Rating: TV-MA | Episodes: 8 | Runtime: 60 minutes
Release Date: April 4th, 2024 (USA)
Studio: Netflix
Creator(s): Steven Zaillian / Patricia Highsmith (novels)

Except He’s Not Going To Be Alone. You’ll Be There … apparently.

I still have three episodes left in Netflix and Steven Zaillian’s “Ripley” series, but I can’t say I’m clamoring to finish it. I don’t think it’s bad, per se. It’s just really boring.

I enjoyed the first couple of episodes a lot too. Andrew Scott is wonderful. I loved the combative relationship his Tom Ripley has with Dakota Fanning’s Marge (she’s fantastic). And Johnny Flynn playing Dickie with so much insecurity proves a great contrast to Jude Law’s über confidence.

But the whole “based on the Ripley novels by Patricia Highsmith” made me think we’d be branching out beyond the same plot Anthony Minghella’s film adapted. Because we definitely didn’t need eight hours to give us exactly what his two-and-a-half hours did. It’s all so drawn out here. So repetitive. Are they really going to have Tom freeze at the sight of police only to casually walk by with a wry smile every episode? Are we really going to spend twenty minutes watching him effortlessly clean up a murder scene with nothing more than a damp hand towel?

Sometimes I feel like Scott is playing Ripley in such a way that the show could have been an uproarious comedy. His reactions (the robe!), attitude, and actions all play with a sly humor that I wish Zaillian leaned into more. Because I often find myself wanting to laugh and stopping short because it’s all played so severely dramatic. It wants to be trashy while also chastising us for agreeing it should.

I don’t know. I’ll probably finish it this weekend and hope it wraps up well. But this is all I think I’m going to write about it—a few paragraphs of disappointment.

---

(L to R) Dakota Fanning as Marge Sherwood, Johnny Flynn as Dickie Greenleaf and Andrew Scott as Tom Ripley in RIPLEY. Cr. Courtesy of Netflix © 2024.