This recap of Locke & Key contains spoilers, so reader discretion is advised. Welcome back to another recap of season two of Locke & Key, the show based on the comic book series by Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodríguez. Last episode took us back to the Revolutionary War, and we learned the origin story of the Keys.
Related: Locke & Key Recap: (S02E08) “Irons in the Fire”
“Fine. Then, I’ll kill your mom.”
Locke & Key Season Two, Episode Nine, “Alpha & Omega” opens to some super dramatic music playing while Uncle Duncan (Aaron Ashmore) and Tyler (Connor Jessup) work on forging the Key Tyler needs to save Jackie (Genevieve Kang). Meanwhile, Kinsey (Emilia Jones) is telling her friends to hide themselves away until her family can take care of Dodge themselves.
The next morning (?), Kinsey’s preparing breakfast, but things go a little weird when her tea mug freezes over. Things go really weird when Godge (Griffin Gluck) shows up behind her. He pleads for her to join the dark side because he cares about her, you know? That’s why he tells her that if she doesn’t willingly join him by the next night, he’ll kill her friends and family to remind her of his love.
Over at the Mansplaining Weasel’s (Brendan Hines) house, he and Jamie (Liyou Abere) are having breakfast. He’s apologizing for being so distracted of late. Ohhh, he’s not apologizing. He’s prying for info. Mansplaining Weasel tells his daughter that the Lockes keep coming up in his “research” project. He starts pressing in hard about the Keys, and Jamie is so, so, so good about trying to deflect. Like, Haha, of course, they make keys. They’re called Locke and live in a place called Keyhouse.
“You think my dad might be a demon?”
But, her dad forges ahead and asks Jamie if she’s gotten wind of the Omega Key. This gives Jamie pause. As soon as he’s gone, she calls Bode (Jackson Robert Scott. Bode doesn’t think that Mansplaining Weasel is quite so dark that he’s gone demon, because then he wouldn’t be able to take Keys. But this is certainly curious. He’s headed over to help Jamie out.
Nina (Darby Stanchfield), meanwhile, overhears all this talk of omega symbols and runs to her room. There, she finds one of her late husband’s old yearbooks, and the pages are filled with omega symbols.
Bode checks in with Kinsey before he heads out, but she’s still reeling from Godge’s visit and sends Bode away. Hmm. Things get weird in Kinsey’s bathroom this time: Her mirror ices over.
Next, Nina runs downstairs to catch Bode before he leaves. She admits to eavesdropping and wants to know what he and Jamie were talking about. She doesn’t believe him when he pretends it was about a game. Nina shows him the omega symbols in his dad’s yearbook. Also, Sam Lesser (Thomas Mitchell Barnet) had a tattoo of an omega symbol.
Nina pleads with Bode, wanting to know if he’d tell her if something were going on. He says that he would if he could. He loves her, but he’s gotta go.
“That wasn’t your fault.”
Back in the shed, Dunc and Tyler are still working on melting that Whispering Iron. Duncan muses on the fact that his Key-making gift is not so much of one, considering the two Keys he’s ever made have caused so much pain. He hopes it will be different for Tyler. Tyler is confident that his Key will bring Jackie back.
Kinsey comes in to check up on them. They don’t know when the Key will be ready. It could take anywhere from two minutes to two hours. Kinsey persists. Will it be ready that evening? Tyler uses his sibling intuition and realizes something’s not right.
So, she tells them. And, again, with the total obstinance only a cishetero white man could muster in this situation, Tyler tells her it’ll all work out. He also only half-heartedly tells her it’s not her fault Jackie got Turned.
“Bring two flashlights.”
Next, Evil-den (Hallea Jones) and Mansplaining Weasel are having a little chit. She tells him he needs to get Jackie to coax the Omega Key info out of Bode. But, Mansplaining Weasel doesn’t want to lie to his daughter! Evil-den gets him to reconsider by dangling the idea that his wife might be on the other side of the portal.
He calls Evil-den’s bluff, but then she offers to take him to see the door, no strings attached.
