Indeed, it's Brimming with Nonsense, Over-the-Top Hospitality and Psychobabble. Yet I Truly Adore Meghan's Christmas Special.
No considering the time of year, it's perpetually fair game for commentary on the Meghan Markle's Netflix series, With Love, Meghan. Reviewers, from seasoned journalists to online pundits, have rarely been so united as when gleefully ripping the series' first and second seasons to pieces. The prevailing view was that a bigger monarchy-related faux pas had hardly ever taken place than the much-discussed pretzel re-packaging incident.
Now, in the spirit of a holiday maverick, she is back for another round with a "Holiday Celebration" (or a yuletide episode). However on this occasion, the dynamic has changed. The standard components audiences anticipate – vague self-help platitudes, overzealous entertaining – persist, but set of a Christmas special, it all clicks into place. The pieces have fallen together; it's a flawless festive blizzard.
By this point, Meghan has become the quirky relative at most festive family gatherings – dispensing 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 a bit of a character, but her presence is familiar and strangely comforting. And she looks happy enough; she's inflicting a bit of damage.
She knows her all subtle gestures, utterance and gaze will be picked apart and scrutinized, but nonetheless looks relaxed and serenely untroubled.
Maybe this is the first occasion in history where that clichéd phrase – "Don't listen, it's pure jealousy" – might be true. Since, let's face it, all aspects in Meghan's Holiday Celebration honestly feels delightful. Admittedly, it's all painfully excessive, silliness and over the top – but isn't that exactly what the holiday season is for? And the advice she gives might be ridiculous, but the walk she's walking appears to be beautifully curated.
Whatever she turns her beautifully manicured, diamond-adorned hand to, she executes with panache. Her cooking looks scrumptious, the festive decoration she creates is stunning, her gifts are practically too exquisite to open. Not a single thing is mediocre or ugly – even the way she secures her apron is creative and fashionable. She doesn't toss a meal in the oven, it "takes a twirl", and she folds wrapping 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 convinced, bursting with seasonal cheer and left with a deep longing for crafted festive snaps or a crudites platter where greens is positioned in the likeness of a festive circle?
Meghan used to pretend for a living, of course, but nonetheless, after the intensity of scrutiny she has weathered from the moment she started dating Prince Harry, a theoretical combination of acting royalty would struggle to act this genuinely. Her decision to alter or even tone down her shtick, regardless of it being so persistently, widely parodied, is strangely reassuring. In our volatile world, here is one thing we can count on: Meghan will remain herself, whatever happens. We will always know what to expect with her.
If you're still not buying her message, a thought that will certainly come as a reassurance: you are not obligated to. We don't have mandatory conscription anymore, and were it to return, it would be unlikely to include viewing With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration. If, however, you willingly check it out and are gripped with envy about her flawless Christmas, there is hope either. Be you a duchess or a office worker, few children completely grasps the effort and hard work their mother expends in the holiday season. So you can take heart by imagining the young royals' faces when they unfold a handwritten message that says, 'I love you because you are brave,' from a handcrafted holiday countdown, rather than a candy.
