Locke & Key “Best Laid Plans”

OK, look, it’s only episode seven in a ten episode season, and things had (a death here or there aside) been going too well for the Lockes.  A setback had to happen.

But if the setback had to happen, this is the way to do it.

To review:  the Lockes know Gabe is really Dodge, and Duncan got his memory back.  Dodge really wants a key of his own to do…something.  Eden thinks Dodge is really smitten with Kinsey, and she strongly suspects that the Lockes are on them.  Dodge doesn’t think so, and seeing they can’t keep pretending Duncan wasn’t fixed, the Lockes opt to invite Gabe over and set a trap for him.

See, this has to my mind been brilliantly plotted.  Even the stuff from season one I didn’t much care, namely the high school romance and the like, has been mostly in service to the overall plot.  I am largely fine with that.  Yeah, I still don’t give a flying fig newton for Nina Locke’s love life, but that’s a far sight better than season one dealing with Kinsey’s love triangle, Tyler’s love life and general attempts to fit in, and a host of other things that didn’t have much to do with magic keys.

Anyway, Eden and Dodge are plotting to get Duncan out of the house while the Lockes, with Scot, are plotting to use a few key combinations to put Dodge back in the wellhouse, the one place that would destroy Dodge for good.  Between the Anywhere Key and the Hercules Key, it would seem as if the Lockes have some advantages.  So, bring Dodge over under the pretense that Scot and Kinsey are getting a jump on a sequel to their horror movie while Bode keeps Eden busy somehow, and then he won’t be a problem anymore.

What may have been the most clever idea in the episode as Bode has Jamie, using the dollhouse and its special key, trap Eden in a giant drinking glass.  Meanwhile, they have an open door to the wellhouse that, with Kinsey using the superstrength of the Hercules Key, to push Dodge through the door.

What they plan to do with Eden I have no idea.

Three problems:  1) Eden can punch through the glass because, duh, demon strength.  2) Jamie’s father will come in and tell her to stop playing with the dollhouse.  And 3) a bird will fly into the Keyhouse from the wellhouse and let Dodge know there’s a trap.  And it turns out his own physical strength is enough to hold off the Hercules Key and a star athlete like Tyler at the same time.  Let Eden join in, use the chain key to capture Bode, and yeah, pick up the Anywhere Key off the floor, and Dodge is right back where he used to be, only the bait to the trap, namely Duncan, is in his hands.  He has some demon metal and the one person who can make a key.

Oh, and he left Eden behind because, despite the fact she was right all along about the Lockes setting up a trap, Dodge still blames her for almost losing everything.

She manages to escape in her own fashion, and no, as much as it would make sense for her to turn on Dodge for leaving her behind, she’s still evil, so that ain’t happening.

And now, Dodge has a key that turns people into demons, testing it on Tyler’s friend Javi.  Javi, now evil and demonic, is completely obedient to Dodge.  So, that sucks.

Now, the Lockes do get away, but after a couple episodes of their getting more on the ball, they had a setback.  I like the approach in season two much more.  Dodge is formidable, but not unbeatable.  He’s a challenge, but not one that a group of kids with a handful of magic keys can’t somehow defeat.  So yeah, I can get behind all this.