YMMV / Locke & Key

• Complete Monster: The demon possessing Lucas "Dodge" Caravaggio is the mastermind behind all the suffering in the story. Developing human-like emotions after taking over Dodge's body, the demon positively revels in its wickedness: turning an emotionally unstable teenager into a killer; mentally tormenting and then killing a woman; and causing a recovering alcoholic to relapse to strain the man's relationship with his daughter. Silencing any who become aware of its existence, including children, the demon switches to the body of a young boy, leaving his soul trapped and alone. Having humans captured with its minions by the hundreds and killing any who resist, the demon intends to bring more of its race to Earth and completely enslave humanity.
• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • All of the Locke kids main friends are well-liked, but in terms of how much focus they get vs how popular they are, Jackie and Rufus probably stand out.
  • Detective Mukutu, the families Friend on the Force who has some good deductions and fight scenes when he gets involved in the main arc.
• Fanon Discontinuity: The deaths of Scot and Jackie.
• Funny Moments: Few and far in between, although when they do come along they hit the right spot.
  • Tyler has a few good quips
    Tyler: Everyone in French Club went to Paris. Six weeks.
    Kinsey: So what? You're taking Spanish.
    Tyler: See how I can't catch a break?
  • Tyler can even make Deadpan Snarker quips while he's freaking out. While freaking out over seeing Bode use the Head Key for the first time:
    Tyler: His head is open! His head is open and completely empty! [beat] Actually, that last part kind of makes sense.
• Genius Bonus: Back in 1988, Dodge wore his hair long and curly, which made him look an awful lot like an Amerighi da Caravaggio painting.◊ Dodge's real name? Lucas Caravaggio.
• Harsher in Hindsight: Dodge mocks Erin Voss for having a crush on Rendell when she’s black and he’s white, claiming he’d never date outside his race. In the TV adaptation Erin was made Rendell’s girlfriend instead of Kim... and also racebent to white.
• Nightmare Fuel: Dodge, whether he's in the guise of a normal person or a grotesque skull-reflection. Sam also counts. Lampshaded in this interview with Joe Hill, who stated that for him, the key to writing horror was "... to push the limits psychologically... to bring the heroes, and the reader, into an uneasy, uncomfortable place, and force them to live there a while." Seems to be working pretty well.
• Tear Jerker:
  • Several moments, but something about Rufus telling his mom "I just want the commander to know if she's ever tired of me, the team will move out at her command. Say the word," i.e. that he'll leave her if he's a burden to her, just seems to have that extra sense of tragedy.
  • Never mind Rufus seeing his mother's corpse after Dodge murders her. When the cop tries to hold him back, Rufus just whispers "let go of me" before kissing Ellie's forehead one last time.
  • So much in Clockworks. Poor Ben and Miranda Locke's backstory is sad enough, but even worse is finding out what a stand-up guy Dodge used to be.
  • Jordan selflessly giving up her life to save Jamal and Kinsey.
  • Scot using the last of his strength to help the survivors in the drowning cave get to safety, before finally using the Alpha Key to kill the parasite in Jackie's soul so they could die together as themselves.
    Scot: You all right, my love?
    Jackie: Yes. Much better. You saved me. My hero.
    Scot: All in a day's work.
  • Tyler finally getting to take a ride on Jordan's motorcycle.
  • The ending of "Open the Moon" with Ian and Harlan being welcomed into the afterlife by the Locke family ancestors.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: There's a feeling that Mukutu, Scot and Jackie were killed off anticlimactically when there was a lot more they could have done.