Ripley, the character, is wierd and boring at all times. No-one would invite him to stay at their house. How can you care about characters this slight? In all the time we meet Dickie we get very little sense of him, or for that matter Marge.
Ripley the series is just too slow and unengaging. The choice to have a female character play Freddy is jarring. The black and white is pretty at times but it robs Italy of its colour. Just watch the film.