Netflix’s Lockwood and Co. shows off a quietly messed-up London

Generally speaking, when I watch a television show, I tend to assume it’s set in something close to the real world until I’m told otherwise. This happens quite quickly. For example, I don’t think there is any mistaking what it means. CordycepsBoston The ridden Last of UsThe real deal. While some may not agree with this assertion, Boston can be described as “Like That.” But what’s Really fun is when a show mostly looks like it’s set in a world like ours, and then slowly reveals that it’s actually messed up as hell.

Lockwood & Co., Netflix’s new supernatural teen drama, knocks this particularly sly style of world-building out of the park. This drama takes place in London. It looks quite ordinary for a while but slowly builds clues that prove it isn’t.

Created and maintained by Attack the BlockJoe Cornish was the director Lockwood & Co. It’s a television series that focuses on teen ghost hunters. Initially, I believed this to be the only divergence between its London and the real one (though honestly, who’s to say that actual London isn’t full of specters? The whole country has skeletons in its closets. Its premiere episode, however, introduces you the to Lucy Carlyle (Ruby Stokes), and the events that led up to her. amissSilently, they pile up in background.

Here are a few, in no particular order: Lucy’s partner, Anthony Lockwood (Cameron Chapman), says something to a concerned client about child labor laws as they prepare for a ghost hunt; the city itself, while mostly familiar, is peppered with odd details here and there, like strange lampposts that seem to serve a safety purpose or posters about wealthy, famous people who founded “agencies”; and, most hilariously, in the second episode, the particulars of ghost hunter insurance plunge Lucy and Lockwood into tremendous debt.

Photo: Parisa Taghizadeh/Netflix

The viewer is shown this as the main way to learn that London was subject to a supernatural phenomenon known, in British parlance, The Problem. No one explains what The Problem is, not at first, and they don’t need to — it’s enough to know that something happened to make the world this way, and that it happened long enough ago to have a measurable impact on society. Child labor laws are different, presumably because kids can see and hunt ghosts in ways adults can’t. Perhaps because the ghost problem has not been fully controlled, a curfew was put in place. The formalization of a way to fight these ghosts was made possible by ghost hunting agencies. These are highly skilled businesses that cater to youths who have supernatural sensibility.

And in other words: Lockwood & Co.It almost totally eliminates exposition. It doesn’t even give any information about the characters who must fight ghosts. These methods are pretty cool. Iron, salt, and silver are the key ingredients to warding off these ghastly creatures, which is consistent with supernatural fiction. This generally means that each character has a silver sword rapier. Swashbuckling teen ghost hunters? This is very cool.

All of these things make it possible to Lockwood & Co.It is a rare thing. The streaming age, with its ability to stream entire seasons simultaneously, allows fantasy and science-fiction showrunners to build complex and imaginative worlds. However, there is the danger of lore-dumping and prioritizing character over world-building. Lockwood & Co. is a reminder that things don’t have to be this way. The audience can join you in the fun and help to build the world. You might have even more fun helping them.

Lockwood & Co.Netflix is streaming this video right now