Small World

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This article contains plot details about an upcoming work, story, or episode. If you haven't seen it yet and you don't want to know anything, stop reading now.

This article is about the episode from the Netflix adaptation. You may be looking for the issue from the graphic novels.

Small World
Season	2
Number	3
Air date	October 22, 2021
Director	Mairzee Almas
Writers	Mackenzie Dohr
Chronology
← Previous	The Head and the Heart
Next →	Forget Me Not

Small World is the third episode of the second season of Locke & Key. It aired on October 22, 2021.

Summary

Amid Duncan's unease over a new houseguest, Gabe tries to drive a wedge between Kinsey and Scot, Bode finds an unusual key, and Nina bonds with Josh.

Plot

The episode opens by showing how Erin Voss became catatonic: twenty-three years before the series' events, after the Lockes had vacated Keyhouse, a young Erin snuck back inside, found the Head Key, and entered her own head for reasons unknown. A concerned housekeeper chanced upon her and accidentally jostled the key out of her neck, trapping her in her vegetative state.

In the present day, a fully recovered Erin moves in with the Lockes until she can access her trust fund. She demands the magic keys from the children, warning them that their power is seductive, and intending to destroy them. However, Tyler and Kinsey Locke insist on keeping the keys. Later, Erin finds Rendell Locke's old fishing hat, and she and Tyler reminisce about the man having stuck a fishing lure on it "in case of emergency". When Tyler asks her how she can remember magic as an adult, Erin reveals that her friends made a key to help them do so, but she is ignorant as to its whereabouts, and regrets having used it.

Bode Locke finds another key whispering to him: a relatively small one with a symbol of Keyhouse's facade on its head. At his playdate with Jamie Bennett, he discovers that the key fits into her father's scale model of Keyhouse. The model is revealed to be a dollhouse that, with the key inserted, shows the current state of the actual house, complete with moving miniature family members. Bode accidentally breaks the bed in his room and is forced to leave the key in Jamie's care when Josh Bennett walks in. Nina Locke refuses to take the dollhouse with her when Josh offers it, but schedules a date with him in the near future. Finding his bed broken in his room, Bode realizes that interactions with the dollhouse while the key is inserted carry over into the actual house. Inserting foreign objects into the dollhouse also causes them to appear in Keyhouse in an enlarged form.

Meanwhile, Gabe takes a break from forging his new key to improve his relationship with his girlfriend, and Eden Hawkins accuses him of developing true feelings for Kinsey. Meeting with the Savini Squad, he tries to throw Kinsey's feelings for Scot Cavendish into disarray by suggesting that Scot will forget his American friends once he goes back to England. Once Gabe is preoccupied, Kinsey discovers Scot is having trouble scripting the sequel to The Splattering. She assures him that doubts are normal for artists, and offers to help him with the script. Gabe walks in on them working closely, and, upon returning to their cabin, entrusts the Anywhere Key to Eden, sending her to Keyhouse to help his cause.

The next day, Gabe sparks an argument over who will fill in for Scot once he leaves, and calls him selfish for not wanting to hand off the role of director. Eden surreptitiously uses the music box she stole from Keyhouse to coerce Scot into assaulting Gabe, and Josh hauls Scot away. Kinsey suspects the use of the Music Key to influence Scot's actions, and calls her uncle to confirm that the music box is in her room. Eden successfully returns the music box, but loses the Anywhere Key to Duncan in the process. Kinsey admits that Scot was being selfish and stubborn, and her and Gabe's relationship is repaired.

During Nina and Josh's date, the two bond over their grief for their lost loved ones, and they share a kiss before parting ways. At the same time, a house spider finds its way into the dollhouse in Josh's apartment while its key is still inserted, translating to a giant spider terrorizing Tyler, Bode, Erin, and Duncan in Keyhouse. Jamie kills and removes the spider from the dollhouse, and Duncan promptly forgets the incident.

At the same time, Gabe acts on Chamberlin Locke's advice and uses his last piece of Whispering Iron, only to discover the ghost was lying to him.

Throughout Erin's stay, she and Duncan share awkward conversations owing to the fact that Duncan is missing his magic-related memories. The tension created by this discrepancy comes to a head when Duncan lashes out at Erin as she tries to explain the mess in the house. Intent on helping Duncan, Erin reveals to Tyler and Kinsey the fact that remnants of demons can be forged into keys. Duncan was the one who made the key that preserves magic-related memories in adulthood, shortly before his own memories were removed by the Keepers of the Keys. Erin insists that restoring Duncan's memories will help him, and the episode ends with Tyler and Kinsey using the Head Key to do so.

Cast

Starring Jackson Robert Scott as Bode Locke Connor Jessup as Tyler Locke Emilia Jones as Kinsey Locke Darby Stanchfield as Nina Locke Griffin Gluck as Dodge/Gabe Petrice Jones as Scot Cavendish Hallea Jones as Eden Hawkins Brendan Hines as Josh Bennett Aaron Ashmore as Duncan Locke Guest Starring Jesse Camacho as Doug Brazelle Asha Bromfield as Zadie Wells

Co-Starring Leishe Meyboom as Abby Liyou Abere as Jamie Bennett Joy Tanner as Erin Voss Nicole James as Young Erin Voss Nicole Stamp as Nurse Ruth Marium Carvell as Candice Whedon

Trivia

For allusions made in this episode, click here.

• The title of this episode references the issue, Locke & Key: Small World, from the graphic novels' Golden Age arc.
  • Additionally, the way in which Jamie kills the spider is the same as what Mary Locke did to Haacker using the Small World Key in Locke & Key: ...In Pale Battalions Go... #3.
• It is revealed that Dodge had stolen the Music Box Key some time before this episode.
• Erin Voss reveals that the Keepers of the Keys were able to keep their memories of the magic thanks to the Memory Key, which was crafted by Duncan before they removed his memories of the magic.
• The metal the keys are made of, first identified in Trapper/Keeper, are revealed to be the remains of demons that failed to possess a host.
• Duncan's memories are returned to him by Tyler using the Head Key.
• The events behind Erin getting trapped in her own head twenty-three years ago are revealed.
  • Executive producer and show runner, Meredith Averill, revealed in a tweet that the caretaker who found Erin is Candice Whedon. Candice accidentally vacuumed up the Head Key, which is why Bode first discovers it inside a vacuum cleaner in Trapper/Keeper.