Three episodes in and I'm already seriously annoyed by the characters' irrational choices and unrealistic behavior. Keeping secrets or lying for no good reason, promising one thing and doing another, etc. And they keep doing it over and over. And I'm not even mentioning their almost casual reaction to [spoiler]discovering a magic mirror that serves as a gateway to another realm. After such an experience any real person would start to seriously question their f****ng sanity or at least have a panic fit and leave that house to never come back again. I know I would. But no, these kids are like: "Wow, magic door. I guess that's nothing to be seriously alarmed about." Even after losing their father in a horrific and traumatic event it doesn't seem to bother these kids at all that they just almost lost their mother too inside this magic mirror maze.[/spoiler] And these are just a few examples on the top my head. There's much more where that came from.

It's like watching an '80 horror movie where someone in an already dire situation hears a scary noise and decides to go towards it instead of running to safety. And sure, that was okay then. Maybe fun even. But today, these 30-40 old "proven devices" have become just that: old. Really old, both literally and figuratively. But apparently 30-40 years was not enough time for these writers to come up with something different or original.

It's a shame really, because I think the story overall is quite interesting. But it is starting to become almost unbearable to watch when the only reason the characters behave the way they do is because it's the easiest way to move the plot into a certain direction. It's lazy writing like this that makes characters unbelievable and unrelateble.

Season one, despite the subpar acting and oftentimes horrendous writing, is worth a watch for the unique premise and interesting ideas presented. Just beware that you might find yourself shouting at your TV screen as you watch a character make a really dumb decision for the fifth time in one episode. 6/10 for uniqueness and being an entertaining watch despite its issues.

Season two is not worth watching at all. 3.5/10 - the keys become nothing more than a gimmick and never reach the same level of intrigue as the first season. It also feels like barely anything happens by the end of the season. The writing is even worse than the first season, and characters make even more dumb decisions.

I regret tuning in for season 3. Somehow it was even worse than season 2. Totally doubled down yet again on all the bad decisions made by the writers for the previous seasons. Add to that the addition of an awful new dull villain and you have the worst season of TV I've seen all year. 2.5/10.

Overall - 4/10. Season one is worth tuning in for, just to see some of the interesting ideas on display. But don't do yourself the disservice of continuing after that point - it really does go downhill big time.

Locke and Key is a bumpy road of merging directions and fails to ever have a moderately consistent tone. Some great episodes mixed in with utter rubbish; lots of filler episodes that read like a cringe-fest teen drama. (aka a typical netflix series).

Is it a spooky horror show, is it a melodramatic glee reject, is it a suspenseful thriller, is it a boring soap opera complete ominous overly dramatic piano tones?

Yes and yes and more yes, pending which season/episode you watch.

By season 3 they verve off road after episode 1; first some side character marriage becomes center (no background or any meaning to story, the extra character and marriage just "magically" appears). Just political messaging, fast forward. Character disappears just as quickly (thank-you for wasting my time).

Next couple episodes are bunch of drama and whining; the 5-10 mins the main protagonist gets is the only good parts.

About midway through season they start to get back on track to actual story as the protagonist picks up the pieces and re-introduces thriller/horror concepts.

If you don't mind wearing out your fast forward button; worth watching.