Boomer TV:Moderately Amusing Macabre?

Ever taken in a show you saw lots of flaws in, maybe  couldn’t really always capture what was going on and yet there was something compelling about it that made you keep watching?
I mean other than the news?
Try Locke & Key, currently available on Netflix.

I have always been fond of the TV version of the macabre. Twilight Zone was a must see every Friday night though my friends and I preferred Way Out a show that lasted but part of one season but it was absolute brain candy. Both came on Fridays, non school nights and were perfect fare for middle schoolers mildly obseessed with the genre.

Twilight Zone begat Night Gallery a show that used to bring activity on the campus of CMU to a halt as we gathered in groups to check out Serling’s latest eerie offerings. It was superb and episodes like ‘The Big Surprise” remain ensconced in my ever depleting memory bank.

There have also been a lot of truly bad attempts at capturing just the right combination of terror and intrigue. American Gothic and  Invasion were two I recall.

And now there is Locke & Key, the latest experimental watch Lil and I have indulged in of late.
It’s got a lot of loose ends and while Lil’s comments about parents in horror shows notwithstanding (“why on Earth would anyone leave a child that age stay alone in that house?”) I’m willing to let it go because, well, because it’s in the same ballpark as when people go in the basement in such shows, right? I mean, it’s supposed to be scary stuff so normal rules of conventional thinking get set aside.
The show has the standard characters, precocious young boy, sulky teenage girl and the likeable older brother along with the recently widowed single Mom who early on seems to be in a continual state of denial ala Wendy Torrence (Shelley Duvall) in The Shining.

There are an adequate number of  intriguing scenes and while the plotline can wander into predictability at times there is a thread of intrigue and enough unrevealed mystery to hold interest.

But don’t get me wrong, it’s not epic. The writing is a bit flawed but the acting isn’t awful and despite what might seem to be described as shortcomings it has thus far been entertaining enough.
When we get caught up in a show we both really like there’s little discussion of its merits afterwards and more of a dialogue about what went on and what we found particularly enjoyable.
With L&K it's been more of,
'What do you think? Want to keep watching?'
‘Yeah, let’s give it another episode or two’

So buyer beware, you may not find Locke & Key to your liking but thus far we're just past halfway through and…
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We haven’t pulled the plug yet.   

Ken DeLaat

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