Peter Krause and Juliana Margulies in The Lost Room
© Sci Fi Channel

Mania Grade: B+
Stars: Peter Krause, Juliana Margulies, Kevin Pollak, Elie Fanning, Margaret Cho

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"The Lost Room: The Key and the Clock"

OK, this is a miniseries that I’ve really been looking forward to for some time.  Sci-Fi Channel has been on such a good run lately with series such as BATTLESTAR GALACTICA and EUREKA I had high hopes for this one.  The more I found out about the series the more intrigued I was because it just seemed like they were doing everything right with it.  The most notable thing immediately about the series is the cast.  This miniseries features the best cast of known actors of anything SCI-FI has done to date including Peter Krause (SIX FEET UNDER), Juliana Margulies (HOMICIDE: LIFE ON THE STREETS), and one of my favorite character actors Kevin Pollak (A FEW GOOD MEN, THE USUAL SUSPECTS).  These great actors are all well used in the miniseries creating an eclectic cast of characters for the series with complex, and sometimes too complex backgrounds and motivations. 

Detective Joe Miller (Krause) investigates a double homicide at a pawn shop.  While there he discovers a motel room key.  While the series itself isn’t littered with clumsy writing the plot device, this key, is utilized in a lazy way to get the series going.  Miller, rather than put the key in an evidence locker, takes it home and leaves it out for his daughter to find.  She uses the key, and disappears.  This is the catalyst that gets Miller involved in the series.  It’s a clumsy start, but things get better. The key opens a door to a motel room in an alternate dimension that’s existed since 1961.  It’s apparently an example of physics “gone awry” as they say in the series.  At one time a bevy of objects used to exist in the room that each wielded special powers.  This brings in the eclectic cast of characters each seeking the objects, some want to collect them, some want to worship them, and others want to wield them.  Miller builds alliances with some of these oddball characters in order to find the right combination of characters to rescue his daughter who’s now trapped in the room. 

The series looks great with top notch production design to go along with the stellar cast.  The whole thing reminds me of a really great Stephen King story, remember those?  The plot gets a bit convoluted quickly with tons of plot twists and bizarre turns but it never gets boring.  The writers appear to be really working overtime to make this series as complex as they can probably attempting to put themselves in the same space as LOST and HEROES.  While some of it doesn’t feel necessary the strong direction and interesting characters kept me hooked.  The series, at least so far, is more fantastical than horrific, and it features a nice injection of humor to keep things quirky.  The pace is a little slow as the story is supposed to develop over six hours but there’s a lot to learn.  What happened in that room back in 1961 to cause “physics to go awry” is the most important question.  If in fact SC-FI is thinking of turning this miniseries into a full fledged series I wouldn’t expect to get that answer. 

THE LOST ROOM is a welcome break from holiday movies and television series reruns.  While I don’t think it’s perfect, it’s often overly complex for no good reason and the pace does slow a bit here and there, it’s still intriguing, unique, and fun.  If you didn’t see the opening episode, as is always the case with any new series on SCI-FI Channel, they are rerunning it over and over again so definitely try to check it out and get caught up, it’s worth the effort.  I’m glad the thing finally started because I was getting sick of seeing that THE LOST ROOM logo stuck on the bottom of everything I watched on SCI-FI.