I was liking this show, as teen shows go it was pretty good. But the last two episodes were lazy writing.
The entire ending relied on the characters making deliberately dumb choices: (1) Letting Ellie take the shadow key to get the shadow crown instead of just keeping it until she brought the crown to them and (2) Opening up the portal to get rid of Dodge when they knew that Dodge's whole goal was to open the portal. Why not trap her in the mirror prison, force her into the astral plane like the kid, or lock her in her own head like what happened to the woman in the wheelchair?
And then they did that cop-out where they make a character unable to communicate (in this case unconscious) just to keep everybody from discovering the evil plan — a plan which depended on a ton of coincidences which no one could have foreseen. The writers just reverse engineered the last two episodes from the ending they wanted to achieve and it felt extremely contrived.
Can't find a movie or TV show? Login to create it.
Want to rate or add this item to a list?
Not a member?
Reply by militades
on March 5, 2020 at 5:00 AM
It started to go downhill much earlier ... Kiddo: "The evil Well-Lady is back" krickets ... Please, noone bother ask how she looks, that would kill our Plot!
Reply by AnAwe
on August 14, 2020 at 7:13 PM
Exaclty! It was clever and had nice twists, but halfway through it got stupid and predictable. Was hoping its more adult but turned out that the target audience is teenagers
Reply by write2topcat
on January 30, 2021 at 9:06 AM
I've just watched three episodes so far. There is a definite teen flavor to the show. But the novelty of the magic key angle is interesting enough at this point I am thinking about continuing watching the show.
But I am not sure if I should invest more time in it if it is going to drift more toward the teenie stuff, and if the writers dropped the ball later on.
I watch these shows at the same time as a friend halfway around the world and then we discuss them. Neither of us really like the teenager shows, but we like fantasy stuff sometimes. This one is a toss up.
Reply by write2topcat
on January 31, 2021 at 12:37 AM
I just got to that point at the end of episode 9 in season one. I could see that coming before Ellie left the room where she was talking to the Locke kids and took the key to the crown with her.
Bode
Ellie
Bode
Tyler
Bode
Kinsey
Bode
Tyler
Bode
Tyler
Bode
Kinsey
Bode
Ellie
Bode
Ellie, Kinsey, and Tyler all look at each other with knowing smiles and slight eye rolls and laugh a little, recalling how dumb they were as children.
Ellie goes home, Dodge becomes king of the shadows, and the Locke kids wait patiently at home pretending everything is fine.
And on it goes
Bode
Tyler
Bode
Tyler
Bode
Kinsey
Bode
Tyler
OK, I have not seen that, but I expect it is going to happen.
I'm not sure if I can stand to watch the rest of it, but given how little else there is at the moment of interest to me and how much time I have invested already, I might torture myself to keep watching.
But I don't know. I like to make fun of the stupid stuff they do, but when they are constantly making dumb decisions to create more and more problems, it gets so tedious and predictalbe. It's not fun to watch.
Reply by perelachaise
on October 30, 2021 at 5:18 PM
2nd season update: more of the same, only worse. Gets dumber and shoves cheaper YA melodrama by the episode.
special mention to the [SPOILER] zombie key when Gabe doesn't turn any person he comes across into one of his minions.
having loved the comics and the concept of magical keys (despite its coming-of-age vibe), to me the only redeeming thing is that they didn't copy-paste its plot and tried to explore other avenues with it.
Reply by Ask Me Anything
on July 15, 2023 at 12:12 AM
Finally got around to watching the first season of this show which was a bit of a slog. I can't stand the teen angst stuff so I just fast forwarded through anything not directly featuring the keys or the main plot.
As mentioned, this show has an interesting plot but very dumb characters. Granted they are kids but that isn't any excuse as to why they do such stupid things. And the lady who plays the main villain is a pretty hammy actress, I wish they had cast someone better. Also I could tell without having to look it up that this was a Canadian production, it's like a 200% Canadian vibe. Not that there's anything wrong with that, just that they pitch this as taking place in the US when practically EVERYONE gives off Canadian vibes.
Instead of watching the other seasons I think I'll settle for a recap video on youtube, it's really not worth the time investment to sit through.