Lockwood & Co. — Season 1 Episode 8 Recap, Review & Ending Explained

The Person Behind It All

Lucy and Lockwood get out of a cab near their house as Lockwood & Co episode 8 begins. Lockwood begs Lucy to say something to him, anything. He says everything is fine now, with the mirror on its way to DEPRAC. They won the challenge. But Lucy is furious about his recklessness and how it put them in danger. She says every relic man in the city is out to get them and she doesn’t feel like she won.

Inside, Lucy dries off and looks at the necklace he gave her. As she cooks in the kitchen, Lockwood enters and apologises, admitting that he was wrong. He asks her to not give up on them and on him. He says that at one point being at the bottom of the Thames did feel more appealing to him but not anymore. Lucy forgives him.

They eat and discuss Mary Dulac’s book of confessions. They find that she was the one who killed Bickerstaff because he forced her to look into the glass. She doesn’t call it a mirror but a window. A drawing of the mirror shows spirals in the glass. When they look at the thinking cloth on their dining table, they see George’s spirals all over it.

Meanwhile, George goes to the cemetery and meets Pamela Joplin. She tells him that while Lockwood and Lucy do the cool stuff, it’s George who will go down in history. She goes on about how the bone glass can teach them so much about the Problem. Unbeknownst to them, Quill Kipps follows them inside the chapel.

What does the skull tell them?

Lucy orders the skull to tell them what it knows. It refers to George’s ‘other friend’, who they realise must be Joplin. The skull agrees to tell them where they are if they agree to carry it along. They find only one box of salt bombs in the storage but decide to go after George anyway.

In the cab to the cemetery, they discuss how Joplin butted into their investigation from the very beginning. She must have hired Jack Carver to steal the bone glass and then killed him when he gave it to Winkman instead. Lucy laments about how they were too wrapped up in their own problems to notice something was wrong with George and has been for a while.

George and Joplin walk through the catacombs. When they hear a noise, George goes to check it out and finds Quill Kipps struggling to deal with a ghost. George saves him and realises he’s losing his Talent. Joplin holds Kipps at knifepoint and puts his hands in handcuffs.

Lucy and Lockwood reach the cemetery with the skull in tow. It tells Lucy it can feel its master close by. It also says that Joplin is fully under the influence of the bone glass. Lucy makes Lockwood promise not to look in the mirror. He agrees. They kick the doors of the chapel in. The door to the catacombs is locked from the inside but they realise that the catafalque is their way down. Before they can find the lever, Kat, Bobby and Ned from Kipps’ team turn up. They say that Kipps called for help but they can’t find him now.

What does Lucy find in the catacombs?

Kat notices Winkman and his people coming towards the chapel. Lockwood says he’ll go down to the catacombs while the rest fight Winkman. Lucy says she should go instead since she has a secret weapon. Lockwood and the others get ready to fight off the relic men.

Lucy finds the lever to the catafalque and goes down into the catacombs. She follows the sound of the bone glass. The skull tells her he was there when it was made out of the bones of seven people.  It was a window that was meant to be looked at through someone else’s eyes. Someone weak and curious.

While tying Kipps’ to a chair, George tells him that Joplin isn’t going to kill him. That they’re only academics. Then he realises that Bickerstaff’s body is there too. Joplin says she wanted him to have a front row seat. She also says that the key to understanding the mirror is through the eyes of a younger person. George realises that if it weren’t for Kipps, he would be the one in the chair. When Kipps says he’s lost his Talent, Joplin has to choose George over him anyway.

Lockwood and the others keep fighting off Winkman and his men and soon get the better of them. But the problem isn’t over as they see even more men coming their way. Lockwood lets some ghosts loose to help fight the men while he goes to call the police and then help his friends.

What does Joplin do with the mirror?

Now tied to the chair himself, George laments about how Joplin didn’t need him either just the way Lucy and Lockwood don’t need him. Around the corner, Lucy hears everything. She gets distracted by Bickerstaff’s ghost and suddenly Joplin has her at knifepoint. Lucy tells George that he’s not an oddball or a third wheel but the best of them all. She then convinces Joplin that she is the best person to look in the mirror due to her Talent.

Lockwood goes into the chapel but is stopped by Golden Blade once again. He thinks he’s from the Fittes Agency but the man says Lockwood has no idea what forces are at play. He tells Lockwood his mother and father died insignificant deaths just like he will. He brings out a gun and shoots Lockwood, who falls into the catafalque’s hole.

Joplin unwraps the mirror in front of Lucy, an otherworldly light streams out from it towards her but she turns her head away. Joplin yells at her to look but she picks up the ghost jar and forces it to look in the mirror instead. The skull says that something is wrong, it’s changed.

Lucy gets sudden flashes of images including some ghost-locked people, some ghosts and even an image of Lockwood. The psychic vision makes her pass out. George pushes his way in and knocks down the mirror’s stand. The bone glass falls and the mirror cracks. Joplin looks into it anyway. The light captures her attention and she can see something beautiful but it gets too much and her body explodes. The mirror shatters and the souls of the seven ghosts break free.

Does the group make it out the catacombs?

Lucy and George think it is all over but all of a sudden Bickerstaff’s ghost is leering over them — the explosion of the mirror shifted the iron chains around it. The two of them are ghost-locked but Lockwood arrives in time to save them with his rapier and some salt bombs. Lucy is able to throw an iron net over Bickerstaff’s body and everything stops. Lockwood’s gunshot wound gets the better of him but George and Lucy support him.

Along with Quill Kipps, the entire group gets out of the catacombs. While DECRAP sorts things out, Kipps tells Lucy how it feels to lose your Talent. How all that’s left then is fear.

Inspector Barnes allows them to see Lockwood, who claims he didn’t see who shot him as it was too dark. Barnes is happy that the bone glass was destroyed and Winkman was arrested. He congratulates them on solving the case.

Kipps agrees to take out the advert and quit his job, as per the bet. Lockwood says that he only needed to hear that and lets him off the hook. He even told Barnes to pay them with a 70-30 distribution. Lockwood and Kipps shake hands and then the trio head home.

Inside a car, the Golden Blade apologises to Penelope Fittes for not dealing with the bone glass and Lockwood properly. She says it’s okay, they just need to take some extra precautions.

How does Lockwood & Co season 1 end?

Back home, Lucy records a note to Norrie. She says she’s been through a lot and has changed as a result. As the trio set the table for a meal, her voiceover says that she was wrong about George. He doesn’t hate her and is kind of a hero actually. And Lockwood nearly died a hundred times but has decided he is better off alive. And she feels stronger than before, less scared than she used to be.

She tells Lockwood and George that the skull hasn’t said anything since that night. She decides not to destroy it but also to keep her Talent under wraps. Lockwood says that he doesn’t want to keep secrets anymore. He tells them about Golden Blade and his comments. And then does something they didn’t see coming — he takes them to the locked door and opens it.

The Episode Review

Before I say anything else; this was such a good show! This finale is exhilarating and never lets go of your attention, which is fitting for a series that has been charged with energy from the very beginning.

The Joplin reveal was done really well and a special mention for the use of the spiral motif. It was a great way to visualise what was going on in George’s head with an appropriately spooky vibe. The fight scenes were polished and displayed some skilful editing once again.

A few minor details were off, like how Lucy managed to get the jar near her without Joplin noticing. And Lockwood getting shot and proclaiming his own death is a tad too dramatic for me, but with the thrill of the rest of the finale it is easily forgiven.

The ending is just about perfect, showing us exactly how far these characters have come from episode 1 and also setting up a perfect cliffhanger for season 2. The only question remaining now is, why haven’t they renewed this show yet?