The prestige-TV-ification of “East of Eden” is complete: a seven-episode miniseries based on John Steinbeck’s classic novel premières on Netflix today. Set over some forty years, beginning in the late nineteenth century, it stars Florence Pugh as Cathy Ames, who bedevils two generations of men in the Trask family, from a farmhouse in Connecticut to a whorehouse in California. The show was created by Zoe Kazan, whose grandfather, Elia Kazan, directed the 1955 film adaptation starring James Dean. Zoe’s version is “more ambitious,” the New Yorker’s television critic Inkoo Kang writes in her review, “and similarly uneven: glossy and unsubtle, yet full of surprises and suspense.” Kang has mixed feelings about it. I called her to discuss what works and what doesn’t.
The following conversation has been edited and condensed.
Is this a good show?
I would say it’s a very uneven show. Florence Pugh is amazing as Cathy Ames, who is the villain of the series. Every moment that Pugh was onscreen, I just couldn’t get enough. Hoon Lee plays Lee, the Chinese American character from the book, and he beautifully humanizes a chapter of Chinese American history that very rarely gets depicted in pop culture.
Those two were sort of like the sun and the moon for me, with regard to what I was pulled toward while watching. But, the rest of the show, to me, was just terribly uneven.
What were the weak spots?
It’s generally very hard to do a multigenerational saga on the screen. Viewers tend to get attached to one character, and when that character disappears to be replaced by a whole new set of characters, who then become the protagonists, it becomes hard to be as emotionally invested.
The watchable parts of the show are really watchable, but it couldn’t quite overcome the challenge of adapting multigenerational fiction for the screen.
One of the bright spots for you was the second episode. You wrote that it is “a strong contender for the best hour of television this year.” That’s very high praise! What makes it work?
Florence Pugh.
That’s it. End answer.
The second episode gives us her character’s backstory. Without giving too much away, every time you feel like you get a handle on who this character is and what she’s capable of, she reveals new, darker layers to herself. At the same time, she is very much a victim of her era and of gendered violence, and so the cynicism that drives her is really understandable. The show frames her as this very small, tiny thing, so there’s an inherent cinematic quality to watching this little tiny creature essentially defeat everyone that she comes into contact with.
You wrote that it’s one of the best performances of her career.
Yeah. I love her as an actress, but this part allows her a depth that I don’t think I have seen from her before.
What about the other performances? If you were handing out awards—
Hoon Lee! I think this is one of those performances that puts an actor on the map. I have seen him in “Your Friends and Neighbors,” and I liked him in that, but he didn’t have that much to do. Watching “East of Eden,” you truly get to experience all that he’s capable of—he is just able to be so many different things in one role. He is really wise and eloquent, but also really funny and tender. He plays a character who, because of all the legal restrictions put on people of Chinese descent in that era, is not supposed to be a complete person—and yet he blossoms, and works to remake his life. It’s a really beautiful journey.
The other actor who I absolutely loved is Mike Faist. I very much enjoyed him in “West Side Story” and in “Challengers”; he often plays someone who is never going to be the chosen one, and he just knows how to play that really well. You can almost see the lurch in his guts when he realizes that.
How is Zoe Kazan’s adaptation of the book?
It’s a remarkably faithful adaptation. She is able to condense the action of the book really well. A lot of faithful adaptations feel a little bit illogical because they’re following the reasoning of a bunch of characters, and it’s impossible for all their interiorities to be revealed onscreen. Kazan is able to make all the different events from the book feel very natural, which I think is quite hard to do. I really commend her on that.
Earlier this month, the White House announced that it would extend Temporary Protected Status for Salvadorans, whose legal basis to remain in the country was set to expire. Yet, in recent months, President Trump has ended T.P.S. for people from Haiti, Afghanistan, Cameroon, Honduras, Nepal, and Nicaragua. Why would the government suddenly delay doing the same for Salvadorans?
“Among the groups pushing Trump to pause his plans were lobbyists from the construction industry, which is heavily reliant on labor supplied by T.P.S. holders,” our immigration writer Jonathan Blitzer reports this week. Three sources with knowledge of the situation told Blitzer that the White House had been explicitly warned that cancelling T.P.S. would disrupt construction projects in Washington. Read or listen to the story »
- In the “Cornell Seven” rape case, the responses from both the D.A. and the university reveal a larger pattern of institutional carelessness, Jessica Winter writes.
As “Digger” hits theatres, the hosts of our Critics at Large podcast break down the many chapters of Tom Cruise’s career.
“The Journey,” the new five-part series from our In the Dark podcast, investigates a shocking surrogacy-industry scandal. The third episode dropped this week—it’s twisty and creepy, and I found it impossible to turn off. You can check it out here. (New Yorker subscribers can listen to the complete series right now, ad-free.)
The most-clicked item in yesterday’s newsletter was a look at the perils of driving one of America’s most dangerous roads.
- A book: For more Steinbeck, try his lesser-known “Cannery Row.” In 1944, our reviewer wrote that, of the author’s works, the novel was the one that he had “most enjoyed reading.”
A bite: Soup dumplings might be the perfect fall food. Find them at the Taiwanese chain Din Tai Fung, where the house specialty’s “delicate, whorled wrappers hold rich morsels of meat and an explosive splash of hot, savory broth.”
Another book: Barbara Kingsolver is partial to the poetry of Silas House.
- Today’s Crossword Puzzle: Green deluge at the Kids’ Choice Awards—five letters.
- Catalogues: Can you sort the items into the correct order?
- Shuffalo: Can you make a longer word with each new letter?
- Laugh Lines: Test your knowledge of classic New Yorker cartoons.
P.S. To kick off spooky season, could we interest you in a Stephen King short story about a dread-filled road trip? 💀
Austin Elias-de Jesus contributed to today’s edition.