Hello Multiversity readers, and welcome to the finale of season three of Locke and Key. Gordie is on the brink of death while Kinsey, Tyler, and Ellie are racing to exit out of his head with Gideon right behind them. Now it is time to find out if they make it out and if they can stop him from destroying Matheson and the world in the finale, “Farewell.”
1. Confusing Death
The episode starts right where the previous one ended, with Kinsey, Tyler, and Ellie still struggling to find a way out of Gordie’s head while he is on the verge of death. The point of view switches from the kids to Gordie in the ambulance being kept alive by the EMT, but it seems very touch and go until one last attempt is just enough to give the kids a pathway out. As soon as they get out, there is a new problem, the police. They’re still in the house, questioning Rufus when everyone starts to come out, including Gideon. His power is displayed as he takes a few gunshots to the chest and handles the police like rag dolls as everyone else escapes. There is a brief moment in realizing that Gordie died, but the emotional beat doesn’t quite hit in the way the writers may have intended. This character had some severe issues throughout his life, but as far as the story is concerned, he was just a means to an end. Gordie’s death becomes another casualty in the journey of the keys.
2. Final Fight With Gideon
This is everything that’s been leading towards this final encounter of The Locke family versus Gideon for the big battle. After getting out of Gordie’s head, it becomes a marathon for Kinsey and Tyler. Their only weapon is the Creation Key; anything someone draws comes to life. The two use it to make a door to get as far away from Gideon as possible and a motorcycle to get back to Keyhouse quickly. Since Bode and Nina had no luck breaking into the chest, it clicked in their head to draw a small cabinet-like door on the chest to reach in and grab any key they needed, the Alpha Key. There’s a bit of banter between Kinsey and Gideon, but it’s over as quickly as the back-and-forth. Gideon gets stabbed with the Alpha Key and falls into the big portal still wide open inside Keyhouse. While the fight is pretty lackluster, the more significant realization is that the portal shrinks when the keys are thrown in, and the family begins to discuss whether it’s time to get rid of them for good.
3. One Last Request
The family does decide to get rid of the keys after realizing the magic has done far more bad than good. Although the kids have had fun and fantastic adventures, there have been an unfortunate number of deaths related to the keys they cannot move past. Bode’s final request for the keys is to use the Timeshift Key for them to see their dad one last time. It’s a sweet moment in the show’s history that, although it is temporary, it’s the cathartic goodbye they all needed. It’s a goodbye almost forgotten earlier in the season when Bode first found the key and was trying to see his dad as a teenager, so it’s more than the full circle goodbye and closes a goal from this season. Rendell also admits to the power of the keys and that as hard as it may be to get rid of them, it’s something that even he wished he could have done when he was their age.
4. Moving Forward
With the destruction of the keys, The Lockes are always moving forward, and everyone seems to be doing better without them. Kinsey gets to hold the premiere for her latest horror movie and a surprise visit from Scot Cavendish, one of the main characters from the previous two seasons that was only featured this time during video calls. The two briefly discuss when Scot and the others turn 18, their memories of magic will fade, and it’s unfair they didn’t get an opportunity to make that choice about remembering. Still, they both agree it is in everyone’s best interest to move forward. The other person who didn’t get that choice was Josh, although he and Nina are more open about their relationship, and Bode giving him an actual shot is nice. Josh has no memories of the fight with Gideon and believes he was assaulted and his car stolen/trashed. It feels unfair for him, given that the lengths he was willing to go to for Nina and the kids without even knowing the truth before, and having him back to square one just plain sucks. It would have been nice for a few outside family members to keep memories of magic, but it fits the family core dynamic of the show.
5. Final Verdict
This was the last season of Locke and Key; the writers of the show had a three-season idea when they were developing it and didn’t want the show to outlive its popularity and maybe not “jump the shark.” The main issue I felt during this entire last season was that it felt entirely too rushed. This third season had two fewer episodes than the previous seasons and the length of episodes for the second half. The usual time was 45 minutes to an hour, while the last four episodes were less than 40 minutes. The emotional beats from the beginning of this season with Tyler leaving and Kinsey trying to figure things out without him felt resolved quickly. Bode’s intelligence was also an issue for me because although he’s had the most experience with the keys, he sometimes would forget the simplest of ideas and strategies. He was less reckless and more clueless that didn’t feel genuine about everything he’d done previously. The final episode was a redeeming factor for this last season. Still, as I mentioned, it’s more due to the emotional storylines rather than the magic it drew from the beginning.
