#//we did b&w folks so i didnt have to bother with coloring lmao

[hollidaycarlson]

THE CARLSON-HUGHES.

DONALD SUTHERLAND as Lionel Carlson (84)

JESSICA WALTER as Amelia Carlson née Fitzgerald (79)

JON HAMM as Walter ‘Walt’ Carlson (50)

CHEYENNE JACKSON as Phillip ‘Phil’ Carlson (47)

HENRY GOLDING as Theodore ‘Teddy’ Carlson (32)

MEGAN FOX as Holliday ‘Holly’ Carlson née Hughes (35)

COURTENEY COX as Lynette Hughes (55)

IAIN ARMITAGE as Declan Carlson (7) 

Lynette Hughes did not have much by way of riches, but what she lacked in riches, she showered her only child, named Holliday, with love. However, Holly had much larger dreams set in stone, and at eighteen, she moves to LA to pursue her dreams of becoming a singer-songwriter. 

But in the city of angels, a pretty face and voice are a dime-a-dozen — so she sets her sights on Walter Carlson, the heir-apparent to a sprawling media empire built by none other than Lionel Carlson himself. 

Fifteen years her senior, Walt is hardly a perfect match, but she’d given up on love to chase her dreams. Three years of courtship before she’s whisked back to his hometown of Catalina Island, California for an extravagant wedding. 

Yet throughout the entire event she only gets brief glimpses of Lionel and Amelia, who are more of shadowy, mythical figures than her in-laws. Phillip is nice enough, but really, she strikes up a friendship with the youngest Carlson: Teddy, who is ironically closer in age to Holly than she is to Walt. 

But she isn’t on the island for long. Walt had been entrusted by Lionel to take over the family empire, and they shuffle around between the island, LA, and NYC. Sometimes she is with him on these moves, and other times, she is not — though the fear is constant, even without his presence. He is hardly the ideal husband, but she is hardly the picture-perfect wife, and they quickly find solace in other people, strings of flings in place of a healthy marriage. 

Declan, to put it bluntly, had been an accident. Holly had never intended on becoming a mother, but it’s the first time Walt is pleased with her, so she keeps it, hoping that a child would be the magical missing piece to their marriage. 

But Walt’s skills as a father are even worse than his ability to be a proper husband. The child is quickly relegated to a footnote in his great life, but for the first time in her life, Holly truly understands what it’s like to love someone, unconditionally. 

Without Declan, Holly knows she’d still be at the mercy of Walt. At the end of the day, she is a coward to the world, but to her son? She is his protector, his hero, his mother.