The Descendants

My friends on the mainland think just

because I live in Hawaii, I live in paradise.

Like a permanent vacation.

We're all just out here sipping mai tais,

shaking our hips, and catching waves.

Are they insane?

Do they think we're immune to life?

How can they possibly think

our families are less screwed up...

... our cancers less fatal...

... our heartaches less painful?

Hell, I haven't been on a surfboard

in 15 years.

For the last 23 days...

... Ive been living in a paradise of

IVs and urine bags and tracheal tubes.

Paradise?

Paradise can go f*** itself.

This is Elizabeth

Thorson King, my wife.

Twenty-three days ago...

... she was launched from a powerboat

during a race and hit her head.

Almost drowned.

When I heard about the accident and

about the coma, I wasn't even in town.

I was on Maui, on business,

and we hadn't spoken in three days.

In a way,

we hadn't really spoken in months.

If you're doing this to get my

attention, Liz, it's working.

I'm ready now.

I'm ready to talk.

I'm ready to change.

I'm ready to be a real husband

and a real father.

Just wake up.

Please, Liz, just wake up.

Hey, Noe, what's up?

Matt, Scottie's

teacher's on the phone.

She says it's urgent.

Okay, put her on.

We don't think these photographs...

...are appropriate for Scottie to

be sharing with her classmates.

Some of them went home quite disturbed,

and we got some angry calls from parents.

Yeah, she's kind of been going to town

on this whole picture-taking thing.

- I had no idea.

- Mr. King, we see this every day.

Children acting out in school

when something is wrong at home.

And your family

is facing a devastating crisis.

Have you been engaging Scottie in talking

about everything that's going on?

Yes, yes, absolutely.

Encouraging her to express her feelings?

- That's crucial.

- Mm-hm. I understand.

What's the matter with you, showing

those pictures of Mom for your art project?

I'm a photographer, Dad,

a real photographer.

No. You're overdoing it,

is what you're doing.

I saw it in a book.

Some famous photographer lady

took pictures of her mom in the hospital...

...while she was dying,

and they're considered art.

That's what I'm doing.

First of all, your mother is very sick,

but she isn't dying.

And second of all, we don't share

personal stuff with strangers.

What's going on with your mom

is private.

- I'm hungry. Can we get burgers?

- No.

The last time I took care of Scottie

by myself was when she was 3.

Now she's 10, and I have

no idea what to do with her.

But I wanna eat now, not in an hour.

And with Elizabeth in the

hospital, she's testing me.

I'm the backup parent,

the understudy.

This is Matt King. I'm returning your call.

How can I help you?

It's your daughter Scottie.

She's been texting some awful things to my

daughter, Lani, and I'd like her to stop.

- Huh.

- Here's the latest one:

"We all know you grew pubes

over the summer."

I mean, my daughter can't help it if

she's developing a little early for her age.

- You think that's nice?

- Well, that's not like her at all.

She's usually very sweet.

As you may know, her mother isn't well.

Maybe this is how she's dealing with it.

I'm very sorry about

your family situation, Mr. King...

... but my daughter comes home

from school in tears.

Yeah, no, I get it. I'm sorry.

Scottie's the one

who should be sorry.

I want her to come

over and apologize...

... and I don't ever want her

to text my daughter again.

If she doesn't apologize,

I'll take it up with the dean.

You can't buy your way out of this.

Can you give me an address?

Thank you for coming by.

Hi.

I forgot to mention Scottie said she didn't

wanna be Lani's partner at the rock wall...

...because she didn't wanna fall

into my daughter's butt crack.

- That doesn't even make sense.

- Ah.

Shirts off. Shirts off.

Good, good, good, good job.

I don't think she has any idea.

That was very good, Bobby Brown.

Yeah. Here.

Because she goes, "I'm living at this.

I'll meet you out in front." So...

Scottie, you have something

you wanna say to Lani?

Sorry.

- It's okay. - He knows

he's going away for a while.

- If he's got a chance, he's bolting.

- Great. Well, it was nice meeting you both.

You should come over for a swim

or a hike or something, okay?

I don't think she's sorry at all.

- She's gonna keep on doing it, I can tell.

- No, she won't.

Look. Scottie, you're gonna stop, right?

And you're really, really sorry, right?

Seems like every time I forget to pray

, we don't catch a guy for three days.

I know, I'm telling you, man.

- Oh, and, Mr. King?

- Yeah?

Good luck with the sale.

They say your decision will have a major

impact on Hawaii's real-estate world.

Not to mention the whole landscape

of Kauai.

Hundreds of millions of dollars, yeah?

Yeah. It's a big decision.

My husband's family's from Kauai.

Hanapepe, born and bred.

- They hope you don't sell.

- You don't say.

All that traffic it's gonna make.

As if Liz's coma

weren't enough already...

... the whole goddamn state

is following my decision...

... on who's gonna buy 25,000

pristine acres on Kauai...

... that my family has owned

since the 1860s.

A lot of my cousins are broke, and

the sale will make us all very, very rich.

My family meets in six days

to approve a buyer.

But ever since my father died,

I'm the sole trustee...

... which means I alone

hold all the cards.

My great-great-grandmother was

Princess Margaret Ke'alohilani...

... one of the last direct

descendants of King Kamehameha.

She was originally supposed

to marry her cousin...

... but she fell in love with Edward

King, her haole banker...

... whose parents had

been missionaries.

Between his land deals

and her huge inheritance...

... generations of their

descendants, all of us...

... have watched the past unfurl millions

into our laps through leases and sales.

Now something called

the rule against perpetuities...

... is forcing us to

dissolve the trust...

... and we're selling our last huge

parcel of virgin Hawaiian land.

Unlike a lot of my cousins, I haven't

blown my share of the trust money.

Just like my father before me...

... I live only on the income

from my law practice.

I don't want my daughters growing up

spoiled and entitled.

Liz always accuses me of stinginess,

but I agree with my father.

You give your children enough money to do

something, but not enough to do nothing.

Matt.

Your cousins are here.

Not only am I the sole trustee, but I

specialize in real-estate transaction law...

... so a few of the more involved cousins

have been meeting with me to analyze bids.

- Hey.

- How's it, Matt?

Cousin Hal, Cousin

Milo, Cousin Stan...

... Cousin Six, Cousin Wink,

Cousin Connie...

How you doing? Okay?

... and Cousin Dave, both

of whom oppose the sale entirely.

- Good to see you.

- Don't be fooled by appearances.

In Hawaii, some of the most powerful

people look like bums and stuntmen.

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