The final chapter of Netflix’s fantasy series Locke and Key is almost here, closing the door on the fate of Dodge (Laysla De Oliveira), the Locke family, and the thrilling new Big Bad, the demon-possessed Captain Frederick Gideon (Kevin Durand). Season 2 raised the stakes for the Locke children as Tyler (Connor Jessup), Kinsey (Emilia Jones), and Bode (Jackson Robert Scott) faced off against Gabe (Griffin Gluck) (a.k.a. Dodge) and his growing army of formidable demons.
While we await the mysteries lurking behind the doors of Season 3, let’s take a quick look back at the major things you need to remember from last season, starting with our favorite demonic duo.
Gabe/Dodge and Eden Succeed in Creating a New Key
Poor Kinsey. High school boys are already disappointing enough as is, but not knowing your high school boyfriend is also a demon just puts the cherry on top of a supremely lackluster sundae.
At the end of Season 1, it was revealed that the “Dodge” that the Locke children pushed through the Black Door was not in fact the real Dodge, but Ellie Whedon (Sherri Saum). Dodge had used the Identity Key on Ellie, turning her into a spitting image of her demon form. The real Dodge took the form of Gabe, who in a twist of events, turned out to have been Dodge all along. That means that for a good chunk of Season 2, Kinsey is walking around unknowingly dating a demon — that is, until she takes a discomforting stroll through Eden’s head using the Head Key.
Gabe/Dodge recruited Eden (Hallea Jones), who at the end of Season 1 was hit with a bullet of Whispering Iron, allowing a demon to take possession of her body. Together, Gabe/Dodge and Eden are on a mission to create a new key. They succeed in creating the Demon Key, forcing Uncle Dunc (who now remembers magic and knows how to make keys, but more on that next) to make it for them. The Demon Key functions exactly as it sounds : it can turn anyone into a demon. Gabe/Dodge uses the key to forge a small, but powerful demon army.
Uncle Dunc Got His Memories Back
In Season 2, it is revealed that the reason Duncan (Aaron Ashmore) can’t remember magic is because as teenagers, the Keepers were forced to remove Duncan’s memories after he witnessed Rendell (Bill Heck) brutally bludgeon Lucas (Felix Mallard) to death. Unbeknownst to Duncan at the time, Lucas was no longer in fact Lucas, but Dodge, who was able to possess Lucas’s body after the Keepers accidentally set her free from the other side of the Black Door. The Keepers removed Duncan’s memories of that fateful night, along with all his memories of magic, using the Head Key. They stored his memories inside jars and hid them in the roots of a tree near the cemetery using the Plant Key. Before removing his memories, however, the Keepers had Duncan make a new key, the Memory Key, which allowed the Keepers to remember magic past their 18th birthday.
Jumping forward to the present, Duncan struggles with vague, barely-there memories of his past at the Keyhouse, especially when Erin Voss (Joy Tanner), Rendell’s high school girlfriend and former Keeper, temporarily stays at the Keyhouse. Tyler and Kinsey find Uncle Dunc’s memories and put them back inside his head, but it does not go according to plan. Duncan is unable to grasp the existence of magic — even with the memories — and is constantly overcome with painful headaches and hallucinations, causing him to lash out at the Locke children and Erin. It isn’t until Tyler relocates the Memory Key at Matheson Academy and uses it on Duncan that Duncan’s memories are fully restored.
Gabe/Dodge and Eden Killed Erin
In one of the most tragic storylines of Season 2, the Locke children free Erin, who accidentally trapped herself inside her own head for 23 years, only for Dodge to kill her a few episodes later. In a flashback to two years following the death of her friends, we see a young Erin sitting catatonic, having just used the Head Key. A housekeeper finds her and panics when she is unable to wake her from her trance. While she is trying to shake her awake, she accidentally dislodges the Head Key from Erin, leaving Erin trapped inside her own mind.
In Season 2, Tyler and Kinsey go inside Erin’s head in the hopes of finding out how the Keepers were able to maintain their memories of magic past their eighteenth birthdays. While inside her head, they talk to Erin’s consciousness (in the form of a young Erin, played by Nicole James), who isn’t aware that 23 years have passed. Tyler and Kinsey lead her out of her own head and into the real world, where she is shocked to find her current body in a hospital. Erin removes the Head Key from her head and awakens in her current body, now fully recovered.
When Kinsey makes the horrifying discovery that Gabe is actually Dodge, Erin secretly comes up with a solo mission to get rid of Dodge for good. She takes the Chain Key and confronts Gabe/Dodge in the Winterfest maze. She has Gabe/Dodge trapped in the chains until Eden intervenes, freeing up Gabe/Dodge to strangle Erin. Gabe/Dodge strangles her so hard that her neck snaps, and he then uses the Plant Key to make the vines consume Erin’s body so that it can’t be found. Duncan and the Lockes find her before her body is completely swallowed by the vines, but by then it is far too late.
