Omar Syed

English British Literature

Dr. Shumway

 

Much Ado About Silk Stalkings

 

Those who are familiar with USA Pictures Network original drama series, Silk Stalkings will know that the series is an excellent show, with action, suspense, and a little sex. However, the interaction between its two main characters, Chris Lorenzo and Rita Lee Lance, is definitely not original. Their portrayal of good friends who end up falling in love with each other is nothing new to television, or to literature for that matter. It has been lifted almost entirely from Shakespeare’s’ Much Ado About Nothing. The characters of Beatrice and Benedict are in an almost identical situation, both are in love with the other, but are too obstinate to say so.

 

The relationship between Beatrice and Benedict can be summed up as a typical love-hate relationship. According to Shakespeare, the two had a “merry war” (I, i, 62), or a war of words. They at one time had a relationship together, but for reasons not given in the play, they are now at odds with each other, or so it seems. The truth is that secretly, they are indeed both in love with one another, but both of them are equally too stubborn to say how they feel.

 

Benedict and Beatrice have many of the same qualities. They both have very vivacious personalities. Their quick comebacks in discussion emphasize this fact immensely. This is one reason they catch the readers’ attention, rather than Claudio and Hero. In addition, they are intelligent, humorous, personal, and more vulnerable than they care to think.

 

 In the early stages of the play, both insist that they will remain single literally forever, but this soon changes when they ‘realize’ that each loves the other, through similar deceptions by Claudio and Hero. Their partnership is incredibly successful throughout the play. It is a continuous battle of words between the two, even when they get married in end of the play. The reader can be sure that their relationship will continue beyond the end of the play. A good example of this is found in Act 5, scene 3, lines 92-97.

 

Benedict: …Come, I will have thee, but by this light, I take thee for pity.

 

Beatrice:  I would not deny you, but by this good deal, I yield upon great persuasion, and partly as to save your life, for I was told that you were in a consumption.

 

Benedict: Peace, I will stop your mouth. [He kisses her](V, iii, 92-97)

 

This passage clearly shows the resulting relationship between the two, as the reader can see that even in the near to last lines of the play, Beatrice and Benedicts’ ensuing joyous relationship will continue beyond the final closing curtain.

 

 

Now, let us move on to Silk Stalkings. The series ended in 1999.  I will be talking about the two main characters from the first five-year period during the series (from 1991 –1995), Sergeants Chris Lorenzo and Rita Lee Lance. From hereon, I will address them as Chris and Rita.

 

Chris and Rita were different from most of the other couples on late night television. The audience did not have to be told that they were best friends because they demonstrated their loyalty and trust in each other on a weekly basis. The audience did not have to be told they loved each other, because their actions let the audience in on the secret long before they (Chris and Rita) ever admitted it to each other.

 

Early on in the series, the two were portrayed as simply friends, but as time went on, it became apparent that they were more than just friends, or partners. Looking back on earlier episodes, one can infer that what was once thought to merely be the act of a caring friend, could also be more than just that. One such instance is Season 2, when an assailant’s lawyer, Lampman, is harassing Rita. Chris yells at him, “Son of a bitch! You touch her and I will kill you!” (Season 2) Since this is early on in the series, the producers had not written for Chris and Rita to be romantically involved yet. In retrospect, it seems that Chris cared for Rita more than simply as his partner in the police force.

 

In season 3, things change for the two partners. Chris goes at Boston for a few days. He tries to handle a problem with is ex- girlfriend Jillian Dupree. At the same time, Rita is trying to solve a case with Michael Price, a detective from vice squad (another department of the police force). While Michael is trying to talk to a suspect, his car explodes, causing Rita to become slightly injured. When Chris finds out what happened, he rushes right over to check on her. Later that day, the two take a walk along the beach, and Chris tells Rita how worried he was for her.

Chris- “I lived through the worst thing that could happen to me. I lost you. My whole world blew up, and I… just… it was like I lost a huge piece of myself.

You’re my best friend. I’m closer to you than anybody else in this whole world. I thought you were gone. I felt like I was gonna die.

Now I got you back and I feel like I got a second chance at life myself. I’m gonna take all it has to offer… thanks to you. No matter where you are, no matter what you’re doing, no mater how you’re doing. I will always be there for you. I want you to know that.”

 

Rita- “I think if we keep hanging on to each other, we’re no gonna drift very far.”(Season 3)

 

            This dialogue emphasizes the bond that they share. Chris is able to show her that he does indeed care about her, while not telling her the full weight of his feelings for her. They are definitely more than friends, though they won’t admit it as of this moment.

