Customer Reviews

Silk Stalkings - Season Four

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Set in West Palm Beach, Florida (but filmed in San Diego, California), Silk Stalkings was a sort of "Miami Vice" lite for the 90's. Telling the story of Homicide detectives Chris Lorenzo (Rob Estes) and Rita Lee Lance (Mitz Kapture), Silk Stalkings shows the detectives solving crimes of passion among those living the high life.

While I will admit that the show tends toward the cheesy, this guilty pleasure consistently entertained me throughout its 8 seasons. And despite the cast changes over the course of its run, the series remained watchable throughout. The possible exception is the latter half of the fifth season, but I will leave that for my review of that season.


Season Four starts off with a two-part episode "Natural Selection" that is surprisingly dramatic. These two episodes were the first episodes I saw when flipping through the cable channels during the original run of the series. I liked them enough that I continued to watch the show regularly. Soon enough, USA network put the show into a five-nights-a-week late night slot, and I quickly caught up on the first three seasons.

In addition to the usual story of Chris and Rita solving a murder each week, this season also saw good use of the supporting cast, including: Captain Lipschitz and his wife (played by vaudevillians Charlie Brill and Mitzi McCall, married in real life); Donnie "Dogs" DiBarto, the friendliest mafia don in Florida; and Atticus Dunn, who continued to scheme (and impose upon Chris' patience).

Season Four also continues to explore the relationship between the two main characters, Chris and Rita. Although both are involved in romantic relationships with others that ebb and flow over the course of the season, their dependence on each other deepens throughout, both professionally and personally. This is shown to good effect starting in the first episodes, and this central relationship of the series would be taken to its conclusion in the events of the first half of Season Five.

Although some might argue that the first half of the fifth season is a stronger group of episodes than season four as a whole, for my money seasons four was the strongest complete season of the series. Some weaknesses did start to show in the show's formula by this season, however. Certain plots began being recycled from earlier seasons, and a few guest stars from earlier seasons appeared playing different characters as well. But as a complete season, Season Four presents a very strong set of episodes, possibly the most coherent and enjoyable of the whole series.

While this show is personally a 5-star for me, the guilty pleasure factor and the lack of strong extras in the package led me to give this DVD release four stars. But for fans of this show, this season was the best of the bunch.

Packaging

The 22 episodes of Season Four are delivered on three (double-sided) discs. This season includes the following episodes:

Natural Selection (Parts 1 & 2)
Reluctant Witness
Maid Service
Carrie & Jessie
Where There's A Will...
Red Flag
Ask The Dust
The Mud-Queen Murders
School of Hard Rocks
Time Share
Vengeance
Ghosts of the Past
Pas de Deux
Mrs. Carslisle
Brother's Keeper
Champagne On Ice
Know What Scares You
New Blood
Community Service
Cadillac Jack
Into The Fire

As I live in Brazil, I used do watch Silks Stalkings on cable.
I never missed an episode. The plots were really interesting
and Mitzy Kapture and Rob Estes had such a chemistry together
that made you really believed they were partners and best
friends!
As Mitzy got pregnant and she and Rob left the show,they stopped
airing it here, so it's amazing to be able to watch the best
late night series all over again!
I can't wait to buy season 5!
And even though it's been more than 10 years, the series haven't
aged a bit.Each episode mantains its charm,mistery, passion and
sometimes humor. A must see...

Silk stalkings 4th season is a smashing experience! With lots of action, drama and sad stories combined, this is the best season so far! Rita and Chris is still the all time favourite couple, now with new hair cuts and a tiny improvement considering their outfits. I highly recommend this show to all! Silk Stalkings is dearly missed, and watching gorgeus Rob Estes as Chris Lorenzo is a great bonus! Buy it!

Boy I really missed this show - Rita and Chris - geez the chemistry the best ever on TV! It is still just as great as it was the first time I saw it on cable. Gosh - I can't wait for season 5 to be released! Dang I wish they would both be in more stuff....what a waste of beautiful talent!

One more t.v. series I came across while looking on Amazon that I added to my Wish List and received as a birthday present. I was skeptical of my taste in the early 90s vs. today. I remember thinking it was a kind of a newer, maybe shallower Miami Vice-style, that was pretty risqué for regular cable t.v. I used to watch it sporadically on USA late at night, but probably never saw two episodes in a row.

My fiancée and I watched the first episode with my parents. None of us really got into it and I felt a little disappointed. A little while later (days? a week?) my fiancée and I were looking for something to watch that wasn't too long, so we gave it another whirl. After the second episode we were hooked and preceded to watch a bunch, one after another. We cruised through the First Season way too fast that I even found myself watching the Extras! To make a long story short, we're about half way through the Fifth Season now and dread the inevitable, that this is the last season out on DVD.

Yes, there is 90s cheese, florescent outfits that we can't believe we thought were cool, some questionable hairdos, swimsuits, only large-chested women always seemingly getting out of a pool at the crime scene wearing a thong bikini, every episode opens with a sex scene that ends in someone's death, and the list goes on and on. However, we are totally hooked and love every episode and season! It's part romantic comedy, part t.v. detective series drama. I loved Miami Vice, but usually didn't find myself laughing whereas with Silk we are laughing during every episode and feeling good at the end of them. There also is very little blood and gore. You get the idea of what happened, but often see no blood when someone is killed. The chemistry between Chris and Rita as well as them and the others characters is great. I would say our only disappointment is you get attached to a few characters that all of the sudden never show up again in an episode (some of the coroners, Cotton, etc.). Also, they are kind of bad about reusing characters that had such strong parts in episodes that it is sometimes weird to see them again in a different episode as someone different. All in all, 5-Stars!

I'm so glad they decided to release Silk on DVD! I loved the show when it was on tv and then they stopped showing re-runs all togeter and the series ended. I'm a fan of Rob and Mitzi. Chris and Rita are my favorite out of all the pairings! The show was awesome!

This item is of great quality for those who like this kind of series . Would highly recommend !

Anyone know when the next season will be released.
Love you Mitzi/Rita.

Having been made in the late 80's, early 90's, it's surprising how up to date the plots and actions are. No cell phones but everything else A-ok.

I thought this season's episodes "mysteries" weren't as funny or out-there as the earlier seasons, and the guest stars, writers and directors not up to snuff (save Gordon Dawson, who wrote the best ep. ever, "Soul Kiss" and shows up for one good ep. this season, "Red Flag"). With John Byner gone and Donnie "Dogs" Dibarto's appearances way down, the show overrelies on "relationship" story arcs for the two cops that aren't all that compelling (as oft noted, the relationship between the two cops was always the best part of the show, not the various dullards they end up dating). It's as if this season they were trying to make the show more "normal," with less outrageous plots, the wild color schemes toned down a bit, etc.

Still, Estes and Kapture's chemistry was excellent, Captain Lipschitz is still around, and if you like the show, you'll find the season acceptable. I still think the order of quality is season two, then season three, then season one, followed by five, which starts off well, but then gets sidetracked when the actors quit and they too-quickly had to sew up a romance-between-the-cops story arcs that there should have been more time to explore. To me, season 4 is the weakest Estes/Kapture season, which is still better than the seasons that followed with other cops.