Soul Kiss
I was idly trawling the internet last night, watching videos of “Bones” on youtube, smiling at Booth and Brennan who seemed to be a perfect fit, then all at once saw a particular picture of them that resembled another couple I fell in love with a long time ago: Chris Lorenzo and Rita Lance.
The next second my fingers were flying over the keyboard to type “Silk Stalkings” in the search box, and wouldn’t you know it, several matches came up. I was immediately transported to the latter part of 1993, the TV in my bedroom blaring on Wednesday nights at 9 PM (after GMA’s Best) as I faithfully tuned in to the program that started my TV addiction for years to come. Sergeants Chris Lorenzo and Rita Lance, Palm Beach Police Department’s ‘dynamic duo’, meant so much to me they practically existed in my 12-year old reality.
It wasn’t so much the cases they solved– crimes of passion in posh, ultra-wealthy Palm Beach, Florida– that drew me in, not by a long shot, but rather the relationship between the two gorgeous leads. They shared great chemistry– worked well together, flirted a bit, bickered a lot. They were best friends who were (over)protective of each other and would lay their lives down for the other without a second thought. Their friendship was platonic but often times contained an undercurrent of romance that rose up to the surface during a few episodes.
My fervent adolescent wish was for them to end up together. Chris and Rita’s relationship set the standard as my definition of a perfect romance– a good foundation for a relationship began with friendship before developing into something more– as I grew up, this standard I believe in even to this day, a jaded 28-year old multinational employee; light-years away from the scrawny wide-eyed 12-year old high school freshman I once was.
Tragedy then struck when GMA 7 suddenly replaced ‘Silk Stalkings’ after less than three seasons with another Stephen J. Cannell production, action series ‘Renegade’ (that would shortly sink down to the bottom of TV history). I was in tears as I watched the last episode they aired– a devastated Chris believing Rita had been murdered in her apartment, later revealing the body to be Rita’s house sitter. As last episodes went, it was a great one, since the storyline explored their relationship and further reinforced their bond by the end of the hour. I was infinitely sad as I closed the TV afterwards because I thought they were destined to be just friends forever, and that was the end of it.
It wasn’t until a few years later I learned that they did end up together in the fifth season. They got married and Rita got pregnant (not in that order). But they didn’t ride off into the sunset as I hoped; right after their beach wedding Chris was shot and killed by a hired assassin that kidnapped Rita. She then handed in her badge and gun and left Palm Beach to parts unknown in order to raise their unborn child in peace. Sometimes fiction is closer to reality than we think.
Since then, I’ve moved on to other onscreen couples– Scandal & Danielle (Cobra), Dr. Quinn & Sully (Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman), Doug Ross & Carol Hathaway (ER), Max & Kenny (Picket Fences), Mulder & Scully (The X-Files), Booth & Brennan (Bones); pairings with good chemistry and happy endings. But Chris & Rita, my original dynamic duo– like all warm and fuzzy childhood comforts– is the one that feels most like home to me. 
