How did Dodge get the anywhere key?
Locke & Key‘s Well Lady Mystery Is Even Twistier Than It Seems
Know how, when you were growing up, your parents always told you not to talk to strangers? After Locke & Key, let’s add an addendum to that: “Also, don’t talk to strange women you find in wells.” Clearly, Bode Locke (Jackson Robert Scott) never had that conversation growing up, which is why he starts talking to a mysterious woman trapped in the bottom of a well at his new house, aka Locke & Key’s «well lady.» While at first, she seems pretty harmless, the lady in the well turns out to be the biggest threat to all the Locke children — and to the titular keys.
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If you haven’t watched the first season of Netflix’s Locke & Key, it’s best to turn around now because it’s time to dive into the who, and the what, is behind the Well Lady, aka Dodge (Laysla De Oliveira).
Bode, the youngest of the Locke children, and the most curious, first meets the lady in the well when he hears mysterious whispering. It draws him to the well house on the Key House property, and upon sneaking inside he’s surprised to discover that there’s someone down in the well. If you were to stumble upon a woman seemingly trapped at the bottom of a well for an unknown period of time, hopefully, you’d go get help. Bode does not. Instead, he strikes up a cautious friendship with her and begins to learn about the keys that inhabit Key House.
Who Is The Well Lady?
At first, Well Lady is simply known as Well Lady, and then she comes to be known as Echo, and then finally Dodge. Dodge tries to instruct Bode to get some of the keys for her — in particular, she’s really focused on the Anywhere Key so she can leave the well house and go wherever she pleases. She knows Bode has it, and it takes a lot of arguing for her to finally reclaim it. Once she has it, Dodge is free to travel through doors and appear on the other side of any door she wishes (the Anywhere Key works like that: If you’ve seen a door before, you can travel there).
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Later, Dodge gets really hung up on trying to get the Head Key but we don’t know the reason behind until the very end of the season.
Who Is Dodge?
It’s hard to keep talking about Dodge without revealing who she really is and what she wants. In short, Dodge is actually a boy named Lucas (Felix Mallard), who is using one of the keys to switch his appearance from male to female. Additionally, Dodge/Lucas is dead. Yes, Lucas was killed after he was possessed by a demon after opening the Omega Door many years ago. Lucas went a little crazy, and after he killed two people in the basement of the Key House, Rendell Locke (Bill Heck) killed him.
You’d think that’d be the end of the Lucas story, but Lucas’ sweetheart at the time, Ellie (Sherri Saum), decides to bring him back to life. Using the Echo Key, she summons Lucas to the Well House. However, he can’t go anywhere since he doesn’t have the Anywhere Key. But, he does get his hands on the Mirror Key which alters his appearance, from Lucas to Dodge (Dodge was his nickname growing up).
What Happens To Dodge At The End Of Locke & Key?
Which brings us to the end of the season, where we think Dodge/Lucas has been defeated, but they have not been defeated. The Locke children seemingly throw Dodge through the Omega Door, but they actually throw Ellie who had the Mirror Key used on her, meaning she took on the appearance of Dodge.
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As for Dodge, they are still out there in the world. Not only are they still masquerading as Dodge (and Lucas), but they’ve since added Gabe (Griffin Gluck) to that lineup, too. The final moments of the season reveal that all along Dodge has also been Gabe, who is now Kinsey’s (Emilia Jones) semi-boyfriend. That means that Dodge/Lucas/Gabe has infiltrated basically every aspect of the Locke family and there’s no telling what they’re going to do next.
Locke & Key season 1, episode 7 recap: Dissection
In episode 7 of Locke & Key, a killer is on the loose, threatening the survival of the Locke family. It will take all four of them to ensure they see tomorrow.
Sam Lesser is back and he has a mission to complete, even if it means killing everyone in the Locke family. But how did he become this maniacal killer? And can the Lockes survive this new onslaught on this episode of Locke & Key?
The Making of a Murderer
Episode 7 of Locke & Key takes us into the mind of a killer—we finally learn why Sam Lesser murdered Rendell Locke that fateful day in Seattle.
Lesser wasn’t a happy teenager. He craved companionship and acceptance—so much so, that he often pushed the boundary of acceptable behavior in order to get a laugh from his fellow students.
One such incident—when Lesser got a bit carried away with a dissected pig—landed him in detention and in a series of meetings with the school counselor, Rendell Locke.
It is through these meetings that we learn that Lesser’s life at home was anything but wonderful—Lesser Sr was an abusive man. He controlled his children so strictly that they weren’t even allowed to eat or drink without permission. No wonder Lesser made that jibe about killing his father a few episodes ago. That guy was plain mean.
