20 Years Later, This Supernatural Sci-Fi Miniseries With a Twisted Mystery Is a Hidden Gem

You've heard of humans possessing superpowers before, and of objects being possessed, but what about objects possessing superpowers? In SYFY's 2006 miniseries, The Lost Room, it isn't necessarily humans driving the show, but mundane objects that hide unique abilities, ranging from teleportation to "holy fire." In six hour-long episodes, it uses a timeless premise of a father searching for his daughter to introduce us to a complex and dynamic world governed by these seemingly innocuous objects. If you call yourself a sci-fi fan, then you need to watch it at least once for all its novelty, adventure, and power.

What Is SYFY's 'The Lost Room' About?

The Lost Room opens up with a gnarly scene at an antique store of two dead bodies being fused through the walls and ceiling, setting up the surreal tone of the show. Arriving at the scene is Pittsburgh detective Joe (Peter Krause), who eventually follows the investigation to a dying young man who gives him a motel key. This key not only unlocks the door of a motel room, but also opens a whole new world to Joe, one where he is able to travel through space and time by using the key on any door. For example, during the first episode, he finds himself in 1960 after using the key. Turns out, this motel room hosted 100 objects with unique abilities that are now dispersed around the world, the motel key being one of the most powerful.

But disaster strikes when Joe's daughter, Anna (Elle Fanning), enters the room and is lost in space and time. While Joe embarks on a perilous journey to track down his daughter, he is also hunted down by detectives who believe he abducted her and committed murder. On top of this, he is chased down by mysterious people who collect the objects, some wishing to destroy them and others as a part of a secret cabal that believes obtaining all 100 keys allows them to access the mind of God. The show becomes a daring race through the multidimensional universe, where we uncover all the insidious secrets behind these everyday — yet dangerous — objects.

'The Lost Room' Is a Sci-Fi Series That Delivers on Its Complex, Immersive Premise

The Lost Room is simultaneously the easiest yet most complicated show to lose yourself in. There's an accessibility in how mundane and innocuous the show first seems to be, as we traverse the familiar streets of a city and follow detectives who remind us of '90s cop procedurals. The show's color palette adds to the everyday atmosphere, a blend of noirish grittiness and sunny hues that takes us back to antenna TVs. But as soon as the secrets around the objects start unraveling, it demands all your attention to keep up. The show's steady storytelling and woven exposition do an excellent job of luring us into the world, but it is definitely not a show you can watch while scrolling on your phone. And therefore, it makes the perfect immersive weekend binge.

Once you're swept away by the myriad of ways the objects can work together to bring forth some of these most creative and jaw-dropping scenes, The Lost Room will keep you endlessly entertained by its dynamic world, where objects are the main characters. While the motel key helps us navigate this mind-bending realm, we also get wristwatches that can hilariously hard-boil an egg, but can also grant the user telepathy if combined with a knife. There is also a bus ticket that can teleport people, or a comb that can freeze time — 100 creative abilities that become cornerstones in a heart-pounding story of underground communities and persistent hunters. With another exciting motel room object around every twist, the show's expanding world is nothing short of addictive.

A Father-Daughter Bond Drives the Mystery of 'The Lost Room'

If the thought of puzzling out a multidimensional world is still intimidating, then don't worry, The Lost Room also makes itself approachable through its central mystery. Joe is on a journey to find his daughter, and Krause plays the role with a familiar vulnerability and desperation that grounds the evolving world around him. He mixes this with a deadpan humor that further makes the incredulous events approachable, as we chuckle alongside him while feeling his pain. On the other side of this search is Fanning's Anna, who is fittingly sweet and innocent, while showcasing a fear that tugs at our heartstrings. Their father-daughter chemistry becomes the vehicle for how we navigate and understand the world, all while driving an undercurrent of intense emotion beneath it all.

While the mystery of the lost daughter wraps around The Lost Room and maintains a suspense that hooks us in, it's the show's intricate world-building that truly keeps us watching. The series excels at keeping the universe accessible while still fleshing out all the complexities that surround the objects and the various stakeholders pursuing them. There's something enchanting about how the show renders even the most mundane items into the most intriguing, keeping us on our toes as we second-guess each object someone picks up. It makes The Lost Room the ideal candidate for a weekend binge, where afterward you'll be wary of innocuous ballpoint pens and their potential explosive qualities.