 

During another episode in the same season, Rita and Chris talk about their only long-term relationship together. Chris has had several girlfriends up to this point, and Rita has had her share of boyfriends (although they usually end up as drug dealers, or doing other nefarious business.). Rita tells Chris that their four years together in the police force, as partners has been one of the most stable relationships she has known. Chris seems surprised that she feels this way. More than likely he feels surprised that she feels the same way he does. He agrees with her, and in doing so, shows his feelings for her without saying them.

 

In season four, the two partners become closer, or their closeness is clearer to the audience now. Chris’s current (ex-) girlfriend[1], Jillian Dupree asks him to leave Palm Beach, and live with her in Boston. Chris declines, and gives an excuse for not leaving. Jillian accuses him of not leaving because he doesn’t want to leave Rita. This implies that Jillian can see what Chris and Rita do not, that they already show subconscious signs of their love for one another. Chris cannot see in his conscious that he is in love with Rita. He only knows that he does not want to leave Palm Beach. Later, while talking to Rita, they come to a decision that they are not attracted to each other, but are much closer than that. They feel that they are more intimate than just being in love. They are actually in love, but do not see it. [2]

 

 This is very similar to the basis of Beatrice and Benedict’s response to the idea that they are actually secretly in love with one another. They deny it through and through, but know that deep in their hearts, they do have feelings for the other.

 

In a later episode during the same season, Chris gives Rita a gift; an angel shaped pin. He tells her that it is her guardian angel. At this, she replies "I thought that was you,”(Season 4). She means that she thought that Chris was her guardian angel. This shows that she does care for him more than just as a friend. She feels that he will protect her in times of danger. When Chris tells her that "It never hurts to have a back up”, and that she should, “keep him close to your heart,” She tell him that she does. Though Chris’s words imply the pin, Rita means that she keeps Chris close to her heart, and that she loves him.

 

In season 5, things move quicker for Chris and Rita. During a conversation, the topic of whether people who share common interests, and are available, should become a couple. They talk about themselves as an example of why this does not happen (people who have common interests do not become a couple), and finally come to the decision that being friends is more important than romance. Though the discussion starts with a general topic, the fact that they discuss their inner thoughts about one another (Rita asks Chris if he thinks about her as more than a friend) shows that it matters to them what the other feels about the topic.

 

Rita- “I don’t understand what the big deal is. I mean, if two people like each other and they have lots in common then, you know, they should be together, I don’t understand what the problem is.”

Chris- “Well, I think it’s more than just having lots in common. I mean look at me and you. We have lots in common, but, I mean, you know, we’re not together.”

Rita- “No, but that’s different.”

Chris- “Why?”

Rita- “It just is.”

Chris- “Why!”

Rita- “It just… Why, do you ever think about…”

Chris- “No, never.”

Rita- “Never?”

Chris- “Ok, maybe sometimes, late at night, early in the morning, when my brain’s not running on all cylinders, I do.”

Rita- “Uh-huh.”

Chris- “What about you?”

Rita- “No, I think you’re right. I mean, I… I… I uh, I’m really glad that we’re, you know, just friends.”

Chris- “Yeah, good friends are definitely hard to come by.” (Season 5)

 

One ironic part of the above dialogue is that it takes place during the fifth season. This is almost immediately before Chris finally admitted his feelings for Rita. When they decide that friendship is generally more important than romance, they are in fact denying their feelings for each other. It is not that they do not care about their friendship. They are afraid of losing that friendship if one tells the other their true feelings. This is the reason they conclude that friendship is more important. However, when they realize that they will not lose their long-standing friendship, they promptly let the other know of their actual sentimentality.

 

From there, everything went quickly in the series. Rita and Chris first denied their feelings, but they knew they didn't want anything else but each other. Then Rita found out she was pregnant[3]. Then their captain in the police force, Harry Lipschitz, found about their relationship (the rule was that there was to be nothing physical between partners) but he left them off the hook. Chris then asked Rita to marry him. She first had doubts and cold feet, but she said finally yes and they had a private wedding. And they lived happily ever after.[4]

 

            Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing is the precursor for many such narratives where two (or more) characters end up in a love that stems from a stable friendship. Silk Stalkings is not the first to do this, nor will it be the last. Beatrice and Benedict are the originals for such characters as Chris and Rita, as well as a slew of others from literature, movies and television series that are more recent.