Yes, it's Full of Nonsense, Over-the-Top Hospitality and Psychobabble. Yet I Truly Love Meghan's Festive Episode.
No considering the time of year, it's always fair game for criticism on the Meghan Markle's TV show, With Love, Meghan. Critics, from seasoned journalists to online pundits, have hardly ever agreed so completely as when eagerly tearing the series' initial installments to pieces. The common opinion held that a greater royal outrage had never been witnessed than the now-infamous snack re-labeling incident.
Currently, as a festive rebel, she makes a comeback once again with a "Holiday Celebration" (also known as a Christmas special). However on this occasion, things have shifted. The standard components audiences anticipate – vague self-help platitudes, intense hospitality – persist, but framed of a Christmas special, it all clicks into place. The elements have slid into place; it's a perfect snow storm.
By this point, Meghan has become the quirky relative at the typical holiday get-together – dispensing unsolicited, unnecessary advice, and delivering 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 quite a personality, but her presence is familiar and oddly reassuring. And she appears happy enough; she's causing a bit of damage.
She knows her every micro expression, utterance and glance will be picked apart and scrutinized, but manages to seem relaxed and serenely untroubled.
Maybe this is the only time in history where that clichéd phrase – "Don't listen, it's pure jealousy" – may well be true. Since, in all honesty, each element in Meghan's Holiday Celebration is charming. Granted, it's all cringily ultra-extra, foolishness and over the top – but doesn't that represent exactly what Yuletide is about? And the words she speaks might be ridiculous, but the example she sets appears to be beautifully curated.
Whatever she sets her mind to, she executes with style. Her recipes looks delicious, the wreath she makes is stunning, her presents are almost too pretty to unwrap. Nothing is ordinary or aesthetically displeasing – including the way she fastens her kitchen garment is creative and fashionable. She doesn't throw a dish in the oven, it "has a moment", and she creases gift paper like an origami guru. She also seems to be thoroughly enjoying herself throughout. How could any cynical observer not be won over, overcome by festive joy and left with a powerful yearning for handmade crackers or a crudites platter where greens is arranged in the likeness of a festive circle?
Meghan had a career in acting for a living, naturally, but nonetheless, after the degree of scrutiny she has faced from the moment she started dating Prince Harry, a theoretical combination of Meryl Streep and Judi Dench would struggle to act this genuinely. Her refusal to modify or even soften her shtick, despite it being so constantly, internationally ridiculed, is strangely reassuring. In our volatile world, here is something we can depend on: Meghan will be like this, no matter what. 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 reassurance: you are not obligated to. We don't have the draft in this country, and were it to return, it would be unlikely to include streaming With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration. If, conversely, you willingly check it out and are overcome with longing about her picture-perfect Christmas, all is not lost either. If you are a duchess or a data administrator, hardly any child truly appreciates the dedication and labor their mum expends in December. So you can console yourself by envisioning her children's faces when they reveal a beautifully scripted letter that says, 'I love you because you are brave,' from a DIY festive calendar, instead of a sweet treat.