The Lost Room (miniseries)
Jun. 16th, 2023 08:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
annavereGiven how much fun I had watching 12 Monkeys, I've been looking for other programs I might want to watch from the former Sci-Fi Channel, checking Mojo lists and so on. Of all the items listed among the best SYFY has to offer, the most intriguing (and least time consuming) was this miniseries from 2006, which turned out to be free on YouTube. As I remain the opposite of au courant, I set this up as our evening show, and it was completely satisfying in that delightfully weird way I love. So I figured it deserves a "hug your dead fandom" post.
The plot centers on metaphysical horror involving a rupture in space and time that ripped an ordinary motel room out of existence. The room disappeared and all that was left were a series of Objects with strange, and generally unintuitive, properties. A comb freezes time, a watch hardboils eggs and a pair of glasses halts combustion, for example. There's also a key which leads back into that room. All manner of strange, and generally crazy, people are after these Objects, and most are willing to kill to possess them. The premise is already fairly absurd, and the creators cheerfully leaned into that aspect, keeping a sense of humor throughout.
The cast is led by Peter Krause (Nate from Six Feet Under) as everyman cop Joe Miller, who might start in over his head but is a fast learner, very quickly grasping the rules of the Objects and how to work with them. Because the Objects are so incredibly finicky in what they can and can't do, this also lends creativity to the action scenes.
Plotwise, the show is a crash course in throwing everything at the wall to see what sticks, so it starts with cops and crooks before taking in a heist sequence, warring cabals, a religious cult, a femme fatale (although they made her a by-numbers love interest and that's a disappointment), ghost hunting, treasure hunting, detective work and a dose of unexplained (and thus highly effective) eldritch horror. Almost every single character is completely insane (Objects apparently do that to you).
The religious cult was the weakest storyline, I thought, but it also offered the best hook for a sequel, involving Joe's colleague Lee Bridgewater, who wants to bring down the cult and their deranged upstart prophet while also manifesting psychic dreams from exposure to one of the more dangerous Objects. She would have made an excellent protagonist going forward, and I'm sad there's no fic for her.
This and other background plots were left unresolved, but Joe's personal quest was wrapped up, so provided you already have a tolerance for cancelled television it won't feel like a pointless journey. Does everything about the lunatic plot hang together? Well, no - but then neither did Twin Peaks. Mostly, it's just a lot of fun if you like that type of quirky and weird TV show. It's a very small time commitment, I suspect it can be easily crossed with other paranormal shows and it packs a lot of material into a tiny low-budget space. It has exactly ten fics posted on AO3, putting this on the very low end of "nobody cares," but I liked it a lot.
The plot centers on metaphysical horror involving a rupture in space and time that ripped an ordinary motel room out of existence. The room disappeared and all that was left were a series of Objects with strange, and generally unintuitive, properties. A comb freezes time, a watch hardboils eggs and a pair of glasses halts combustion, for example. There's also a key which leads back into that room. All manner of strange, and generally crazy, people are after these Objects, and most are willing to kill to possess them. The premise is already fairly absurd, and the creators cheerfully leaned into that aspect, keeping a sense of humor throughout.
The cast is led by Peter Krause (Nate from Six Feet Under) as everyman cop Joe Miller, who might start in over his head but is a fast learner, very quickly grasping the rules of the Objects and how to work with them. Because the Objects are so incredibly finicky in what they can and can't do, this also lends creativity to the action scenes.
Plotwise, the show is a crash course in throwing everything at the wall to see what sticks, so it starts with cops and crooks before taking in a heist sequence, warring cabals, a religious cult, a femme fatale (although they made her a by-numbers love interest and that's a disappointment), ghost hunting, treasure hunting, detective work and a dose of unexplained (and thus highly effective) eldritch horror. Almost every single character is completely insane (Objects apparently do that to you).
The religious cult was the weakest storyline, I thought, but it also offered the best hook for a sequel, involving Joe's colleague Lee Bridgewater, who wants to bring down the cult and their deranged upstart prophet while also manifesting psychic dreams from exposure to one of the more dangerous Objects. She would have made an excellent protagonist going forward, and I'm sad there's no fic for her.
This and other background plots were left unresolved, but Joe's personal quest was wrapped up, so provided you already have a tolerance for cancelled television it won't feel like a pointless journey. Does everything about the lunatic plot hang together? Well, no - but then neither did Twin Peaks. Mostly, it's just a lot of fun if you like that type of quirky and weird TV show. It's a very small time commitment, I suspect it can be easily crossed with other paranormal shows and it packs a lot of material into a tiny low-budget space. It has exactly ten fics posted on AO3, putting this on the very low end of "nobody cares," but I liked it a lot.
