Based on Patricia Highsmith’s famous crime novel The Talented Mr. Ripley, Netflix’s Ripley is created, written, and directed by Steven Zaillian (renowned for writing a bunch of famous films like Schindler’s List, Moneyball, and The Irishman) and presents Andrew Scott as Tom Ripley. The show, set in 1960, is shot in glorious black and white by Robert Elswit. In comparison to other adaptations, this one takes a detailed look at the character, helped by Scott’s scintillating central performance. Drawing on film-noir and early Hitchcockian thrills, the series stands out on its own, thanks to some fine work both behind and in front of the camera.
In the following article, I will discuss the show’s various twists and turns in detail. Please be aware of spoilers!
Ripley Episode 1 “I A HARD MAN TO FIND” Recap:
Tom Ripley (Andrew Scott) lives in New York in a low-life establishment but does nothing concrete for work other than posing as an accounting agency and scamming people for a living. From the looks of it, we can understand that he doesn’t want anyone to know that he is poor. He is always well-dressed, walks like an aristocrat, and only goes out to the bar, which is far away from his lodging.
One of these days, a private eye tracks him down and discusses his old acquaintance Richard ‘Dickie’ Greenleaf (Johnny Flynn). He leaves a visiting card for him to contact Mr. Greenleaf for a possible job. While initially Tom shows no interest, he later decides to take up the meeting with Mr. Greenleaf when one of his scams does not pan out the way he had planned.
Mr. Greenleaf is a rich fellow who owns a company that makes ships. He straightaway offers him a job that involves getting his only son, who now lives in a small town in Italy, back to New York. He promises an all-expense-paid trip to Atrani, Italy, where Dickie lives in a beach-facing villa with all his expenses paid by his father. Tom travels to Atrani and introduces himself to Dickie and his girlfriend, Marge (Dakota Fanning), as an old friend he knows from his time in New York.
We can clearly see that Tom is taken by the lavish life that Dickie is living and wants a part of it. While he checks into a nearby hotel, we can see him holding Dickie’s fountain pen, practicing calling himself Dickie in the mirror.
Ripley Episode 2 “II SEVEN MERCIES” Recap:
Episode 2 of Ripley opens with a surprise as Tom comes clean about his reasons for being there despite lying to Dickie earlier. This makes him instantly relatable and trustworthy for Dickie, who then takes him to Marge. While her reaction to the truth still comes with some kind of skepticism, she doesn’t say anything about it, even when Dickie offers Tom to leave his hotel and take up the empty room in his villa.
Tom and Dickie’s friendship grows deeper as they go out to Naples to see some art. While they are out bonding, one of Dickie’s old acquaintances, Freddie (Eliot Sumner), recognizes Tom and grows suspicious about him even though nothing substantial is hinted at this point.
On Dickie’s request, Tom makes an effort to gel up with Marge by offering to edit the book she is writing about Atrani. However, we can sense a foreboding jealousy in him because she is closer to Dickie than him. Later, when Dickie and Marge are supposedly at the beach, Tom creepily gets into Dickie’s clothes and starts acting like him. While he is self-talking, Dickie runs in on him and confronts him about his queerness.
Despite the obvious red flags, the instance with the Italian mafia, him opening Dickie’s letter without his permission (Dickie is still unaware of it), and now him openly critiquing Marge and their relationship, Dickie still forgives Tom. His full-blown jealousy towards Marge may be forgiven because when Tom says that Dickie doesn’t love Marge but Marge loves Dickie, there’s some truth to it.
Ripley Episode 3 “III SOMMERSO” Recap:
Episode 3 opens with laid-back vibes as Tom slowly starts settling into his new life in Italy. He is now taking Italian lessons and hanging around the house, accompanying Marge and Dickie to things like buying a refrigerator. Although he is against the idea of the comfort that the rich enjoy, his thoughts are left unheard.
On one of these days, Tom receives a letter from Mr. Greenleaf telling him that he has ‘failed’ in doing what he was supposed to do and that his ‘services’ are no longer required. This irks him, and he gets obsessed with knowing what the letter addressed to Tom by his father says about him. He tries his best to overhear what the couple discuss about him, but all he can figure out is the revelation of his deception towards Dickie.
