Highsmith was always fascinated by Venice ; her novel "those who walk away" and her short story "the rat of Venice " would bear this out. It was only natural that the novel (and the miniseries) should end in the stately palaces of this magic city ;in spite of an occasional gaffe , this final episode ,the longest of them all, is an apotheosis.
To confront the superintendent and newly-born Ripley ,without arousing the cop's suspicion is a scene hard to swallow -Highsmith did not include such an implausibility - ;although he's got the gift of the gab and he was a born impersonator , Ripley is not Arsène Lupin ,all the same!
The rest is excellent : the old art amateur (special guest appearance by John Malkovich !), Marge revealing her true colors -actually a self-interested girl who uses her ex-lover's affair to launch her book , she's nothing but a fortune hunter , says Greenleaf Sr-, the relevant intervention of the black private eye we met in the first episode ,and the way Ripley imagines how his questioning could be ; in the same way ,he imagines the murder of Marge even when he has no motives but his contempt ,,and the trick of the signet ring with Ripley holding a heavy ashtray , echoing Freddy's slaying , is Hitchcockesque .
Stephen Zaillian is to be praised for his precise directing ,his aesthetic sense as he films on location the riches of Italian art and architecture .
Although he does not inherit Dickie's fortune, Tom possesses something of great value which may be a forerunner of season two ,as Tom makes his way through the world of forgeries in the second book "Ripley under ground"
