare didn’t end there. Ellie’s world collapsed with the death of Lucas—despite Rufus coming into her life, she felt despondent and lost. She made a critical error a year ago—she used the Echo Key.

The Echo Key is meant to bring a person you love back to you though it keeps them trapped within a confined space. This didn’t stop Ellie from bringing back Lucas—she chose the well-house because it was secluded and she was the only one who had the key to it.

Unfortunately for Ellie, the key didn’t bring back the sweet and loving Lucas—it brought back the demon Dodge.

Dodge took the Identity Key from Ellie so as to take on a new form and began its reign of terror—first manipulating Sam Lesser to kill Rendell because Ellie wouldn’t do it, and then fooling Bode into giving her the Anywhere Key.

Even without the keys, Lucas/ Dodge is powerful. When Ellie and Rufus return home to take the Crown of Shadows, Lucas is there and he makes short work of the two of them. Earlier, Bode had found the Crown Key in the keyring to Key House and had given the key to Ellie to hide alongside the Crown.

Unfortunately, Lucas is too powerful for the Whedons and he wrests the Crown and the Key from Ellie’s grip. A new king has been crowned—Matheson should be terrified.

Final Thoughts

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The penultimate episode of Locke & Key was fantastic. Excellent pacing, fantastic storytelling, and a palpable sense of tension underlying every scene. Lucas is far more menacing than Dodge has been—the show prioritized sexiness over scariness much to the earlier episodes’ detriment.

This episode was packed with information, and it may take viewers a couple of rewatches to take it all in. But despite being so densely packed, it was massively entertaining and sets the show up for an exciting finale.

What did you think of this episode of Locke & Key? Be sure to tell us in the comment section below!

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