We are now aware that Marge and Dickie want to get rid of Tom. What they don’t know, however, is that Tom also knows what their next step would be. Any normal person would straight away reveal the truth, but since Dickie comes from a place of privilege, he feels that he is obligated to end things with Tom in a more respectful manner.
Both Marge and Dickie plan a getaway to San Remo for Tom’s goodbye but tell him that it’s a trip that he and Dickie will be taking. Next, we see the two men traveling to San Remo with Tom trying to read through Dickie’s calm demeanor, closely eying his ring, and trying to figure out what must be going through his mind. The trip is only making Tom more aware of Dickie’s inability to really confront him straight away. He also notices his homophobic nature while they are on the beach, and a bunch of people are making a human pyramid.
Why does Tom kill Dickie?
Later, Dickie hires a motorboat, and the two men sail off far into the sea, where he finally stops to confront Tom. However, even now, he presents himself as a good person who wishes Tom well and tells him that he and Marge will be spending Christmas at Freddie’s home, essentially leaving Tom to fend for himself. Instead of telling him to fuck off, Dickie acts righteous and offers his sympathies to Tom for not being able to convince him to go to New York and deceiving his father.
The storm that has been building inside Tom finally comes out, and he confronts Dickie telling him off for not seeing through him when he essentially wanted some company and his respect. He then takes the shaft in the boat and hits Dickie over the head multiple times until he breathes his last.
However, things don’t end there; Steven Zaillian’s brilliant writing comes to play, and what we get is an elaborate sequence that shows us Tom first trying to get rid of Dickie’s body but failing again and again. This is not a planned murder, and the sloppy nature of the whole sequence makes it all the more believable.
Tom Ripley is a problematic character, but he is not a born criminal, at least not for now. Sure, he has scammed people all his life, but taking someone’s life and getting obsessed with his identity is psychopathic behavior that slowly develops through the first three episodes.
The ending of Ripley Episode 3 finds Tom disposing of the boat near one of the shores and walking back to the hotel. Even though the hotel manager is doubtful about him, Tom somehow manages to take his stuff and get to the train station. The final moments of the episode show Tom finally imbibing the psychopath that he has become by putting on Dickie’s ring that he stole from his dead body.
Ripley Episode 4 “IV LA DOLCE VITA” Recap:
While looking over his shoulder for fear of being caught, Tom returns to Atrani with more confidence than ever. It seems like he has a plan set for himself, and the first thing he does is talk to Marge about what transpired in San Remo. He tells her that Dickie has decided to go to Rome, and Tom is supposed to round up his belongings and meet him there. He ensures that Marge is aware that Dickie wants to take a break from their relationship and hasn’t completed what the two of them discussed about Tom before their little vacation.
The next few sequences see Tom rounding off Dickie’s essentials, including the Picasso painting, learning to forge his signature, and firing the maid from her longtime job. He leaves for Rome, telling Marge about their communication route through the American Express postal service. He also takes a pit stop at Naples and meets Carlo, the Italian mafia member we saw in one of the previous episodes, and establishes a deal to sell off Dickie’s boat.
On reaching Rome, he checks into a lavish hotel that Dickie once mentioned but has to leave soon when Marge contacts him there. He then moves to another establishment and slowly starts becoming Dickie himself. He forges his own picture into Dickie’s passport and even successfully manages to take out money from his account. To make everything aligned to his liking, he writes a letter to Marge posing as Dickie and yet again takes Tom’s (his own) side. While Marge is still not convinced about Tom’s eccentric, scamming personality, she doesn’t take any drastic steps because Tom, through his scheming ways, has managed to manipulate the situation in his favor.
Why did Tom ask Carlo to transfer the money to his account?
Parallels to Caravaggio, the famous Italian painter, seem to point at Tom’s obsession with overtaking Dickie’s personality and making sure that he keeps all the loose ends on his side. Meanwhile, Carlo finds a buyer for the boat, and just to keep things in check, Tom asks him to transfer the amount in his name instead of Dickie’s.
