Series: East of Eden
Episode: 5, “Departure”
Based on: East of Eden by John Steinbeck
Setting: California’s Salinas Valley and San Francisco, around 1911–1912
Main characters: Adam Trask, Lee, Samuel Hamilton, Kate Albey, Cal and Aron
Spoilers ahead
About a decade after Cathy’s departure, Lee is the twins’ dependable parent while Adam remains trapped in memories. Samuel’s farewell brings a discussion of freedom and choice, followed by a revelation that forces Adam to confront the woman he married.
The twins meet Abra
Lee cooks, teaches and cares for the boys, although Adam has forbidden further Cantonese lessons. When the Bacons shelter at the ranch, Mrs Bacon questions whether a Chinese servant provides suitable care or education. Mr Bacon suggests moving to Salinas and renting out the land.
Abra plays with the twins. Aron asks her to pretend to be his mother; Cal reveals he overheard that their mother is alive. Aron insists Adam would not lie. Cal suggests she left because she disliked them, provoking a fight. Afterwards, Cal finds Aron beneath the house. Aron recalls Lee’s reassurance that a star represents their mother’s continuing love. Seeing his distress, Cal claims he was joking.
Samuel’s farewell and timshel
Samuel visits before moving to his daughter Olive’s home. He confronts Adam: the boys have lost their mother and must not lose their father too. Physical presence is not enough. Samuel understands living inside memories of a woman, but urges Adam to create new ones.
Lee offers his farewell gift: research into Cain and Abel. Different Bible translations make God’s words sound like a promise or command. With scholarly help, he has studied the word timshel, interpreting it as “thou mayest”. People can choose to overcome sin; neither ancestry nor past acts fixes their future.
Samuel then tells Adam that Cathy lives nearby as Kate Albey, owner of a notoriously brutal brothel. Adam initially calls him a liar. Samuel believes painful knowledge gives him a choice ignorance cannot.
Adam confronts Kate
Six months later, Samuel dies. After the funeral, Adam visits Kate. She mocks his attachment and asks how he could love someone he never knew. She recalls her teacher pursuing her at fourteen, illustrating the hypocrisy she sees behind respectable appearances.
Kate shows compromising photographs of powerful customers, kept against threats. She also suggests Charles might be the twins’ father, referring to how rarely she slept with Adam. This is her claim, not a confirmed revelation.
Adam challenges her view: she sees cruelty but nothing beyond it. He recognises that the wife he mourned was largely his creation and leaves despite her insistence that she can make him return.
Lee demands honesty and freedom
Adam proposes moving to Salinas so the boys can attend school. Lee asks to leave and pursue his dream of an English and Chinese bookshop in San Francisco. Adam assumes he means a laundry. Lee has savings but stayed because being needed comforts a lonely man. He agrees to help with the move.
When the twins find Cathy’s photograph, Lee urges Adam to tell them she is alive. He explains why honesty matters through his own history. His mother travelled from China disguised as a man, working on the railway while pregnant. Lau, the cook who raised Lee, befriended her and promised help.
Before they could escape, Lau was injured and she went into labour. Other workers discovered her sex and subjected her to fatal violence. Lau found her dying and delivered Lee from her body. Knowing the truth mattered to Lee, however terrible it was. Adam still resists telling his sons; their argument becomes heated. Cal overhears that Cathy is alive, runs a brothel and tried to kill his father.
Departures and another loss
Lee leaves household arrangements and travels to San Francisco. His former association’s premises were destroyed after the earthquake, and Lau now runs a gambling business, challenging his expectations. Bei helps him find accommodation. Lee admits he once imagined a listening wife; Bei observes that his work for the Trasks resembles being someone else’s imaginary wife.
Adam’s attempt to reconnect with Charles comes too late. He receives news that his brother has died, leaving a substantial estate, and tells the twins about their long separation. When Aron asks about the argument, Cal shields him with a story about flowers being sent to their mother’s grave. Alone, he prays not to be cruel and lonely.
Adam sends Cathy their family photograph after learning of Charles’s death. Looking at herself with the brothers, Kate hears Charles’s voice.
Historical and literary details
Chinese labourers helped build the transcontinental railway, including difficult tunnelling work, and received lower pay than European and European-American workers. This contextualises Lee’s fictional family story. Source: US National Park Service.
Steinbeck uses timshel, “thou mayest”, to express moral choice. This is a literary interpretation rather than an uncontested translation of biblical Hebrew. Source: San José State University Steinbeck teaching material.
Where to watch
East of Eden is streaming on Netflix.
