There’s a lot of silliness in “˜Silk Stalkings’ but that’s not what this site’s about. What really struck me as awesome about Silk is the relationship between the two main characters. Sergeants Rita Lance (Mitzi Kapture) and Chris Lorenzo (Rob Estes) are equals. Not just in name, but actual equals. They were promoted the same day even, so neither has seniority. They are obviously each other’s one true love. But in stead of one pining for the other we see two people acknowledging the other’s very attractive and agreeing that they’re not going there.

If you’re keeping score you will find Rita’s more often the damsel in distress than Chris. This I contribute to her taking more risks. When there’s a serial killer on the loose who preys on a certain kind of woman, Rita will always suggest that she go undercover as perfect bait.
The undercover cases are always great fun. They’re a little ridiculous. There’s one example where Chris goes undercover as a stripper/gigolo and to make his cover believable Rita has to come in and pretend to be a customer so they can pretend to have sex while someone watches them to asses Chris’s gigolo skills. As you do. They both get the most outrageously silly assignments in the name of law enforcement and they joke and giggle about them right along with the viewer.

What strikes me is the respect they have for one another. They care for each other as best friends. They know their own and their partner’s strengths and weaknesses, they joke together and talk cases through together. They trust each the other implicitly. They even have the same nickname for each other.

I can’t think of another mixed gender duo that was actually about both the partners equally. If there is one I am willing to bet that the bloke gets first place in the credits. Not so in “˜Silk Stalkings’, there they rotate the two leads so that if they get first place in one episode, they get second place in the next.

Of course they had to go an ruin it all in the last couple of episodes with these characters. In about four episodes there was love, sex, pregnancy*, marriage and death. While in theory I have nothing against that, it’s the execution of it that annoys me to no end. Suddenly, because she’s a pregnant wife, Rita is fragile and in need of saving. The bad guys grab her while she’s on her way home with the groceries (!) and Chris has to come save her. He saves her at the cost of his own life and she doesn’t do a THING. Marriage and pregnancy in this case, were character killing diseases. Still, they got it right for a while there.

* Kapture was VERY pregnant way before this, everyone was just pretending she wasn’t. This is called acting. It was hilarious to watch.

1. Watchmen: The Silk Spectre (Major Spoilers)

What I wanted to tell you about is “The adventures of Sinbad”, yes this is a series about Sinbad the sailor, master of the seven seas commonly featured in 1001 nights. They muck about with a ship and swords and badly CGI-made skeletons and monsters. We’re all thoroughly spooked of course.

For everyone who isn’t familiar with the show, a short breakdown:

The cast is hilariously TM. We have the HERO (Sinbad), the GIRL (a sorceress apprentice named Maeve), the HERO’S FAITHFUL ADVISOR (Sinbad’s older (fat) brother Doubar), the SCIENTIST (Firouz, always inventing things that will not be invented for centuries) and the BLACK GUY (Rongar, who will make Teal’c look absolutely chatty- Rongar has had his tongue cut out).

Sinbad of course has his QUEST, which is pretty much to free an old dude who is way powerful and way good. Master Dim-Dim is the Yoda of the Sinbad universe and yet needs rescuing all the time. Sinbad does weekly generated quests just to pass the time, presumably until some big red arrow will point him to the magical solution to his real QUEST.

Maeve also has a quest. She has a hawk named Dermott and everyone who knows anything about Sinbad knows the bird is enchanted. The evil sorceress Rumina has put a spell on Maeve’s younger brother Dermott and now Maeve is out for revenge. Rumina’s death will reverse the spell.

Rumina of course wants Maeve to suffer and to spend her life generally annoyed- which is working pretty well. Rumina also wants Sinbad for a sex toy. She claims to love him, but you can tell she just wants to have her way with him. He really is that pretty.

So catch this, the normal Good Guy vs. Evil Guy battle it has become Good Girl vs. Evil Girl battle while they’re in a male dominated show! Of course the boys still fiddle about with their swords all heroic and what-not but Maeve is the only one in the crew who has magic and is therefore the only one who can defeat Rumina. Rumina really is thoroughly evil, she has some daddy issues but it really wouldn’t even cross her mind to turn good like so many other female villains have and I totally respect her for that. Rumina and Maeve both really want the other to just die already and the boys? Just stand there and look pretty.

In all other area’s Maeve was just as annoying and/or likeable as the rest of the crew. There was of course the budding romance between Sinbad and Maeve but it was made pretty clear that though she lusted after him as much as he lusted after her, she was busy with her quest and could he sod off please?

Of course all good things must end. The second season was to be “˜darker’ and be more “˜baywatch-ish’, the result was just kinda crappy. Rumina was dropped completely, Maeve fell overboard (the actor who played her went away) and some other (wet blanket) girl basically fell onboard. Sinbad was left with a new angsty quest “˜to find his true love’ (Maeve).

I find it disconcerting that women can only be as strong as the men when no one is taking the show seriously anyway. I’ll stick with my silly shows, thank you very much, and take the skimpy outfits in stride, it’s better than watching someone whine all the time.

1. Books: lost boy, lost girl & In The Nightroom by Peter Straub
2. Phillipa Gregory’s ‘The Other Boleyn Girl’
3. Midweek Media: Madonna’s “Bad Girl”