The Alpha Key Fails to Save Jackie
Throughout Season 2, Tyler struggles to come to terms with the reality that his girlfriend Jackie (Genevieve Kang) is gradually starting to lose her memories of magic as her 18th birthday rapidly approaches. Unfortunately, Jackie suffers an even worse fate than Tyler had ever imagined. Tyler makes the devastating discovery that Jackie has been turned by Gabe/Dodge’s Demon Key. He scrambles to find a way to save her, using a secret bit of Whispering Iron left behind by Rendell to create a new key, the Alpha Key. He fills it with the intent to remove the demon side of Jackie, and for a few brief moments it appears to work. Then, devastatingly, Tyler watches as Jackie’s eyes start to bleed black liquid. She dies in his arms, the Alpha Key killing not only the demon inside her, but Jackie herself. At the end of the season, Tyler tells his siblings that he doesn’t want to remember magic anymore because it is too painful.
Dodge is Gone… But Not For Long
If there is one thing you can count on in Locke and Key, it’s that the Locke children sure know how to underestimate Dodge. In the Season 2 finale, “Cliffhanger,” Kinsey, Tyler, Duncan, and Scot (Petrice Jones) execute their plan to eliminate Gabe/Dodge once and for all. Tyler, Duncan, and Scot sneak into the cliffside villa that is Gabe’s demon headquarters to attempt to steal the Demon Key while Kinsey distracts Gabe/Dodge using the Angel Key, which Kinsey finds in the birdhouse with the help of ghost Sam Lesser (Thomas Mitchell Barnet). The Angel Key forms a harness around the user’s waist and grants them large, white wings that allow them to fly. Kinsey is able to momentarily distract Gabe/Dodge, but not for long: Gabe/Dodge and the demon army are too strong. Dodge (who uses the Identity Key to change back to her “original” form in the midst of the fight) begins to strangle Kinsey using the Chain Key and commands the army to get Duncan, Tyler, and Scot who are mere moments from snatching the Demon Key.
But luckily for the Locke family, magic is on their side yet again. Uncle Dunc and the Locke siblings are shocked to discover that Duncan can control the demons because as the creator of the Demon Key, his blood is connected to the key. He commands the horde of demons to go after Dodge, allowing him to grab the Demon Key from the vault. Tyler then jams the Alpha Key into the back of Dodge, killing the demon and leaving behind Lucas, Rendell’s childhood friend who was possessed by Dodge when they were teenagers.
But is Dodge gone for good? Based on the trailers Netflix released for Season 3, it certainly does not look like the Lockes have seen the last of Dodge.
Bode Introduces Nina to Magic
Nina Locke (Darby Stanchfield) went on a difficult emotional journey last season as the only Locke family member to not know about magic. She briefly started dating Josh Bennett (Brendan Hines), Matheson Academy’s new history teacher who moved to Matheson after the death of his wife and daughter’s mother last year. The two put their blossoming relationship on pause after Josh becomes obsessed with uncovering the mystery of his ancestor’s fate (the ancestor in question being Captain Frederick Gideon, the series’ new antagonist). Nina can also tell that her children and her brother-in-law are keeping things from her, which leaves her feeling painfully isolated. At the end of Season 2, Bode shows Nina magic using the Head Key, allowing her to revisit old memories of her and Rendell. He tells her that he is not going to let her forget, suggesting that he is going to use the Memory Key on her next season.
Ellie Reunites with Rufus
In Season 2, the Omega Door is briefly opened once more after Eden, who has been betrayed by Gabe/Dodge, takes Josh to the caves in hopes of creating her own demon army. This allows Ellie to exit the portal and escape back to the real world. She is still trapped in Dodge’s body, but the Locke kids use the Identity Key to restore her to her real body, and she and Rufus share a tearful reunion.
The Big Bad: Captain Frederick Gideon and the Origin of the Keys
And that brings us to Captain Frederick Gideon, Locke and Key‘s newest and biggest villain. At the end of Season 2, Eden uses the Echo Key to release Gideon with the intention of using him to help her open the Black Door. But alas, he promptly drops her into the well and takes the Anywhere Key.
So, who exactly is this guy?
We learn in a flashback to 1775 that Captain Gideon was a former captain of the British soldiers in colonial Massachusetts. Greatly feared due to his reputation of terrorizing the North Shore and killing suspected rebels, Captain Gideon storms the Keyhouse one night with his men, having heard rumors that Peter Locke (Joseph Kathrein) has been creating weapons for American soldiers. Just as he is about to burn members of the Locke family alive, Peter’s son Benjamin (Carson MacCormac) saves them. However, Gideon still manages to fatally stab Peter and retreat to a very familiar nearby sea cave to escape Benjamin’s revenge. Inside, Gideon accidentally activates the Black Door portal, causing a Whispering Iron bullet to pierce one of his men and allow a demon to take possession of his body. Seeing his soldier’s newfound strength and durability, Gideon allows himself to be hit by an incoming bullet and also get possessed. The demon remains in control of Gideon’s body up until his execution.
When Eden uses the Echo key to unleash Gideon, it’s clear that it is still a demon using Gideon’s body as the host. Furthermore, it appears that this demon is someone important in their world because Eden recognizes him and tells him, “I thought I was just conjuring some old, evil soldier dude. Didn’t know you possessed him. That is so much better. … You are who you are in our world. But here’s different.”
The final season of Locke & Key premieres on Netflix on August 10.