While Mansplaining Weasel heads off to prep for spelunking, Evil-den catches Javi (Kevin Alves) spying on her. Godge tells Javi to kill her, but Evil-den’s too strong for him. When he tries to escape using the Anywhere Key, she tosses him into some desert and takes the Key for herself (after slicing his throat with his ice skate).
Then, Jamie sees her dad and Evil-den head off together.
Back at Keyhouse, Nina is sitting on her bed, looking at old pictures when Kinsey comes in to check on her. Nina is feeling really left out. She asks Kinsey about her breakup with Godge and admits she always thought there was something a little off about her daughter’s ex.
Kinsey wants to have a mother-daughter date, but Nina has something to do and asks for a raincheck for the next day. Kinsey’s devastated because “tomorrow” may never come for them.
“The material we’re using is from the demon world.”
At Jamie’s, Bode’s finally arrived and Jamie is catching him up. Then, Godge breaks in and heads straight for the office, where the kids had been. Seeing the picture of the Sea Cave, Godge realizes where Evil-den’s headed. Jamie and Bode reach the same conclusion. Bode says they need to go help Jamie’s dad.
Jamie, speaking for everyone, asks Bode how on God’s green Earth they’ll be able to help. Bode is quite confident the Keys he’s brought with him will be enough.
Over in Keyhouse shed, the iron has finally melted. Now, Tyler must imbue the Key with his intention. Insert some ethereal images of Jackie. Then, it’s time for Tyler’s blood sacrifice. And Tyler pours the molten iron into the Key mold. Do the Lockes design the molds? Or do the Keys magically take shape?
The doorbell rings. Kinsey opens the door. It’s Scot (Petrice Jones). He’s come up with all these reasons he should be allowed to help fight the baddies, but she doesn’t need to listen to them. She gives him a big ole hug.
They go hang out by the fire, and Kinsey tells Scot she’s a little happy he didn’t get into his dream film school. Turns out, he did. He just decided not to go … he didn’t feel up to it. Kinsey tells him he’d better call and tell them he’s changed his mind. He’d better go there.
“So, I’m being haunted by my demon ex-boyfriend and my great-great-grandfather. Awesome.”
Before they can talk about more, their fire goes out. The fireplace is frozen. Scot is all, Eh, you probably have a ghost. They create cold spots, mate, innit?
Kinsey decides one of her dead relatives is probably trying to tell her something, which is super confirmed when an ice trail forms and leads her up to her chimney. She Santa Clauses her way to … something. But that something has a Keyhole.
That thing Nina had to do? It was attend an AA meeting. Nina is so lonely and so detached from the rest of her family. She lost herself in putting her kids’ happiness first. The supernatural stuff that she can’t remember is also really causing her so much pain. She realizes this is more than her alcohol abuse disorder. Good for you, Nina!
Unfortunately, someone formerly wonderful, but now very dangerous, is at the meeting. Detective Mutuku (Martin Roach)! They decide to go for a cup of coffee. Ugh, I hate that they did this to Mutuku, but like, also, Martin Roach is killing it.
“I found the harness, or whatever.”
Next, Evil-den and Mansplaining Weasel have made it to the sea caves. They make some chitchat about Mansplaining Weasel’s ancestor and the fact that he opened the portal back before there was even a door. “He musta been one powerful dude,” says Evil-den.
In the Keyhouse cemetery, Kinsey and Scot tiptoe around, looking for the Key to opening that something they found in the chimney. She tells Chamberlain (Chris Britton) he needs to drop a few more breadcrumbs since Godge stole the Ghost Key, and she can no longer literally talk to him.
A whole-ass flock of birds leads Kinsey and Scot to a birdhouse, with a Key inside. They thank Chamberlain. Apparently, the whole scavenger hunt was Sam’s idea, but he’s cool with not getting credit; he’s just glad it succeeded.
So, Tyler’s Key is finally ready. He’s happy it worked, but Duncan warns him that they won’t know for sure until they use it.
“Come on, Eden, that’s sad. Even for you.”
