Locke and Key season 2 ending explained: Who is the show's next big villain?
Dodge has finally been defeated, but an even greater threat is now headed for the Locke family. **SPOILERS FOR SEASON 2**
Locke and Key season two took its time getting here but it was certainly worth the wait, introducing a hoard of amazing new keys and bringing several plot threads from the first outing to their natural conclusion.
Indeed, had Locke and Key not been renewed for a third season late last year, you might have thought that these episodes would be the last in the series as almost everything wraps up very neatly indeed.
Alas, at the last moment it is revealed that Tyler, Kinsey and Bode have more trouble coming their way, with a brand new villain joining the Locke and Key cast who promises to be even more cutthroat than Dodge. Yikes.
If you've been left reeling by the Locke and Key season two ending, read on for our full breakdown and speculation over what could happen next in Netflix's hit fantasy series.
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Locke and Key season 2 ending explained
The season two finale kicked off with a bang, depicting the action-packed final stand-off between Kinsey's boyfriend Gabe – aka the demonic entity Dodge in disguise – and the Locke siblings.
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Earlier in the show, we had seen Dodge kidnap Duncan Locke and force him to make a key that would possess people with his malicious friends from beyond the Black Door.
Tragically, the tool had proven effective, with Dodge using it to turn several Matheson residents into his underlings, including Tyler Locke's beloved girlfriend, Jackie.
This compelled the eldest Locke sibling to find a way of reversing the horrifying transformation, finding one last piece of whispering iron hidden in his late father's old fishing cap and setting to work with Duncan as his tutor.
Together, they were able to create the Alpha Key, which is indeed capable of flushing a demon out of a human soul, but an unexpected side effect is that it costs the life of the freed person.
That's something Tyler learns the hard way when he uses the key on Jackie, experiencing a moment of joy as his kind girlfriend returns, only to have her die in his arms mere moments later – with Matheson doctors ruling the death to be an aneurysm.
A devastated Tyler is keen to rush into an all-out battle with Gabe, but Kinsey stops him, insisting they'll have to work together in order to take their nemesis down.
While Gabe has always been Dodge in disguise, over the course of the season we have seen that he has developed a genuine soft spot for Kinsey during his time masquerading as her boyfriend.
His feelings are so strong that he reveals he wants Kinsey by his side, expressing a desire for her to succumb to the effects of the demon key willingly, rather than having it forced on her.
Kinsey astutely uses these feelings against Gabe by turning up at the cliffside home where he had been gathering his demonic army, a move which he initially believes is a sign that she has come around.
Instead, she makes it look as if she is about to jump off the cliff – saying she would rather die than be controlled by a demon – but as she plummets of the ledge, it is revealed she is using the newly discovered wing key, which allows her to soar through the air with ease.
She then swoops down to take the Crown of Shadows off his head, narrowly escaping with the powerful magical item, and thus substantially weakening Gabe's plan.
But it's not over yet: Gabe still has an army of possessed Matheson residents to do his bidding, sending them down to stop Tyler, Duncan and Scot from breaking into the safe where the Demon Key is hidden.
Read more: Locke and Key location guide
Armed with the Alpha Key and the Hercules Key, they are able to fend off the horde for a little while, but are moments away from being overwhelmed when Duncan makes a startling discovery.
As the forger of the demon key, he is capable of commanding anyone possessed by it, an ability he uses to turn their attackers on Gabe himself.
In an act of desperation, Gabe – now returned to their original female Dodge form – sticks the Plant Key into the side of the house, allowing powerful tree roots to burst in from all sides, causing the cliff-side property to begin falling apart.
Kinsey and Dodge have one last confrontation in the corridor as the house crumbles around them, in which they both very nearly go down with the toppling house.
Fortunately, Tyler sneaks up behind Dodge at the last minute with the Alpha key, expelling the demon within Lucas Caravaggio's Echo, before escaping to safety with his sister.
Tyler, Kinsey, Scot and Duncan watch the house tumble into the sea, but are amazed to see someone emerge from the wreckage: it's Lucas – but now free of the murderous demon that had latched onto his soul.
The Alpha Key did not kill him as it had Jackie and (presumably) Detective Mutuku because Lucas is not a real human, but rather an Echo of a memory that had escaped from the magical well on Keyhouse Manor, meaning he cannot be killed by physical means.
He approaches the Lockes as a friend, revealing that he was always inside Dodge, but had no control over their actions and was therefore forced to be a helpless witness to their crimes.
They return to Keyhouse and find more good news waiting for them as Ellie Whedon is also back, miraculously surviving being thrown through the Black Door after Dodge changed her face with the identity key, tricking the Lockes into thinking she was their enemy.
There are some big new developments for the Locke family in the second half of the episode, with Tyler moving away to Boston for university and deciding not to use the Memory Key before he goes – meaning he'll forget all about magic and the keys shortly after his imminent 18th birthday.
Someone who may not be so forgetful in season three is Locke matriarch Nina, as Bode takes her on a tour of her own cherished memories using the Head Key, before agreeing to use the Memory Key on her when she makes it clear she wants to be a part of their adventures.
For a moment, it seems that things are going to end on a positive note, and perhaps they might have done had it not been for one pesky loose end: Eden.
Dodge's possessed associate breaks into his dorm room and retrieves the Echo key, which he had hidden behind a plug socket, and uses it to summon the echo of Frederick Gideon, the cruel British Empire soldier we had been introduced to in flashback.
Eden had discovered that he was the first person to discover the Black Door after reading the centuries-old notebooks of Matheson Academy history teacher, Mr Bennett.
That said, she is visibly surprised to discover exactly which of her demonic kin has taken hold of Gideon's soul.
"Oh my God, it's you," she says. "I thought I was just conjuring some old evil soldier dude, I didn't know you possessed him. That's so much better."
Eden begins laying down the law, making it clear that she wants to be in charge of their operations, having had quite enough of being ordered around by Gabe in their short time together.
However, she underestimates Gideon's ruthlessness, as he simply grabs her by her legs and throws her down the deep well, before using the Anywhere Key to escape the well to whereabouts unknown.
It has been confirmed that Gideon actor Kevin Durand will be a series regular in Locke and Key season three, so expect him to be the main villain of the upcoming episodes, where we should learn more about the mysterious demon within him.
Kinsey and Bode seemingly won't have Tyler for support in their impending fight against Gideon, but they can rely on Duncan and a newly awakened Nina to have their back in the next chapter. Watch this space.
Locke and Key seasons 1-2 are available to stream on Netflix. Check out more of our Fantasy coverage or visit our TV Guide to see what's on tonight.
