In her review of the new adaptation of John Steinbeck’s novel, critic Lucía Cabanas argues that the series is more about the effects of parental labels than about free will.
Netflix released its seven-part adaptation of John Steinbeck’s novel on October 1. Florence Pugh plays Cathy Ames, while Zoe Kazan created and wrote the series. In an ABC review, journalist Lucía Cabanas examines the story through the effect of parents’ assumptions on their children’s lives.
Cabanas begins with “timshel,” the word from the novel associated with the possibility of choice. In her reading, the series is less about free will than about the way other people’s expectations constrain a person. The review’s central example is Adam, the twins’ father, who labels one of his sons in advance and makes little effort to understand him.
The critic describes Cathy Ames as a character the adaptation tries not to reduce to absolute evil, while still finding her difficult to sympathize with. Cabanas reads Adam as more destructive: his outward kindness sits alongside his absence and indifference toward his children.
That interpretation leads to a point about parenting. Loving a child, she writes, does not mean shielding them from every mistake or shaping them to fit adults’ expectations. The finale, in which Adam says “timshel” to his son on his deathbed, is poetic as literature, the reviewer says, but too cruel for real life.
Netflix’s official page lists Pugh in the cast and Kazan among the series’ creators. The adaptation premiered on October 1.