Indeed, it's Brimming with Nonsense, Over-the-Top Hospitality and Self-Help Jargon. Yet I Truly Cherish Meghan's Holiday Special.
No concerned with the time of year, it's always open season for criticism on the Meghan Markle's Netflix series, With Love, Meghan. Commentators, expert and amateur alike, have rarely been so united as when gleefully ripping the series' initial installments to pieces. The prevailing view was that a greater royal outrage had seldom occurred than the now-infamous pretzel re-packaging incident.
Currently, in the spirit of a holiday maverick, she is back once again with a "Christmas Special" (aka a holiday episode). But this time, the dynamic has changed. The standard components we've come to expect – vague self-help platitudes, extreme hosting – are still present, but framed of a yuletide episode, suddenly it all makes sense. The elements have slid together; it's a ideal seasonal storm.
Now, Meghan has become the quirky relative at most festive family gatherings – providing random tips, and supplying the occasional strange exclamation. ("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 looks happy enough; she's not doing the slightest hurt.
She understands her every micro expression, word and look will be analyzed and judged, but nonetheless looks relaxed and remarkably at ease.
Maybe this is the only time in history where that clichéd phrase – "Don't listen, it's pure jealousy" – may well be true. Since, you know what?, everything in Meghan's Holiday Celebration honestly feels charming. Granted, it's all painfully excessive, silliness and over the top – but is that not just what Christmas is about? And the words she speaks might be ridiculous, but the life she leads appears to be shop-bought.
Whatever she attempts, she executes with flair. Her recipes looks scrumptious, the festive decoration she creates is stunning, her gifts are nearly too beautiful to open. Nothing is mediocre or aesthetically displeasing – including the way she fastens her kitchen garment is creative and fashionable. She doesn't throw a dish in the microwave, it "goes for a spin", and she folds gift paper like an paper-folding expert. She also seems to be genuinely relishing herself from start to finish. How could any skeptical viewer not be won over, filled with holiday spirit and left with a deep longing for crafted festive snaps or a crudites platter where broccoli is organized in the likeness of a wreath?
Meghan had a career in acting for a living, naturally, but nonetheless, after the degree of scrutiny she has weathered 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 moderate her shtick, regardless of it being so relentlessly, internationally ridiculed, is oddly heartening. In our volatile world, here is one thing we can count on: Meghan will be like this, no matter what. We will forever know where we are with her.
If you're remaining skeptical of her message, a thought that will surely come as a reassurance: you aren't required to. There isn't national service in this country, and should it be reinstated, it would be unlikely to include watching With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration. If, however, you decide to tune in and are overcome with jealousy about her idyllic Christmas, all is not lost either. Be you a duchess or a data administrator, hardly any child truly appreciates the dedication and labor their mum expends in the holiday season. So you can find comfort by envisioning Archie and Lilibet's faces when they reveal a handwritten message that says, 'I love you because you are brave,' from a handcrafted holiday countdown, instead of a chocolate.
