Indeed, it's Full of Gibberish, Over-the-Top Hospitality and Self-Help Jargon. Yet I Truly Love Meghan's Holiday Special.
No considering the time of year, it's perpetually open season for scrutiny on the Meghan Markle's Netflix series, With Love, Meghan. Reviewers, both professional and armchair, have hardly ever agreed so completely as when gleefully ripping the lifestyle show's initial installments to pieces. The common opinion was that a more egregious regal scandal had never been witnessed than the notorious snack re-labeling incident.
Currently, in the spirit of a holiday maverick, she has returned for another round with a "Holiday Celebration" (also known as a holiday episode). However on this occasion, the dynamic has changed. The familiar ingredients audiences anticipate – meaningless jargon salads, intense hospitality – are still present, but set of a Christmas special, it all clicks into place. The puzzle has come perfectly; it's a ideal seasonal storm.
Now, Meghan has become the quirky relative at the typical holiday get-together – offering unsolicited, unnecessary advice, and contributing the periodic peculiar declaration. ("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 a bit of a character, but her presence is familiar and unexpectedly soothing. And she appears content; she's causing a bit of damage.
She is aware her every micro expression, word and look will be picked apart and scrutinized, but manages to seem unburdened and too blessed to be stressed.
Perhaps this is the first occasion in history where that clichéd phrase – "Pay no mind, it's only envy" – might be true. The reason is, let's face it, all aspects in Meghan's Holiday Celebration truly is delightful. Admittedly, it's all painfully excessive, nonsense and flamboyant – but doesn't that represent precisely what Christmas is about? And the words she speaks might be absurd, but the example she sets seems authentically beautifully curated.
Whatever she turns her beautifully manicured, diamond-adorned hand to, she accomplishes with panache. Her cooking looks scrumptious, the holiday arrangement she creates is breathtaking, her presents are almost too pretty to unwrap. Nothing is mediocre or aesthetically displeasing – including the way she fastens her apron is creative and fashionable. She doesn't throw a dish in the oven, it "goes for a spin", and she creases gift paper like an craft master. She also seems to be genuinely relishing herself throughout. How could any cynical observer not be charmed, filled with seasonal cheer and left with a powerful yearning for crafted festive snaps or a vegetable display where greens is positioned in the form of a wreath?
Meghan used to pretend for a living, of course, but nonetheless, after the intensity of scrutiny she has endured from the moment she met Prince Harry, a theoretical combination of two legendary actresses would have difficulty behaving this authentically. Her unwillingness to modify or even tone down her routine, regardless of it being so relentlessly, widely parodied, is strangely reassuring. In our uncertain world, here is one thing we can rely on: Meghan will remain herself, whatever happens. We will always know our position with her.
If you're still not buying what she's selling, a point that will certainly come as a reassurance: you don't have to. We don't have mandatory conscription these days, and should it be reinstated, it would be doubtful to include watching With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration. If, conversely, you decide to tune in and are overcome with jealousy about her flawless Christmas, all is not lost either. Whether you're a royal or a everyday person, hardly any child completely grasps the effort and hard work their mum does in December. So you can take heart by envisioning Archie and Lilibet's faces when they unfold a beautifully scripted letter that says, 'I love you because you are brave,' from a homemade Advent calendar, in place of a sweet treat.
