Lockwood and Co - a review

Ever since Harry Potter took over the world by storm, there is a steady stream of young adult fantasy (and just YA stories in any genre, really) to read and/or watch. Some stay in school (like Wednesday or various vampire-based franchises, because apparently being a vampire is something you learn at school), some visit a postapocalyptic future like Hunger Games and its many, many predecessors did (and in doing so become science fiction, but the premise is still the same), some go to hidden worlds or even show us what the world could be if something happened differently.

Lockwood and Co belong to this latest category. The new Netflix show is based on the five-book series by Jonathan Stroud under the same name. (Personal note: while Lockwood and Co is indeed a great story, you should all check out Stroud's other YA fantasy book series, called Bartimaeus. It's about a wisecracking djinn and his uptight, though unbelievably young master in London where magicians rule everything. Incredibly well-written and all-around amazing book series.).

According to the story, on a perfectly average day, ghosts start to show up, without a sign, out of nowhere. They are invisible and deadly: a ghost encounter ends with the victim being catatonic if they were lucky, but death is much more common. Nobody knows where they come from and why then, nor what they want. They come at night, and nobody is safe.

The world is powerless against this new, unknown, terrifying threat. That is until they realise that, while adults are utterly useless against ghosts (they are, in general, in most of the young adult stories, otherwise they might not even be YA stories), children can see them. See them, or hear them, or sense them. Not all of them, but some have the Talent to do so, and this Talent will shortly change their lives and the world forever.

The world quickly and without much hesitation decides to throw the kids with Talent under the bus. They lower the minimum working age to 13 and arm the children with ghost-repelling tools, such as salt, and iron (in a form of a sword, because what can go wrong when you give a real sword to a 13-year-old, right?). Life expectancy: very low. Risk: death is almost certain. Craps are given by adults and by the world in general: zero.

At the start of Lockwood and Co, decades went by like this, with kids fighting and busting ghosts, either dying on the job or growing old enough to lose their Talent and with it, their usefulness to society. Antony Lockwood, already a burnt-out child prodigy at the age of 15, decides to start his own paranormal investigator agency, Lockwood and Co (even though Co only means his only friend, George, and a talking skull trapped in a jar). Lockwood is obsessed with success and wants to become the most famous "agent" in history. George, on the other hand, has a more noble goal: understanding the "Problem", and maybe even healing the world from it.

Lucy, already a cynic at 14, runs away from home and from her terrible old boss, and joins Lockwood and Co, mostly because she has no other prospects whatsoever. The three of them (and the skull) find themselves in a decades-old murder case right away, with very much alive murderers after them, who can't be repelled by a little magnesium bomb or a hint of salt (although, swords work on them just fine).

The tiny agency steps on several toes that belong to powerful and rich people, but they won't back away, not until they know the truth (or die trying to find it out).

Though this premise might sound childish, don't be fooled: the world of Lockwood and Co is dire, unforgiving and hard, and though the main characters are young, they think and act more maturely than many other, adult fantasy heroes. The show currently stands at 90% on Rotten Tomatoes, well deserved. It's thrilling, with great visuals, an engaging story, loveable characters and decent actors in every role. It has everything to become Netflix's next hit just to get cancelled with no reason.