Locke & Key Review: 5 Ups & 5 Downs

2. Its Darker Character Drama Really Works

Though Locke & Key is certainly filled to the brim with an excessive amount of dopey high schooler melodrama, it also does touch on some genuinely potent and powerful themes, again benefiting from the committed work of its cast.

Especially effective is the show's examination of grief, as the family continually struggles to cope with the murder of their patriarch.

We may have the show's co-developer Meredith Averill to thank for this, as she previously served as an executive producer on the brilliantly visceral The Haunting of Hill House.

Elsewhere, the show takes an interesting approach to examining anxiety through the character of Kinsey, with a startlingly believable depiction of paralysing fear, which eventually takes a compelling - if slightly silly - left-turn into supernatural shenanigans.

Then there's Nina's alcoholism, which manages to sidestep its soap opera-y potential and actually become a genuinely affecting subplot, largely thanks to Stanchfield's searing performance and how her disease ends up informing the main key narrative itself.

It's easy to see how a darker tone and stronger writing as a whole could've heightened the emotional impact of these subplots, but even so, they're not simply cliched dramatic padding: they really work for the most part.