Episode 4 ends with a letter that Tom writes on behalf of Dickie to his parents, ensuring that they are aware of his presence in Rome and the slight chance that he might come back home, all thanks to Tom.
Ripley Episode 5 “V LUCIO” Recap:
Episode 5 opens with a distinct nightmare that pushes Tom to peruse the newspapers to ascertain if Dickie’s death has been reported yet. Convinced of this, we see him renting a super comfortable apartment from an unmarried middle-aged landlady, played by renowned Italian actress Margherita Buy. Apart from the wonky lift, everything else in the apartment feels just right for Tom, who is slowly molding his life into that of Dickie’s. He even goes ahead and brings Dickie’s canvas, starting to paint and adding his own small touches to his life there. He writes to Marge, letting her know that he has moved to an apartment but is not yet ready to meet her. We briefly see one of the concierges at the American Express office realizing that Tom is now going by Dickie Greenleaf’s name. The lies are piling up, but there’s no stopping Tom – not even the stairs that keep bringing him down.
On one of these days, since Tom has rented the apartment in Dickie’s name, he finds Freddie on his doorstep. Tom tries to stay calm and continues to lie to him about Dickie’s whereabouts, claiming that he has gone out to run an errand and will be back soon. Freddie waits for a while, but when he doesn’t manage to get anything out of Tom, he leaves. However, when he is downstairs, he is startled by the fact that the landlady claims that Dickie (Tom) is in the apartment and hasn’t gone out for an errand. This makes him come back up, only this time he doesn’t get out alive. Freddie is more confrontational and direct, and when Tom fears that he might expose his secrets, he takes the ashtray and hits him over the head, bleeding him to death.
Much like the episode in which Dickie died, the rest of ‘LUCIO’ is all about Tom figuring out how to dispose of Freddie’s dead body. He first goes through his things to discover the key to a car, which he double-checks on the street and then returns. On the go, he uses Freddie’s scarf to clean the overflowing blood and then decides to wait for the nightfall. An idea strikes his mind, and he decides to make it look like a drunken accident. He pours some whiskey down Freddie’s throat and then drags him to the elevator, which gets stuck midway.
Ripley Episode 5 “V LUCIO” Ending Explained:
Why does Tom throw away Freddie’s passport and wallet?
The opening of the show finally unfolds, and we see Tom dragging Freddie’s dead corpse down the stairs, spilling blood all over. He then drives to the outskirts of Rome and abandons the body in the car. Afterward, he takes a taxi, cleans most of the blood off the stairs and elevator, and then sits down, only to return to the disposal spot to steal Freddie’s passport and wallet. He then discards them so that when the police find Freddie’s body, it would not allow them to identify him straight away, giving Tom ample time to strategize his next move.
The ending of episode 5 shows Tom taking a sigh of relief, but blood stains can still be seen on the floor of the building. Will this lead to Tom’s downfall?
Ripley Episode 6 “VI SOME HEAVY INSTRUMENT” Recap:
Episode 6 is where the house of cards starts to tumble down for Tom Ripley. After ensuring that the newspapers have no news about the mishap in San Remo, Freddie’s dead body is bound to be found. A police officer discovers the abandoned car and calls for dispatch, which eventually leads Inspector Pietro Ravini (Maurizio Lombardi) to be assigned to the case.
Tom had assumed that the police would take ample time to reach him since he had taken away details of Freddie’s identity, but he forgot to check the car’s glove compartment, which leads Ravini first to the rental car company, then to the hotel Excelsior, and then to Tom’s place (Greenleaf) before he can pack up and leave. Ravini sits down and questions Tom, assuming he is Richard Greenleaf, about Freddie coming to his apartment before getting killed. A very skilled Tom is able to act his way through the entire conversation, saying exactly the things that the inspector wants to hear and he wants to plant. He also tells the inspector that Freddie was an alcoholic with an interest in strange men that he would often pick up from the streets.
