Implications Of "patricia Highsmith" ("wide Open")

[Guest kulturhack]

I'm new to this forum and first did a search on this topic, but found nothing. If this has been discussed elsewhere, my apologies.

In the "Wide Open" episode, the full name of Patricia, the spared little girl from from the opening murders, is revealed at the very end--it is Patricia Highsmith. This is an obvious reference to the controversial mystery writer of the same name. Highsmith is best known as the creator of murderous sociopath Tom Ripley (The Talented Mr Ripley, among other novels) and the book that Strangers on a Train (later a Hitchock film).

Given the logic of the "Wide Open" episode, that cruelty begets cruelty (the murder is revealed to have witnessed the torture and murder of his own parents), is the implication of the little girl's name--Highsmith, the figurative mother of Tom Ripley (coupled with shot of Catherine crying) that the girl is also forever scarred and fated to pass on the cruely to her own children (as metaphorically suggested by Tom Ripley)?

If this is true, it makes "Wide Open" one of the grimest episodes in the series (not said as a criticism) and cleverest--a seemingly happy ending that, subtextually, isn't.

And thoughts? Or alternate explanation why the little girl is Patricia Highsmith's namesake?

[Guest jamjardi]

Nice catch.

I think you're right on and that there is a subtext along those lines that she may potentially continue the cycle.

[Guest se7en]

....makes me want to know more about Highsmith's work if this is true, and i doubt that it likely is.

~FASCINATING,

se7en

[Guest kulturhack]

Regarding Highsmith, the mystery writer, I believe that there were five Tom Ripley books--each unsettling in a way is often captured by Millennium. The latest Ripley film weirdly went directly to DVD because of a botched distribution deal. It brilliantly stars John Malkovitch. The killer line is something along the lines of "I used to worry about getting caught--then I realized no one was watching."

I'd be interested in the most recent commentor not believing that the Highsmith reference means a not-happy-ending. What do you think the intent is?

Thanks.