Series: East of Eden
Episode: 6, The Great Try
Based on: East of Eden by John Steinbeck
Setting: San Francisco in 1912 and Salinas in 1916
Main characters: Lee, Adam Trask, Cal, Aron, Abra Bacon, Kate Albey and Will Hamilton
Where to watch: East of Eden is streaming on Netflix.
Spoilers Ahead
Lee’s attempt at independence brings him back to the Trasks on new terms. Adam pursues an ambitious business venture, Cal searches for his mother and Kate discovers her concealed crimes may no longer be safe.
Lee returns on new terms
In San Francisco, an estate agent refuses to find Lee bookshop premises outside Chinatown, dismissing his American identity. Visiting Lau, he admits shame kept him away: becoming a cook and servant seemed to disappoint Lau’s hopes. Lau encourages him to use what he has, but Lee wants somewhere he belongs.
Back in Salinas, he asks for more than wages: control of household spending, freedom to speak normally to visitors and respect for his role raising the boys. Adam agrees. Lee acknowledges how deeply he missed the home he helped create.
Adam’s plan and Cal’s exclusion
By 1916, Aron is a successful student close to Abra; Cal resists school and comparisons. Adam believes valley-grown lettuce could be packed in ice and shipped east during winter. Will Hamilton warns that weather, trains and markets make it risky, suggesting durable food for wartime demand instead. Adam dislikes war profiteering and buys the ice plant.
Cal offers to cultivate their land to supply produce. Adam refuses because it is leased and questions his reliability. Feeling excluded while Aron receives approval, Cal leaves angrily and meets Rabbit Holman, who identifies Kate as the woman who shot Adam. Rabbit takes him to her brothel’s performance. Kate notices the boy and questions Joe, reprimanding him for admitting someone so young.
Ethel threatens Kate
Ethel claims she saw Kate bury broken medicine bottles when Faye died and recovered them before the extension covered the site. She demands $100 a month. Kate appears to concede, then arranges a theft accusation and Ethel’s expulsion from the county.
Kate hears Charles’s imagined voice warning that Ethel remains free to talk. After another letter, she orders Joe to find her discreetly. Her control increasingly comes with fear.
Father and son try again
At dinner, Adam announces an invitation to the Salinas draft board, while Aron expresses interest in military training. Cal suggests reducing ice-plant waste, but Adam dismisses him and compares him with Aron. Even Aron’s defence cannot calm the argument.
After Cal is detained at a gambling establishment, Adam admits he may be repeating Cyrus’s mistakes. His father forced him into a fixed mould; he has also struggled to see his children as individuals. Cal confesses that he sometimes hates Aron but does not want to. Both agree to try harder.
Cal then tells Lee he has seen Kate and fears her cruelty exists inside him. Lee insists that inherited traits do not remove responsibility or choice: Cal’s actions belong to him.
Cal confronts Kate
Cal follows Kate, who confronts him with a knife until he identifies himself. Privately, she insults Adam and Aron, and Cal defends them. She describes Adam’s kindness as a trap and says she does not regret abandoning the twins.
Cal admits hurting his brother and fears being like her. She calls him Charles; he corrects her. Opening the curtains, he challenges her claim that light hurts her eyes and suggests she is afraid. She orders him out, then hears Charles’s voice offering comfort.
Failure and a new opportunity
Adam’s shipment fails: a snow slide blocks the railway, unusual warmth threatens the cargo and further delays hold it in Chicago. Nothing saleable reaches New York, and disposal costs another $2,000. Lee says they will not starve, but Adam’s wealth is severely reduced. Adam refuses to sell the ice plant, believing the venture could still work.
Aron fears poverty will prevent his marriage to Abra; she reassures him that she wants him regardless of money. Cal meanwhile borrows $5,000 from Lee, without interest, hoping to replace Adam’s losses. He asks Will how to earn $20,000–$30,000. Will proposes contracts with bean growers, paying five cents a pound and anticipating wartime prices of ten cents or more.
Cal offers to fund Aron’s college education if he passes the entrance examination early. He wants both plans kept from Adam until success can become a gift and earn his approval.
Two historical details
Early refrigerated railway boxcars used ice bunkers at each end to carry perishable goods over longer distances. Source: US National Park Service.
The United States entered the First World War on 6 April 1917 after nearly three years of neutrality, contextualising Will’s speculation about American involvement. Source: US National Archives.
