Summary
Locke & Key Season 1, Episode 8, “Ray of F**king Sunshine” offers some twists but most of the scenes land with zero impact.
This recap of Netflix Series Locke & Key Season 1, Episode 8, “Ray of F**king Sunshine” contains significant spoilers.
- Read the Season 1 review.
- Read the recap of Episode 9.
- Read the recap of the previous episode (7).
- Access the archive of all the episode recaps.
Episode 8, “Ray of F**king Sunshine” is another non-episode until the end. It gives us crumbs like the other previous chapters but nothing hard-hitting. The main issue with Locke & Key Season 1 is that there are way too many filler scenes with little dramatic performances.
Episode 8 opens up with Rufus asking Ellie “How much longer is he going to stay here?” A teenage boy comes downstairs — it is Lucas. Ellie asks if he was involved in the attack on the Matheson house.
Back at the Matheson house and Kinsey and Tyler notice that Nina has forgotten recent events and is acting weird again. She believes Tyler stabbed Sam in self-defense. Tyler tells Kinsey that Nina is drinking again. All of a sudden, Nina randomly remembers being trapped in the mirror room and breaks the mug Rendell bought her.
Lucas introduces himself to Bode which makes Rufus nervous — Ellis is also irked by Lucas introducing himself. Back at the Matheson house, Nina finds her mug completely fixed when she takes it out of a cabinet and tells Kinsey. Nina puts more broken stuff in the cabinet and notices it continues to fix items. Nina also discusses how a mirror starting enticing her. Tyler believes Nina can suddenly remember magic moments because of the drinking. If she keeps drinking she will remember — they lose her either way.
The entire story of Nina’s sobriety linked to memories of magic is somewhat strange and fractured.
Dodge visits Miss Erin in the psychiatric ward and tells her she has a gift but she can provide the key component. Dodge praises her own pun, which wasn’t even clever. Dodge wants the Omega Key.
At the midway point of Locke & Key Episode 8, Kinsey and Tyler find the door in the sea cave. They find scrawlings in the cave that says “Keeper of the Keys” which has a list of Rendell and all his friends. They also find the name Erin Voss and Kinsey reveals that she is in a psychiatric ward. Tyler thinks Erin holds the memory to unlock the door.
Dodge uses the Head Key on Erin and enters her head — the other version of Erin did not show up. Dodge finds a memory of Erin and Rendell hiding the key. A young Erin shows up, trapped in Erin’s own head. But Dodge leaves Erin’s head knowing where the Omega key is.
Dodge leaves with the Anywhere Key as Kinsey enters Erin’s room — it was a timely crossover. Kinsey introduces herself to Miss Erin. She manages to strain to say “Dodge” and when Kinsey points to Lucas on a photo, Ein suggests Lucas is Dodge.
And here is the twist — Dodge uses the transformation key to turn back into Lucas. Didn’t Tyler sleep with Dodge? Awkward.
As we near the end, Nina’s breakdown comes into full effect. She puts Rendell’s urn into the cabinet in the hope that it would bring Rendell back to life. She mistakes Tyler for Rendell and smashes the urn. Nina lays on her bed and is all apologetic. Kinsey is understanding and her mother states she wants to understand the magic. Nina blames herself for Sam, but Kinsey reassures her and tells her mother to stop drinking — “We need you”.
Locke & Key Season 1, Episode 8, “Ray of F**king Sunshine” ends with Lucas telling Ellie that he visited Erin and tells her he knows where the Omega key is; Rendell hid it inside his own head. Meanwhile, Tyler finds the Omega key in his father’s ashes.
Additional Notes:
- Detective Daniel comes over to check up on Nina. He offers support and realizes she is drinking.
- Jackie and Gabe come over to provide comfort food. Tyler apologizes to Jackie for hurting her.
- Kinsey tells Gabe that the reason for Sam’s attack is because they are a family that holds the keys.
- Scot visits Kinsey. He says he is no longer mad. She doesn’t get the chance to tell him about Gabe. Gabe comes down the stairs and Scot departs.
- Kinsey feels guilty for nearly killing the Savinis in the sea cave. She believes getting rid of her fear hasn’t worked. Tyler dismisses that idea.
- When Ellie and Rufus come over to see Nina, Ellie and Nina apologize to each other. Kinsey asks Ellie if a tall attractive woman has visited her. Ellie claims no-one has visited her