Meanwhile, Evil-den and Mansplaining Weasel have finally made it to the Black Door. He can’t believe it’s real, because why would he trust anything he hasn’t seen with his own eyes. He’s not pleased with the results of the vibe check he performs on the door and wants to know how Evil-den even knows about it. Now you ask?
They’re about to leave when Godge shows up. Mansplaining Weasel is probably mentally reviewing the teacher code of conduct right about now. Godge point-blank tells Mansplaining Weasel that Evil-den is a demon. His tone is dripping in sarcasm and it’s just … amazing. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: Griffin Gluck and Hallea Jones have made this season. They are clearly having so much fun, and it just bleeds through the computer screen.
During their heated lil tête-à-tête, Mansplaining Weasel’s just standing there, with a WTF expression plastered on his face. But, Godge has places to be, people to Turn, so he puts on the Crown of Shadows and leaves the two of them to it.
Mansplaining Weasel’s flashlight quickly takes care of the shadow monsters, but he’s still stuck in the collapsed cave. Luckily, Jamie and Bode arrive just then. And they’ve got the Hercules Key. They rescue Mansplaining Weasel, but instead of telling him the truth about anything that happened, they just wait for him to forget the magic.
“Isn’t that what you wanted?”
We’re back with Tyler and Duncan, who are tailing Jackie. She ends up at Godge’s cliff-side fortress. To return the Demon Key. Who did she Turn, I wonder. Jackie heads back into the woods, and Tyler calls to her.
He tells her he misses the real her, but she insists she’s still herself. As a demon, she remembers every moment of magic they ever made together. Jackie tells Tyler they can still be together if she joins his side. But, what does that mean, exactly? Well, according to Demon Jackie, it means getting rid of preconceptions, following his impulses and desires, rather than being the Tyler he thinks he needs to be.
As they speak, Tyler is slowly moving towards her. He wants so much for them to be together and happy. He pulls Jackie into a hug and shoves his newly minted Key into her back.
There’s good news and bad news. The good news is it does exorcise the demon from Jackie. She apologizes to Tyler and thanks him for saving her. They exchange “I love yous.” And now for the bad news. Jackie starts to cry blood, then essentially goes into cardiac arrest and dies.
I hate this so much. Look, the aftermath of this is acted beautifully. Connor Jessup is a fantastic actor. But, Jackie’s entire character arc was: underdeveloped love interest, evil and now, dead. Should a woman character, especially one of color have to die for the sake of giving character development to a cishetero white male? (No, obviously the answer is no.)
Back at the Black Door, someone’s coming up under the rubble. Someone escaped. Who could it be? None other but Ellie-in-Dodge’s-skin (Laysla De Oliveira). Dun dun dun!
Woah. That was a penultimate episode for sure. There was good and very, very bad. What did y’all think? Check out our recap of the Season Two Finale below.
Catch all of our Locke & Key recaps, here!
Both seasons of Locke & Key are available now on Netflix.
Author’s note:
My recaps for season two of Locke & Key were nearly complete by the time that Netflix leadership’s transphobia came to light. While it is absolutely true that all corporations are evil to varying degrees and that everyone has their “problematic faves,” in my opinion, this situation is quite different. Netflix is an international company with a yearly revenue of $25 billion. Their behavior towards marginalized communities matters.
I am a nonbinary person. It was not an easy decision for me to post these recaps. I have canceled my personal Netflix subscription and following this season of Locke & Key recaps, will no longer be covering Netflix content, unless they change their ways. However, I believe that rather than staying silent, the most productive way to help my community at large is to publish these recaps and provide resources at the bottom of each article.
Thank you for reading.
More about the Netflix controversy:
- “Netflix trans employees and allies release a list of demands ahead of the walkout”
- “Netflix’s CEO Is Wrong. Transphobic Media Causes Real Harm“
Help save trans lives:
- Glaad’s trans resource page
- The Trevor Project
- National Black Trans Advocacy Coalition
- Transgender Law Center
- The Okra Project
https://www.geekgirlauthority.com/27-queer-content-creators-of-color-we-love-and-support/
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