Novels don’t come much more ambitious than John Steinbeck’s East of Eden, a 600-page doorstopper, covering three generations of life in rural California. And so, any adaptation of the book must be commensurately grand in scope. It’s a perfect source, then, for a lush, thoughtful new Netflix mini-series, which can unfurl the tragedy of the Trask family, page by page.
Adam Trask (Christopher Abbott) and his half-brother Charles (Mike Faist) are raised by their stern tycoon father, Cyrus (Tracy Letts). While Adam is his father’s favourite, his service in the Civil War estranges the men and, when he returns, their family life is irrevocably altered. Enter Cathy (Florence Pugh), a young woman on the run from a violent past. “You’re so kind to me, and I’ll only bring you trouble,” she warns Adam. Soon enough she is pregnant with twins and Adam is relocating the family, against Cathy’s desires, to California. The move brings them to the sweeping plains of the Salinas Valley, into contact with Irish farmer Samuel Hamilton (Ciarán Hinds) and Chinese servant Lee (Hoon Lee, on superb form), and towards the disaster that will sweep them ever further away from Eden.
