Les chemins de l'étrange

"Mysterious Ways" is the kind of TV show that grabs you and won't let go. It deals with a variety of subjects that engage, enlighten, and entertain, all while promoting basically good messages and ideals. Declan Dunn is an anthropologist who loves to investigate the mysterious. Along the way, he attracts the attention and friendship of a hospital psychiatrist, Peggy Fowler, and his less-than-normal friend Miranda. Together, they investigate the unexplained... a host of miracles, strange coincidences, unfatal falls, and "voices." Ultimately, they wind up healing the souls of the people they meet, and learn a few life lessons along the way.

For me what makes the show excellent is the complete inability to foresee the climax. Generally I can guess what's going to happen (both in movies, television and books) but this show never ceases to surprise me. I like the element of the unknown... the church window that cries blood, the ghosts that push cars off the train tracks. I like it that often there is an explanation by science, but it's never quite that simple. That, combined with the overall charm of Declan's bumbling character, Miranda's style ("take your IQ, add black velvet, and you're halfway there!"), and Peggy's disbelieving but slowly-coming-around nature.

It's a show in which you don't check your brain at the door. And it's a fun, often amusing and normally shocking, way to spend an hour a week.