Tom, who wants to be rid of the investigation, tells the inspector that before he came knocking on his door, he was about to leave Palermo. The inspector instructs him that until he finds something concrete about Freddie’s case, he is not allowed to leave.
Meanwhile, in Atrani, Marge is shocked to know that Dickie has sold his beloved boat. This makes her write him a letter showing concern about the same. She also reads the newspaper to discover that Dickie is being investigated for Freddie’s murder. On the other hand, the police in San Remo also discover the missing boat with bloodstains on it, raising further questions about Richard Greenleaf’s involvement in all of it. Tom Ripley’s name reaches Inspector Ravini, who visits Tom (Greenleaf) again, this time to question his acquaintance with ‘Thomas Ripley’.
Tom unfurls his usual set of lies exactly as he had planned, also planting seeds of doubt in the inspector’s mind about Marge. The inspector allows him to travel to Palermo with the condition of informing him about his place of stay. He then leaves, but within seconds Tom receives a call from Marge asking about Dickie’s whereabouts. Tom, being Tom, is able to lie his way through again, asking Marge to meet at a nearby cafe. He plants an idea of Dickie avoiding her to an extent where she is somewhat aware that he wants to leave her for him. The episode ends with Tom leaving for Palermo.
Ripley Episode 7 “VII MACABRE ENTERTAINMENT” Recap:
Assuming that being away from Rome would slow things down, Tom finally reaches Palermo. However, he is closely monitored both by Inspector Ravini and the local press. Since the cards are coming crashing down, Tom receives an urgent notice from the bank about a possible forgery of signature, asking him to report to his nearest branch for identification.
We see Tom soaking in the Roman beauty of the place as he updates Dickie’s parents, Marge, and the bank with his well-planned and written letters. Since he keeps writing about how good a person Tom is, we are now aware that the seed of doubt in Marge’s mind has finally taken root.
Meanwhile, Detective Ravini visits Marge in Atrani and questions what she knows about Tom Ripley. In the inspector’s eye, Tom has been missing in action since San Remo and Richard ‘Dickie’ Greenleaf might be responsible for it. However, Marge, who had recently been to Rome and met Tom, is unable to come square with everything the inspector asks. Since Tom’s lies have made both of them reach a conflicting midpoint, this discussion only leads to more confusion for Inspector Ravini, who now needs to follow Tom Ripley’s presence in Rome too.
Marge’s final letter to Dickie makes Tom breathe a sigh of relief because she now assumes that Dickie has left her for Tom and turned queer for some reason. However, she is forced to go to Rome to answer further questions from Inspector Ravini, who is mad at her for sending him down the wrong lane about Thomas Ripley’s presence in Rome. Her confrontation with the inspector doesn’t lead to a positive conclusion for her as she is now a suspect as well because she claims to not like Tom and clearly points out that he might have something to do with Freddie’s death.
Tom, on the other hand, changes hotel on being harassed by the press, and we can slowly see him seeping back down to his own existence rather than the one that he has been posing as for a while. The downtrodden hotel room is a sign that Tom needs to slow down.
The local police of Palermo visit Tom (Greenleaf) at his new hotel and instruct him to come down to Rome because Inspector Ravini wishes to question him about Thomas Ripley. Tom is to take a ferry the same night and reach Rome to meet the inspector. However, he instead goes to his apartment in Rome, picks up the belongings attributed to Tom, and leaves for Venice instead.
Why does Tom go to Venice?
Assuming that Tom might not be able to be Dickie anymore, he will now possibly show up as Tom’s presence in Venice, all the while also enjoying the beauty of the place and avoiding further investigation. Basically, he would want the investigation to turn back to Dickie being a suspect and on the loose.
Ripley Finale Episode 8 “VIII NARCISSUS” Recap:
The series finale of Ripley draws direct parallels again between Caravaggio and Tom Ripley. In a way, the show is not just about a poor person taking over the life of a rich person but also about how art and its nature don’t just inspire but also push both great and shallow people towards doing something monumental. Tom Ripley is a con-artist – so there’s some kind of artistry in being able to manipulate, deceive, and get away with something as macabre as murder.
