Yes, it's Packed with Absurdity, Over-the-Top Hospitality and Self-Help Jargon. Yet I Truly Cherish Meghan's Holiday Special.
No concerned with the season, it's perpetually hunting season for commentary on the Meghan Markle's Netflix series, With Love, Meghan. Reviewers, from seasoned journalists to online pundits, have seldom found such common ground as when enthusiastically shredding the lifestyle show's earlier episodes to pieces. The general consensus seemed to be a more egregious regal scandal had seldom occurred than the much-discussed pretzel-bagging incident.
Now, as a festive rebel, she has returned once again with a "Festive Special" (or a Christmas special). However on this occasion, the dynamic has changed. The familiar ingredients viewers are accustomed to – psychobabble word salads, overzealous entertaining – persist, but framed of a holiday show, the purpose becomes clear. The pieces have fallen perfectly; it's a flawless festive blizzard.
At this stage, Meghan is like the eccentric aunt at most festive family gatherings – providing random tips, and delivering the odd random outburst. ("I love spinach!" … "A tradition has to have a beginning." … "A tree is part of my memory and love of the holiday season.") She's an interesting figure, but her presence is familiar and oddly reassuring. And she appears happy enough; she's causing the slightest hurt.
She understands her each tiny facial movement, word and gaze will be picked apart and judged, but nonetheless looks unburdened and serenely untroubled.
Maybe this is the first occasion in history where that old chestnut – "Ignore them, they're just jealous" – could actually be true. Because, let's face it, each element in Meghan's Holiday Celebration is lovely. Yes, it's all awkwardly over-the-top, silliness and flamboyant – but doesn't that represent precisely what the holiday season is for? And the words she speaks might be laughable, but the example she sets seems authentically beautifully curated.
Whatever she turns her beautifully manicured, diamond-adorned hand to, she executes with panache. Her cooking looks scrumptious, the festive decoration she makes is gorgeous, her gifts are almost too pretty to unwrap. Not a single thing is average or visually unappealing – even the way she fastens her kitchen garment is stylish and elegant. She doesn't throw a meal in the oven, it "takes a twirl", and she wraps wrapping paper like an craft master. She also seems to be thoroughly enjoying herself the entire time. How could any hate-watcher not be won over, bursting with holiday spirit and left with a intense desire for handmade crackers or a crudites platter where broccoli is arranged in the shape of a wreath?
Meghan used to pretend for a living, of course, but even so, after the intensity of attention she has weathered from the moment she met Prince Harry, a theoretical combination of acting royalty would struggle to act this naturally. Her unwillingness to modify or even moderate her routine, regardless of it being so persistently, globally mocked, is weirdly comforting. In our unpredictable world, here is one thing we can rely on: Meghan will remain herself, whatever happens. We will always know what to expect with her.
If you're still not buying what she's selling, a thought that will certainly come as a relief: you don't have to. The UK has abolished the draft in this country, and if there were, it would be unlikely to include streaming With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration. If, on the other hand, you choose to watch and are overcome with envy about her flawless Christmas, all is not lost either. Be you a duchess or a data administrator, hardly any child completely grasps the effort and hard work their parent expends in December. So you can find comfort by picturing Archie and Lilibet's faces when they open a calligraphy note that says, 'I love you because you are brave,' from a homemade Advent calendar, rather than a sweet treat.
