Review: Netflix's East of Eden rides on Pugh and Hoon Lee

The story runs from just after the American Civil War to the first days of World War I. It starts on a Connecticut farm, where Cyrus raises Adam and Charles as rivals, then moves west to California's Salinas Valley once Adam marries Cathy. It isn't a remake of the 1955 film. That one was directed by Kazan's grandfather, Elia Kazan, starred James Dean and only covered the last part of the book. This version tries to fit the whole thing into seven hours.

Kazan told Netflix she leaned on Steinbeck's own working notes, the letters to his editor that were later published as Journal of a Novel. "Basically everything that's in the series has at least a root in the book," she said in Tudum's trailer story. The official trailer on Netflix's YouTube channel opens with Cathy in voiceover, reading lines Steinbeck gave his narrator: "I believe there are monsters born in this world to human parents."

Pugh's Cathy is the reason to watch

Nearly every critic puts Pugh first. At Variety, Alison Herman wrote that in Cathy, Pugh "gets a character who's constantly calculating as her position shifts over decades, from vulnerable girl to reluctant wife to skilled prostitute to grizzled madam." Then she added, "And making hidden depths legible on the surface is some of what Pugh does best." Herman said the early episodes, where Cathy turns up beaten and bloodied on the Trasks' doorstep, are where Pugh is "fantastic."

The New Yorker's Inkoo Kang went further. In her review, she called Pugh's work "a master class in physicality and flair, one of her career bests," and said Cathy becomes "a villain you can't help but root for." Kang named episode two, which tells Cathy's backstory, "a strong contender for the best hour of television this year."

At RogerEbert.com, Lacy Baugher wrote that "Pugh is mesmerizing as Cathy, removed, scheming and furious by turns." She called it "a surprisingly physical performance, full of subtly shifting facial expressions, loaded glances, and a posture that reflects the version of herself she wishes those in front of her to see." The Daily Beast's Nick Schager called the show a "superlative adaptation, anchored by a cunning, complex and captivating performance by Florence Pugh."

Not everyone thinks Kazan cracked the character, though. In the Guardian, Lucy Mangan wrote that "Pugh does what she can with the part," but "Cathy remains a spectacle to be ogled rather than a fully fledged character." Even so, her review's headline called it "brilliant, compelling TV."

Hoon Lee is the breakout

The second name in almost every review is Hoon Lee. He plays Lee, the Chinese American cook who all but raises Adam's twin boys. Kazan made the part bigger, and critics noticed. Herman wrote that "his calm, quietly wounded demeanor is just as essential to the show, and the way Lee grows more complex over time offsets the way Cathy is somewhat simplified." She also pointed out that one episode, a long stretch with Lee, was co-written by novelist Alexander Chee. It's the only one where Kazan doesn't have sole script credit.

The Hollywood Reporter's Daniel Fienberg called Lee "the real breakout." He wrote that "almost all my favorite scenes focus on Lee," and he pointed to a talk about a Bible word between Lee and Hinds's Samuel Hamilton. That scene matters, because it's where the book's big idea lives. The word is timshel, which Steinbeck renders as "thou mayest," meaning a choice, not a fate. Kang called Lee's turn "a breakthrough performance." Mangan wrote that the friendship between Hamilton and Lee "gives us a welcome chance to breathe," and she singled out Plimpton's Faye as "a lovely performance" too.

Where critics split

The complaints are pretty consistent. Several critics think the show sags when Cathy's off screen. Baugher wrote that Pugh's performance is "so commanding that other parts of the series can feel pale and underbaked in her absence," and that Adam is "largely a cipher." Kang said the later episodes are weaker, and that the rivalry between the brothers "hits diminishing returns when it reappears among their children."

Some of that comes down to money and time. Herman reported that Kazan first planned eight episodes, and you can feel the squeeze in the seven that got made. She also said production moved to New Zealand to save money, though she thought cinematographer Stuart Dryburgh "gets some stunning, sun-dappled vistas" out of its hills anyway. The Los Angeles Times' Robert Lloyd was harder on the look. He wrote that "the production here betrays its economy." Schager's one gripe was the lighting. He said the show "is often so overcast that it becomes incomprehensible."

The book's bigger themes are the other sticking point. Mangan called it a "high-quality family saga" that lacks "the heft it needs" as a look at human nature. Baugher said it "struggles to do justice to some of the story's larger moral and philosophical themes," but she still called it "deeply satisfying to watch."

The Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic scores, and the Daily Beast, Hollywood Reporter and LA Times quotes, come from Gold Derby's roundup.

Should you start it

If you like big literary adaptations with one towering performance in the middle, the reviews make a strong case. Herman wrote that even as "merely a sumptuous period piece, it would still be event viewing," and she credited production designer Grant Major, costume designer Kirsty Cameron and composer Laura Karpman with building a world "as specific as the Genesis story is universal." Kang called the show "glossy and unsubtle, yet full of surprises and suspense."

Be warned, it's grim. Cathy's story takes in arson, murder, abuse and the brothel trade, and the show doesn't look away. If you've read the book, you know that already.

At seven episodes, it's a manageable weekend. If you want more weekly drama after that, Apple TV's Dark Matter season two is still rolling out weekly until 30 October. Netflix's next big drama return is Black Doves season two on 5 November.

East of Eden is streaming on Netflix now. We haven't watched it ourselves, so this is what the critics and Netflix say.