Although this isn’t a typical horror review for Biff Bam Pop’s Halloween collection, Granny felt that mankind’s sins make for better nightmares than any monster could muster.
East of Eden
I think I read East of Eden by John Steinbeck in my sophomore year of high school. I never saw the film version, but I feel that the Netflix limited series did the book justice. As a series, East of Eden was absolutely mesmerizing. Created by Zoe Kazan (her grandfather Elia Kazan directed the 1955 film) and starring Florence Pugh, Christopher Abbott, Mike Faist, Hoon Lee, Joseph Zada, Joe Anders, and Ciaran Hinds, East of Eden takes a hard look at multi-generational family dynamics, while pulling strongly from the biblical story of Cain and Abel.
It’s almost funny that I recently reviewed two other series that dealt with family trauma: Monsters: The Lizzie Borden Story and Mike Flanagan’s Carrie. Generational trauma is passed down through bloodlines until someone finally breaks the chains. And the one who always breaks the chains is the black sheep.
East of Eden, both in the book and the limited series, showed what happens when a father berates, bullies, or neglects his children…especially his sons. Yes, in Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story, it was both stepmother and father who tormented and neglected Lizzie, and in Carrie, it was also both mother and father’s strict conspiracy theories that kept Carrie unprepared for a savage world…but in East of Eden what got me thinking deeply about the series was the actual bible story of Cain and Abel.
The biblical God is a bully. First, he tempts Adam and Eve by placing food- red, juicy apples- right in the middle of the garden, and after his creations show some independence, he casts them out of Eden. Same with the story of Cain and Abel. God purposely shuns Cain’s gifts, while praising Abel…and then acts shocked when Cain offs his brother. Don’t even get me started on God sacrificing his only son. There is no better horror story than a vengeful God.
It was genius of Steinbeck to incorporate this bipolar God mindset into his novel. The series drives the message home with a sledgehammer as Adam (Christopher Abbott) and Charles (Mike Faist) grow up under the thumb of a cold-hearted, abusive father (Tracy Letts). The series really highlighted the rift created between brothers, but also the love that is restored when Adam returns to the farm and Charles.
Florence Pugh steals the show as Cathy, the woman who shows up on the Trask porch. The series gave us time to really study each character. Pugh’s character was portrayed eloquently as evil to the core. We were never expected to forgive, and most of us had trouble understanding what made her go bad. Every kindness is answered with betrayal. Was Cathy a sociopath? Florence Pugh definitely gave a chilling and believable performance.
But even Satan has a counterbalance, and that came with the outstanding acting of both Hoon Lee and Ciaran Hinds. The scenes where both men were together were the most enjoyable part of the series. They not only stepped in for Adam when he ignored his sons, played by Jonah Wren Phillips and Bodhi Aisher, and later as teens, Joseph Zada (Cal) and Joe Anders (Aron), but their conversations were very deep and often questioned the follies of men. I binged-watched this series twice because of Hoon Lee and Ciaran Hinds. Now, that is what I call devotion.
Lee’s interest in philosophy and psychology leads him to translate the biblical story of Adam and Eve’s famous sons, Cain and Abel, into Hebrew. Everything begins to fall into place as we watch how Cathy (Florence Pugh) worms her way into power after a kindly madame (Martha Plimpton) welcomes Cathy into the fold. The same question keeps haunting the characters. Is the Trask family cursed? Is mankind cursed? Was Cain cursed?
Conclusion with Spoilers
Hey! Granny is getting philosophical here, so of course there will be spoilers. Every single act, both in the book and the series, leads to one conclusion…curses.
Can family curses be reversed? Were the sons of Adam Trask cursed? Did God allow Cain to be his own creation with the word, Timshel?
Was Pugh’s Cathy the devil, or a victim of circumstances beyond her control?
You can let me know your thoughts after you watch the series on Netflix.
