Season 1 Episode 2
In the previous recap, I alluded to the barrier between the Locke kids and everyone else. Now, the barrier was between themselves. Tyler was too busy hanging with his cool friends to help the clearly struggling Kinsey. Kinsey, ignored by her brother, found new friends in the Savini Squad. Bode has so far kept the existence of the echo lady to herself.
Bode's case was the most frustrating one, because those keys and the echo lady were clearly dangerous. Yet I remember being the youngest kid, too, and feeling that I could not talk to those older than me, so I am inclined to give Bode a bit of a pass. I almost revoked that pass with that iron trap Rufus gave him, though. That was tremendously dangerous and, speaking as a former babysitter, a huge mark against Nina's babysitting skills.
Bode got his hands on some old keys from the hardware shop owner. After he had the trap covered, he placed one of the old keys on top of it. When the echo lady waltzed into his bedroom, her eyes immediately went to the key she assumed Bode found. Unfortunately, the trap only worked on the large stuffed toy she carried. That Bode tried to fight back only served to wake her anger. This lady who placed her hand on young Bode's throat was the same lady who strangled a guy she was in bed with earlier.
In a montage that both showed how the anywhere key could be used and how dangerous the echo lady was, we were shown how she went from a diner (where she had a huge appetite), to a clothing store, to a jewellery shop, to a club, to a bedroom with the guy she killed with her bare hand. This lady who could walk into any door she wanted was also casually violent; this is who young Bode was up against.
Thankfully, Bode was able to keep the existence of the third key he found, the head key, from the echo lady. Fully aware that a similar key almost trapped his mother inside a mirror, Bode used the key on himself. With the key inserted at the back of his neck, another Bode appeared, along with a chest with his name on it. When Tyler and Kinsey walked into his room and found unmoving Bode with a key inserted into him, fully conscious Bode showed them what he found.
Though the friendship the Savini Squad (specifically, Scot) offered must have been a welcome one, Kinsey's trauma once again awakened whilst hanging out with him. They were shooting a short film that Scot wrote. When Eden backed out from the lead role, Kinsey took over. As soon as the special effects blood spurted out, Kinsey's mind went back to the most traumatic day of her life. She sat there frozen, unable to scream as required in the scene. Later at home, she broke down crying as she recalled her father giving her the bracelet which they later found out contained the anywhere key.
Via a flashback, we also learned that Rendell told Tyler to befriend Sam, the guy who later shot him. Rendell, a Guidance Counselor at the school, thought that Tyler could use some of his social capital as a popular kid to help out Sam, and did not give Tyler a choice on the matter. Tyler has so far pushed down his trauma and focused his attention on hanging out with Javi and Brinker.
Nina may be struggling with her own grief and trauma, too, but she was slowly figuring out that her husband kept secrets from her. She met Joe Ridgeway, a teacher at the academy who also taught Rendell and his friends. Rendell always told Nina that he was a loner as a kid, but Joe told her that Rendell had a tight group of friends. Nina also met Ellie Whedon, the mother of Rufus, who worked on the grounds of Key House. Ellie was a part time Physical Education teacher and was part of Rendell's high school cliche. It was Ellie who told Nina that in their senior year, three of their friends died in the sea cave that was part of the Locke property. Ellie also identified one of the people in the old photo Nina found; it was Lucas, Ellie's high school boyfriend and Rendell's best friend at that time.
I watched this episode whilst I was dealing with real life things, so I'm not entirely certain if it moved slowly, or if it felt that way because I had to pause several times to attend to the many that distracted me. In any case, I still like that the show kept the focus on the grief and trauma the whole family was going through. Whatever heaviness may have been in this episode was warranted by the weight the characters carried. On to the next!
Strays
🗝I thought we might keep a list here of the keys so far, where they were found, and their status by the end of the episode.
🗝🗝🗝Anywhere key - on the bracelet Rendell gave to Kinsey. Currently with echo lady.
🗝🗝🗝Mirror key - in the drainage of the sink. With Tyler.
🗝🗝🗝 Head key - inside the vacuum cleaner. With Bode.
🗝 Bode's simple explanation to Nina's magic amnesia was because she was a grownup. 'Only kids can get into Narnia.' I bought that explanation more than Kinsey.
🗝 When asked where the anywhere key was, Bode told Kinsey and Tyler that he lost it.
🗝 Javi told this story about a lady who went into Key House, then left mad. She was now in an institution.
🗝 Logan keyed Javi's car after he parked in the disabled parking space. Later, after Javi and Brinker tried to teach Tyler how to steal beer from a store, Logan saved him from getting arrested (Logan claimed Tyler was only holding the beer for him). Logan is a far better hang than Javi and Brinker, Tyler.
🗝 The girl Tyler was chatting up at the party was not happy that Tyler allowed his friends to think he and Eden slept together.
🗝 Whilst Bode was trying to figure out how the head key worked, he found a door knob in the house that had a skull on it.
🗝 Scot: 'See, even my pronunciation feels repressed.' Scot's whole scene with Kinsey during lunch, and how kindly he reacted after Kinsey froze whilst filming, made Scot one of my favourite people in this show.
🗝 Through a flashback, we saw that during the attack, Nina managed to grab a hammer and hit Sam before he found Kinsey.
🗝 At the Savini Squad shoot, Kinsey met Gabe, who was also new to town and who played the lobster monster.
🗝 Nina found it strange that Duncan did not remember the drowning that happened when he and Rendell were kids. Duncan said that he did not remember a lot about that time period.
Director: Michael Morris
Writer Liz Phang
Original release date: February 7, 2020