East of Eden TV review — Florence Pugh is unleashed in a pungent retelling of Steinbeck

{"text":[[{"start":null,"text":"

"}],[{"start":9.2,"text":"The story behind this masterful adaptation of John Steinbeck’s epic 1952 novel is almost as intriguing as the series itself. The Hollywood director Elia Kazan, as famous for films such as A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) and On the Waterfront (1954) as he is notorious for naming names during the McCarthy-era Red Scare, directed the 1955 movie version. Starring James Dean as Cal Trask, that film took the final part of the novel as its focus, sidelining its most intriguing character, the ruthless madam, and Cal’s mother, Cathy Ames."}],[{"start":46.099999999999994,"text":"Now, 70 years later, Elia’s actor-writer granddaughter Zoe Kazan has taken the story on, and it is quite a departure from the version adapted for the screen by Paul Osborn and directed by her grandfather. She rightly restores Cathy to the centre of the tale and, with seven hours to work with rather than the movie’s two, she is able to follow Steinbeck’s sprawling novel more fully. "}],[{"start":70.55,"text":"The result is a handsome adaptation that is largely faithful to the text, exploring the author’s vision of good versus evil, and free will versus predestination, against the backdrop of a rapidly changing America. It feels out of time — in a good way — and it works so well that you can practically hear Netflix ordering a new trophy cabinet. "}],[{"start":92.69999999999999,"text":"East of Eden is a sprawling family saga which takes place over many decades, beginning in the 1860s, during the American Civil War, and ending at the close of the first world war. But the concerns of this reimagining are plain from the start. "}],[{"start":107.99999999999999,"text":"It opens with a bloodied, gravely injured woman crawling on to the porch of the Trask ranch in Connecticut. We will come to know her as Cathy (or Kate) Ames, played by a fabulously ripe and ragged Florence Pugh. Beaten beyond recognition and near to death, she is taken in by brothers Adam and Charles Trask (Christopher Abbott and Mike Faist). Adam nurses her back to health, then asks her to be his wife."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":135.1,"text":"The first episode is steady and respectful, flashing back to the origins of the brothers’ domestic set-up. We see them being raised in Connecticut by their bloody-minded military father Cyrus (Tracy Letts), who favours the gentle Adam over the violent Charlie. The latter’s brutality repulses his father, but Cyrus’s love of war in turn repels Adam. And so the family slowly and painfully splinters."}],[{"start":161.6,"text":"While this Cain-and-Abel rivalry provides a stable framework, there are two key characters with whom this adaptation is clearly more enamoured. Lee (Hoon Lee), who becomes Adam and Cathy’s servant when they move to California, is a Chinese-American intellectual whose life in service demands a complex display of code-switching and sacrifice. This is a delicate and deeply moving portrayal of a fascinating man. "}],[{"start":186.54999999999998,"text":"But it is when Pugh is unleashed as the loveless, furious Cathy that the series truly begins to soar. Her back-story is told with similar care, and when she becomes Kate, a powerful brothel-keeper who knows where all the bodies are buried, it turns into an irresistible gothic fable."}],[{"start":204.39999999999998,"text":"This is a pungent retelling that does not wear its melodrama lightly. Some viewers may find it a little too ripe, but it also feels appropriately old-Hollywood and grand. The only real indication that this is a product of the 21st century is the insistence on empathy. Even the series’ most pitiless characters are given justifications for their villainous behaviour. That modern touch nudges East of Eden into yet another century — and this opulent and persuasive adaptation proves that it belongs here."}],[{"start":236.34999999999997,"text":"★★★★★"}],[{"start":236.64999999999998,"text":"On Netflix from October 1"}],[{"start":248.5,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1790859450_3061.mp3"}