This shortened closing chapter sees the Locke family take on a new foe in possessed 18th century soldier Frederick Gideon, who was summoned to the present day as an Echo<\/a> in the cliffhanger season 2 ending<\/a>. While there had been some foreshadowing towards this in flashback sequences, it was still a jarringly random development given the character\u2019s tenuous link to the Locke family and complete absence from the original comic books.<\/p>\n Gideon\u2019s expanded role in the third season fails to settle any scepticism, with actor Kevin Durand looking as if he wandered in from an amateur Civil War reenactment. His daft performance goes beyond scenery chewing (scenery devouring, maybe?), evoking only second-hand embarrassment where there is meant to be fear and intimidation. This is partly down to the writers, who lazily make no effort to develop the character into anything more than a cheesy villain from a Saturday morning cartoon.<\/p>\n The team is restricted, to some extent, by the DNA of the show, as its primary antagonists are demonic entities from a hellish otherworld whose obsession with the keys rivals Gollum with a certain ring. They are, by their nature, rather one-note. However, the writers managed to find the fun in this premise with their first major foe, Dodge (portrayed brilliantly by Laysla De Oliveira and reasonably well by Griffin Gluck), who did show signs of growth before being vanquished. It\u2019s a great shame that they can\u2019t do the same with Gideon, who is teased as being a far more powerful being \u2013 even described as a \u201cgod\u201d at one point \u2013 yet acts like just another brutish, incompetent goon.<\/p>\n Naturally, it\u2019s an absolute delight to see Dodge return in episode 3 of the new season, appearing in both their earlier forms before taking over the body of young Bode (Jackson Robert Scott, who captures the spirit of the character impressively well). Unfortunately, it\u2019s very much a flyby visit with little bearing on the season arc, really only serving as a reminder of how aggressively unexciting the current baddie is by comparison.<\/p>\n But while I may have been happy to see Dodge make a comeback (however short-lived), the situation that facilitates their return is undeniably contrived, involving a stunningly irresponsible action from Bode which doesn\u2019t fit the character at all. He may only be 10 years old (or thereabouts), but he\u2019s not stupid and that\u2019s been demonstrated on numerous occasions. It exemplifies a bad habit the writers fall into this season of having their heroes act irrationally purely to drum up drama. Far from fuelling the tension, this soon becomes annoying.<\/p> I found myself shouting at the TV at several points due to the Locke family\u2019s complete lack of urgency in the face of life-threatening danger. Found a crucial key? Just stand still gawping at it as the timer ticks down. Treasured friend knocked unconscious? Leave her alone with your murderous enemy while you have a casual chat in the other room. Villain is distracted and drops all of his magical keys? Take only one and leave him with the rest; it would be rude to snatch them all.<\/p>\n Viewers have long complained of illogical protagonists in the fantasy horror genre over the years, with the counterargument being that if characters didn\u2019t make bad decisions then there would be no story at all. Granted, but there\u2019s misjudgement and there\u2019s plain idiocy, and the Locke family fall repeatedly into the latter category in these latest episodes. The fact is, if there is so little story that the writers have to heavy-handedly manufacture situations to keep things moving forward, then maybe the show should have just ended after season 2.<\/p>\n Locke and Key is available to stream on Netflix. Check out more of our Fantasy<\/a> coverage or visit our TV Guide<\/a> to see what\u2019s on tonight.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n The latest issue of Radio Times magazine is on sale now \u2013\u00a0subscribe now<\/a>\u00a0and get the next 12 issues for only \u00a31. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to the\u00a0Radio Times podcast<\/a>\u00a0with Jane Garvey.<\/b><\/p><\/body><\/html>\n By David Craig Published: Wednesday, 10 August 2022 at 12:00 am Someone stick Locke and Key in the mending cabinet because something about this final season isn\u2019t working. The fantasy series has always been a bit rough around the edges, not entirely doing justice to the award-winning source material, but it generally stood up as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":20093,"template":"","categories":[1,5],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/08\/locke-and-keys-final-season-is-frustrating-and-largely-pointless.jpg",1200,800,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/08\/locke-and-keys-final-season-is-frustrating-and-largely-pointless-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/08\/locke-and-keys-final-season-is-frustrating-and-largely-pointless-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/08\/locke-and-keys-final-season-is-frustrating-and-largely-pointless-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/08\/locke-and-keys-final-season-is-frustrating-and-largely-pointless-1024x683.jpg",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/08\/locke-and-keys-final-season-is-frustrating-and-largely-pointless.jpg",1200,800,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/08\/locke-and-keys-final-season-is-frustrating-and-largely-pointless.jpg",1200,800,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By David Craig Published: Wednesday, 10 August 2022 at 12:00 am Someone stick Locke and Key in the mending cabinet because something about this final season isn\u2019t working. The fantasy series has always been a bit rough around the edges, not entirely doing justice to the award-winning source material, but it generally stood up as…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/20092"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20093"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20092"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20092"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"""\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2022\/08\/kevin-durand-locke-key-1b3d647.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413"\" "\\"\"\"\\"\/")
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