East of Eden on Netflix: series review

It took us a while but we watched “East of Eden” on Netflix It takes some time to follow the new Netflix series based on John Steinbeck’s novel, but it’s worth it

Some might think that Zoe Kazan‘s decision to adapt East of Eden was a reckless one. The actress, screenwriter, and director is none other than the granddaughter of Elia Kazan, who in 1955 had brought the adaptation of John Steinbeck’s novel to the big screen. A film that went down in history also for the debut of its lead, a very young James Dean, who went from aspiring star to eternal icon thanks in no small part to his work in the adaptation of the ’52 novel. Comparison with her grandfather was impossible to avoid, but the fascination the author had always felt for the story of the Trask family was strong enough to push the pressure of inevitable comparison into the background, ultimately leading her to create the eight episodes of the Netflix series.

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The first thing Zoe Kazan did differently from her grandfather — a two-time Oscar winner for Best Director and recipient of an honorary Academy Award in 1999 — was to restore what the film had cut from the original story. The version crafted by the screenwriter and co-showrunner alongside Jeb Stuart digs deeper to uncover the roots of Steinbeck’s profound themes, in which the concepts of good, evil, and everything that might lie in between hold sway. The Manichaean dichotomy of East of Eden has always been the most uncompromising and deeply human element of Steinbeck’s narrative. These are concepts the characters agonize over, feeling defined by a legacy they believe they carry within themselves — one that determines who they are as creatures on this earth.

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It is in the unexpected shading between opposites that an answer is found. Through the concept of timshel as explained in the series, the protagonists come to understand that, despite what we call “our nature,” it is the choices we make that define us — not who we believe ourselves to be through divine infusion or genetic inheritance. It is what we choose to say, to do, and how we behave that shapes our essence, our inner self. These are torments that James Dean wrestled with profoundly in the film, and they remain central to a show that reaches further back to provide a broader family portrait in which to encounter the character of Caleb, this time played by Joseph Zada.

@netflix when cathy ames became kate #EastOfEdenNetflixoriginal sound – Netflix

Kazan focuses on the figure of Cathy, placing her at the center where the film had left her on the margins, giving dignity to the female dimension and exploring a complexity that begins with the woman and then extends to the fate of her children. Florence Pugh is magnificent, channeling the destructive energy of a diabolical person whose scar on her face serves as the mark of her soul’s corruption. A performance that supports the writing of a character who can indeed be called evil, yet one the narrative wants you to fully understand through every mitigating circumstance. To condemn her, too — with a small part of the viewer ultimately finding themselves able to place the blame.

@netflixuk MIKE FAIST LINE DELIVERY #EastOfEdenoriginal sound – NetflixUK

And so Netflix’s East of Eden achieves something remarkable. It immerses itself more fully in John Steinbeck’s story, whereas the 1955 film had focused only on the family tree and the relationships between its protagonists, while still marking a certain passing of the torch from her grandfather’s work. Beyond that, it allows Zoe Kazan to devote herself to an adaptation that absorbs the depth of the literature from which the story springs, making every episode on the platform feel rich and substantial. This is a series that demands you take your time with it — to enter each episode fully, to feel the weight it carries, so that it stays with you long after it ends. Stories that seep under the skin like the emotional baggage of those who came before us, who shaped and influenced us, only to remind us that, in the end, it is we alone who get to decide who we are or who we want to become.