However, Lesser did have one shining light in his life—his new-found friendship with Tyler. Not only was Tyler providing the companionship that Lesser desperately needed, but he also gave Lesser an excuse to stay out of the house. Plus, the fact that Lesser actually had a friend seem to bother Lesser Sr, so that was another victory for the teen.
And They All Fall Down
But we know things go sour for Lesser eventually. And Dodge is unsurprisingly at the center of it all.
During his first meeting with Rendell, Lesser hears a voice calling to him—it’s Dodge, though nobody can see her yet. The voice is coming from a sketch of Key House that Rendell keeps in his office. This is clearly an ability Dodge has—manipulating images of the well-house to appear to children. She’s done it to Bode before and he at least knew about magic.
The unsuspecting Lesser is wholly unprepared for Dodge’s power. Several sessions with Rendell later, he is left alone in the office for a short period of time—and Dodge takes the opportunity to get under Lesser’s skin.
She tells Lesser to look at Rendell’s file on him—Rendell has been positive about Lesser’s growth and encouraging of his changing attitudes in school. The file shares a different story—Rendell thinks Lesser has Borderline Personality Disorder, and Tyler’s feedback is that Lesser is still lonely and strange despite their friendship.
Lesser is heartbroken—not only has his counselor been lying to him, but the only friend he has had was actually sent to spy on him. Dodge, on the other hand, promises that she cares about him and the desperate Lesser believes her, leading to him murdering Rendell, breaking out of prison, and heading to Key House to complete Dodge’s mission.
Fright Night at Key House
Present day: Lesser breaks into Key House but cuts himself on the broken window. He uses kitchen towels to stem the blood flow—he doesn’t need the distraction because he has a job to do.
Interestingly, despite Nina being on her own upstairs, Lesser does nothing to her—he bypasses her room and heads straight to Tyler’s, where he puts on Tyler’s clothes. Clearly someone isn’t over his supposed friendship with Tyler.
In the constantly creaking house, Nina ignores most of the noises she hears, but the sound of a door creaking open and then closing is definitely a reason to investigate. Nina expects her children but what she finds is her husband’s murderer.
Kinsey and Bode are downstairs unpacking boxes—Kinsey finds a beloved stuffed whale, Sally, but the excitement of her discovery is ruined by the signs of the break-in. Kinsey and Bode can’t go up against an intruder, but Bode has a plan—he uses the Ghost Key to see what is happening.
This is the first time Kinsey has seen the Ghost Key in action and she finds the experience unsettling. But Bode has given her strict instructions—watch over his body, and ensure the Ghost Door doesn’t close or it will leave Bode dead for good.
As a ghost, Bode manages to see that it is Lesser who has broken into their home and that he wants the Head Key. Armed with this information, Kinsey makes a quick decision—she hides the key inside Sally and goes to confront Lesser. It leads to all three Lockes being tied up and terrorized.
Tyler to the Rescue
Tyler is enjoying his time with Dodge, who is being positively civil, and even understanding when Tyler asks to go home. But just as they are about to leave, Tyler finds the Anywhere Key—he realizes that he has been enjoying a dalliance with the well-lady and he is terrified.
Fortunately, with the Anywhere Key in his grasp, Tyler can safely go home. Of course, home is where Lesser is terrorizing the Lockes, so Tyler tries to rescue them. He does an admirable job, but it isn’t good enough. He ends up captured, as well, and Kinsey and Bode are forced to take Lesser to the Head Key—but not before Kinsey drops a clue to Tyler about its actual location.
Kinsey fools Lesser, taking him to the spot where she had buried her fear. Though the knife she had buried isn’t useful, her Fear rises from the grave and viciously attacks Lesser, giving Kinsey and Bode time to escape.
But Lesser also manages to get free and heads back to Key House where he tries to fight Nina. By this time, Tyler has found the Head Key and, while Lesser is concentrating on fighting Nina, Tyler uses the key on Lesser.
The version of Lesser inside the teen’s head is vastly different from the cold and cruel person brandishing a gun. He begs Tyler for forgiveness for killing Rendell, professes that he thought of Tyler as his closest friend and that he has to do what Dodge asks of him because she is the only one who actually cares about him.
Speaking of the devil, Dodge shows up at Key House and demands the Head Key, as well as any others Lesser may have. Turns out, she can’t take the keys from the Locke family, but she can take it from anyone else. Which makes Lesser expendable—it isn’t surprising that Dodge stabs Lesser in the chest. All the keys thus uncovered now belong to Dodge.
A Pyrrhic Victory
Lesser’s goal to get the Head Key may have been a success, but the cost was catastrophic. Not only did Dodge easily take the keys from him, but she stabbed him (literally and figuratively) for good measure. She really is a villain here.
