Why Haven't You Watched: "The Lost Room"

HOLY CRAP! So this is different and I'll tell you why in a bit, but if you're just now jumping onto this blog, Unreality Magazine contributor Remy Carreiro has a series called "Why Haven't You Seen It" where he discusses moderately obscure movies that should get more notoriety than they did. With that out of the way, let me say once again, HOLY CRAP, is this show good! I remember seeing trailers for it back in 2004 and it looked moderately interesting, but wouldn't you know it, I never had the time to actually sit down and watch it. Now, I'm SO GLAD I DID! Unfortunately, this is an SUPER miniseries, consisting of only 3 (movie length) episodes (that are broken up into 6 episodes on The DVD) and as I write this paragraph I have only watched the first episode, but I can already tell, this is gonna be good! And you'll find out just how good it (the entire 3 episodes) were after the break;

MY GOODNES do I love sci-fi/mysteries! Don't get me wrong, I love outer space (never been) and I love aliens and intergalactic battles, but down-to-earth sci-fi is just my cup of tea. And while most down-to-earth sci-fi stories downplay the sci-fi and play up the human element, this manages to do both. From just the first episode this show manages to establish the mythos, the rules and the consequences of this universe we now find ourselves in and it manages to weave in not just time travel and extra-dimensional pockets, it also manages to tie in an extremely impressive scavenger hunt. Ladies and gentlemen, "The Lost Room" is essentially "The Holders Series" before it was "The Holders Series". And if you've been reading this blog and watched the 4th season of my storyline, you should have a pretty solid grasp on how much I love "The Holder Series". With that being said, what exactly is "The Lost Room" about?

"The Lost Room" tells the story of police detective Joe Miller (Peter Krause) who, after a series of events stumbles upon a much sought after key that opens up to a room, somewhere, somewhen and can open doors to ANYWHERE there's a door."

That's ALL I can say without giving too much away, because honestly, from THE FIRST EPISODE, I was like "I love this already." Since there are only 3 episodes, everything has to move at a pretty rapid pace and it does but at the same time it still slows down to catch the viewer up on what's going on and it takes it's time to build it's world without rehashing. The characters are smart and engaging and the plot and threat is REAL. While I think somethings in the series could've been handled better, I have no complaints over all. This show could've easily lasted several seasons with how the story ended, and while I won't tell you how it ended, it definitely lends it's self to have real staying power.

And in that staying power, a comic book continuation of the series was announced...but in 2013 the comic book continuation was unfortunately put on hold (which sucks, because "Buffy" and "Angel" are able to continue as comic books...oh the injustice). Hopefully, this series continues because I'm really looking forward to seeing how the story evolves from here. Anyways, back to the characters, the series stars Elle Fanning, Peter Krause, Kevin Pollack, Julianna Margulies and Peter Jacobson and they're all great here, especially Kevin Pollack, who despite being a comedian is able to channel both menace and vulnerability in the character of Karl Kreutzfeld. I'm partial to Kevin because aside from his flawless Christopher Walken impressions, I loved the character of Todd Hockney from "The Usual Suspects".

Peter Krause, although I'm not familiar with his work is very good in the role as an Everyman. He is VERY relatable and his one track minded honesty makes him very accessible as a character. The great thing I loved about this series is that there are no real villains and perhaps maybe I'm spoiling some things a little bit, but every character, even the characters who do bad things aren't entirely bad people...basically, no one is a "cartoon character" here, with the "Ha,ha, I'm so evil!" personality. It's basically an "everyman for himself" kinda deal, which makes the series more interesting and allows us to see where each character is coming from.

It wouldn't be fair if I didn't mention Elle Fanning, keeping in the tradition of The Fanning Family, Elle isn't annoying and is actually a more daring character than the primary character as her childish curiosity drives her to experiment with the room and makes some very critical discoveries that plan a role in events to come.

Julianna Margulies character Jennifer is cagey and hard to put down but she's a good character and she's just as driven as Joe to achieve her goal for her cause. Every character has a cause here and that cause becomes more paramount for some characters than others. The twists and turns this series takes and the deep and rich mythology makes this a MUST SEE for sci-fi fans out there and people who enjoy mysteries. Again, I can't say anymore about this show except WATCH IT!