East of Eden spoilers follow.
There are a lot of themes to unpack and threads to pull at when it comes to East of Eden. Netflix’s brand-new adaptation of the classic tale sees the story unfold across seven episodes, and the final one depicts a haunted Cathy Ames, now a shadow of her former self.
Having spent much of her life putting herself first, going to extreme and heinous lengths to be independent and not rely on anybody else, it’s a much more honest and vulnerable portrait of the character. Riddled with shame, perhaps even guilt, Cathy now spends a lot of time locked away on her own, distracting herself with background noise and imaginary conversations with a now-deceased Charles Trask.
Netflix
But are we to believe that her feelings for him were ever genuine? Aside from the fact that he was her husband’s brother, it became near-impossible to ascertain whether or not Cathy had affection for anyone in her life, let alone Charles. With him, the one that seemed to see through her outward charm, was the draw more about power and dominance?
Mike Faist, who played Charles in the Netflix series, told Digital Spy: “I think it goes back to that line that Steinbeck wrote, which is ‘kind recognises kind’.”
“This idea of people who maybe were born or nurtured into the belief that they have this innate badness inside of them, and their own wrestling within that,” Faist later added. “Of trying to be what is deemed as ‘good’… Whatever that might be, trying to fix this part of themself, that ultimately is them.”
“And I think that there is just this innate something, that is an unspoken something, that these two do recognise within each other,” he concluded of Charles and Cathy. “As they meet, they wrestle with that.”
“And there is a connection there,” Florence Pugh, who plays the central role of Cathy, explained. “I think that’s what’s terrifying.”
Netflix
“There’s a scene, when they’re leaving to California, and Charles comes to actually be affectionate towards her, and it’s this – I really recognise this, because I think in my life, when I received love that I didn’t know how to accept, I’d push it back. And there’s this moment where he asks if she can bring an orange back, and it’s really tender and beautiful, and she says, ‘you think I’m going to come back here?’, and it’s almost like, how dare you already assume that I share the same feelings that you share for me.”
“And there’s this really nasty rejection that doesn’t need to happen, she doesn’t need to be cruel, she doesn’t need to be that cold to him,” Pugh reflected. “But she does, she feels this immediate need to just push love away. Push affection away. And to me, that exchange between the two of them, is so truthful to how so many people feel vulnerable about feelings. This instinct to just scratch.”
Netflix
Her relationship with Adam Trask, eventual husband and father to her two sons, could not be more of a stark contrast. Where Charles presents an almost toxic draw, Adam represents the possibility of safety and security – which Cathy also rejects.
“I think this is something she wrestles with throughout the whole storyline,” Pugh told Digital Spy when asked if she believed that Cathy had any true feelings for Adam. “I don’t believe she – I mean, she is cold in plenty of the decisions that she makes, but I actually think it comes from a fear of being comfortable.
“I think the thing that drives her is the worry that she might just be safe, and it might be okay, and it might be enjoyable. I think the thing that she’s constantly running away from is being trapped, and tied down, and there is a deep fear that she might get stuck.”
Netflix
“That’s why her relationship with him is always a sticky one,” the lead star added. “She is being saved by him, she is being loved by him, and I do feel like in the earlier episodes you can see her receiving that love, and that being unbelievably complicated for her.”
“I think the interesting thing is all these characters, what they present as, and what is going on underneath, is sometimes at odds,” Christopher Abbott, who plays the role of Adam, added. “Even Adam, I think, with Cathy, presents as… he just loves her. But I think there’s also a selfishness to that, in the way he just chooses – it’s like a wounded bird, a bit of a saviour complex.
“So all of a sudden, it’s not so ‘he’s just being good’, even though he’s representing good, it’s not actually coming from a place of purity. I think it’s a lot of self-fulfilment too.”
East of Eden is streaming now on Netflix.
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The new edition of Legends, a 100-page celebration of Dolly Parton’s life, is here. Buy Dolly in newsagents or online.
TV Editor, Digital Spy Laura has been watching television for over 30 years and professionally writing about entertainment for almost 10 of those. Previously at LOOK and now heading up the TV desk at the UK’s biggest TV and movies site Digital Spy, Laura has helped steer conversations around some of the most popular shows on the box. Laura has appeared on Channel 5 News and radio to talk viewing habits and TV recommendations. As well as putting her nerd-level Buffy knowledge to good use during an IRL meet with Sarah Michelle Gellar, Laura also once had afternoon tea with One Direction, has sat around the fire pit of the Love Island villa, spoken to Sir David Attenborough about the world’s oceans and even interviewed Rylan from inside the Big Brother house (housemate status, forever pending).