As the police arrive, Lesser, with a new hole in his ribs and crushed by disappointment at Dodge’s rejection of him, heads to the nearest door—and becomes a ghost as he walks through it. Looks like Bode left the Ghost Key in there.
The police eventually enter the house and see Lesser’s cold body in front of a door. They can’t see Lesser’s ghost, so they close the Ghost door, effectively sealing Lesser’s fate and dooming him to a life flying over Key House.
As the nightmare finally comes to an end, an exhausted Nina pauses before heading to bed and opens up a bottle of alcohol. She has been sober for years but the stress of the night has pushed her over the edge. Can she find her way back from this?
Final Thoughts
The change in point of view worked incredibly well in this episode of Locke & Key. Lesser is a fascinating villain, albeit one who is very much under the spell of Dodge.
This episode was well-paced, and the tension was excellently ramped up—if this is a sign of things to come in the final few episodes of the show, there is plenty of reason to be excited for more.
What did you think of this episode of Locke & Key? Be sure to tell us in the comment section below!
Locke & Key | Key Guide
You’ve left the land of the living to find out about all of the keys and their uses in Netflix’s Locke & Key, so prepare to be spooked!
10/03/2020
The Matchstick Key
From the get go, this key is probably one of the most dangerous keys on the show. The first scene of episode one shows a man roughly in his forties take the key and commit suicide. It sets his house alight with a simple touch, before he uses it to stab himself in the chest.
The Anywhere Key
Fancy a free trip to Disney World? All you need is the Anywhere Key. It will take you wherever you want to go, as long as you can visualise the door you want to pass through. When Dodge acquires this key, she uses it to steal and plot. Not exactly what we’d use it for, but each to their own.
The Mirror Key
One of the more twisted keys from the show is the Mirror Key. Anyone who dares to enter will be trapped in a prison of oneself. Dodge notes earlier in the season that those who enter find it very difficult to get out, and in a scene where Tyler is trapped in the mirror, he catches a glimpse of a skeletal corpse, likely the corpse of a past member of the Locke family.
The Echo Key
Ellie Whedon possesses the Echo Key, and she uses it to resurrect her high school sweetheart. However it is later revealed that anyone who is brought to life with the Echo Key is simply a copy of that person, not exactly the person themselves.
The Identity Key
The Identity Key comes in handy for Dodge this season — it’s a key that allows you to transform into any person you want. We’re still hazy about the mechanics of this key, for example would one be able to transfer into any living thing? Either way, this is definitely one of the more advantageous keys to possess.
The Music Box Key
More of a reference to traditional magic and Voodoo, this key allows the keeper of the music box to insert the key and manipulate the actions of another. When Kinsey, Scot and Gabe exact their revenge on mean girl Eden, they use the Music Box and key to puppeteer her into making a complete fool of herself.
The Ghost Key
The Ghost Key is probably more dangerous than the rest in terms of life and death, because this key can only be used on one door in Keyhouse. When Bode first discovered the key, he was shocked when he left through the door and his body died. On the other side of the door, he floated above it like a ghost. In his out-of-body experience he discovered that the door must be kept open, because if it is closed, the ghost will never be able to return to its body.
The Head Key
The disturbing thing about the Head Key is the fact that anyone can enter and violate your mind in a number of ways. For example, when the key is inserted into the back of your head, your body lays dormant, and another version of you appears usually by a door. When opened you’ll be able to look inside your mind, remove things and add things with ease. Want to pass your history exam tomorrow? Throw a couple of Horrible History books in your mind. Yep, that should do the trick.
The Tree Key
With the ability to manipulate any plant on earth, it still baffles us that Rendall and his friends used this key to hide his younger brother Duncan’s memories. We’d probably use it to create an award winning garden for the Chelsea Flower Show
The Mending Key
For all the times you’ve smashed your mum’s favourite china, just pop it in the Mending Cupboard and lock it with the Mending Key. When the cupboard has done its job, the china will be like new again! Note: the key only works with the cupboard.
The Shadow Key
One of the darker keys on the show, the Shadow Key, must be used alongside the Crown that Ellie takes from Keyhouse during the series. When the key is inserted into the crown, the inhabitant wearing it is able to control the shadow creatures that come with it. They can also control the shadows of other people, but they cannot attack in direct light, so make sure you keep all your lights on when they’re around!
The Omega Key
The Omega Key is the ultimate grey area of the show, and it is probably the most desirable key to have. Dodge is fixated on getting hold of the key, however it is not clear why. In the sea caves, Kinsey discovers a door in the shape of the Greek Omega symbol, and it is glowing blue. When opened, there seems to be a portal into a different dimension, where glowing lights jut out and possess people. It’s the reason Lucas is possessed by the demon Dodge.
Use the Anywhere Key below to find out more about Netflix’s Locke & Key!