Tom is now in Venice and has leased a beautiful and gigantic palace by the picturesque Grand Canal. He is no longer posing as Richard Greenleaf and signs the documents as himself. Meanwhile, in Palermo, the inspector who was assigned to look after Dickie informs Inspector Ravini that Greenleaf has vanished. We can clearly see that Tom, yet again, is eager to start afresh after trying to live the big life twice before. He buys his usual identifiers – an ashtray, wine, a Caravaggio coffee table book, and a new satin robe (an upgrade from his earlier taste).
The investigation takes multiple different turns as Richard Greenleaf, now absconding, is attributed to Tom Ripley’s missing case. Then, when Tom presents himself to the Venice Police, the investigation turns towards him, and he brings the cavalry right to his doorsteps again. Only this time, he has the guiding ‘light’ of Italian art helping him through deceiving Inspector Ravini. On questioning Tom, who is pretty convincing as a different version of himself in front of the inspector, he is convinced that Greenleaf has vanished because he is guilty of Freddie’s murder.
Tom now starts becoming a sort of royalty in Venice as he is invited to parties hosted by the posh crowd. He finds himself out of place but is able to trace his tribe even there. He briefly meets Reeves (John Malkovich in a nice callback to 2002’s Ripley’s Game), who offers him his card in case he needs any help. He is only settling into the newness of his identity; his phone rings again, and Marge is on his doorstep. She is outright in calling out how he managed to rent such a huge place, but no one is better than Tom when it comes to lies, and he is able to convince an always skeptical Marge of his innocence. However, he is least interested in her sticking around, but she sort of captures the place like he did back in Atrani.
He slips only once during all his confrontations when he confuses himself as Dickie while talking to Marge. Later, when she finds Dickie’s rings in Tom’s room, it feels like we are about to witness our third murder, but the occurrence of the ring only makes things easier for Tom thereafter. Dickie’s father, who has traveled all the way to Venice along with the private investigator we met in the first episode, is convinced that since Dickie is missing and all the signs planted by Tom point towards Dickie’s depression, he must have killed himself.
Ripley Episode 8 “VIII NARCISSUS” Ending Explained:
The realization that Dickie has, in fact, killed himself comes from the letter that Tom (posing as Greenleaf) wrote to his landlady in Rome. The letter almost reads like something a person who has lost hope in life would write. This puts an end to both Marge’s lack of closure on Dickie’s end and Dickie’s father’s unwillingness to accept that his son may have disappeared. The two of them leave for New York, bidding goodbye to Tom.
Is Tom caught for his crimes?
The ending of Netflix’s limited series Ripley shows Tom meeting up with Reeves, who has arranged a British passport for him by the name of Mr. Timothy Fanshaw, essentially hinting towards the fact that Tom is aware that it’s time to move on to the next place before things pile up against his favor.
The very end of the series shows Inspector Ravini receiving Marge’s new photographic book on Atrani where she has put an image of the real Richard Greenleaf in her dedication. Will the inspector open up the case again and go against Tom Ripley? Well, that’s a question we will never know an answer for but knowing Tom’s scheming, conniving ways, we know he will lie his way through it as well.
Ripley ‘Netflix’ Miniseries Review:
Tonally, Steven Zaillian’s rendition of the infamous character is more inclined toward black comedy than a straightforward crime thriller. The slow-burn approach and the sequences that go on for a little too long are the true highlights of the Netflix adaptation. The sequence where Tom walks up and down the stairs or the one where he is casually disinterested in the refrigerator serves as important plot points despite them feeling completely irrelevant.
Despite the crux being about Ripley’s sociopathic behavior, Zaillian manages to make Ripley relatable and empathetic. We see the show through his point of view, which is why most of the rich-people-shenanigans feel odd and cringe-worthy. Thanks to Andrew Scott’s standout performance, for the first time, the queer nature of Tom Ripley doesn’t feel like a tacked-on element. The organic nature of this crime thriller makes it constantly watchable and one of the best products that Netflix has put out in a while.
