Admittedly, it's Brimming with Gibberish, Over-the-Top Hospitality and Psychobabble. However, I Honestly Adore Meghan's Holiday Special.
No matter the season, it's constantly hunting season for scrutiny on the Duchess of Sussex's TV show, With Love, Meghan. Reviewers, from seasoned journalists to online pundits, have seldom found such common ground as when enthusiastically shredding the series' earlier episodes apart. The prevailing view held that a greater royal outrage had seldom occurred than the much-discussed pretzel re-packaging incident.
Presently, like a merry renegade master, she has returned once again with a "Festive Special" (or a yuletide episode). Yet now, things have shifted. The familiar ingredients viewers are accustomed to – psychobabble word salads, intense hospitality – remain, but within the context of a Christmas special, it all clicks into place. The pieces have fallen perfectly; it's a ideal seasonal storm.
At this stage, Meghan is like the eccentric aunt at most festive family gatherings – dispensing unsolicited, unnecessary advice, and supplying 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 an interesting figure, but her presence is familiar and strangely comforting. And she appears content; she's causing the slightest hurt.
She understands her every micro expression, syllable and glance will be picked apart and judged, but manages to seem unburdened and too blessed to be stressed.
Maybe this is the only time in history where that well-worn saying – "Ignore them, they're just jealous" – might be true. Since, let's face it, each element in Meghan's Holiday Celebration truly is charming. Granted, it's all awkwardly over-the-top, silliness and flamboyant – but doesn't that represent precisely what the holiday season is all about? And the advice she gives might be absurd, but the walk she's walking seems authentically impeccably styled.
Anything she attempts, she accomplishes with panache. Her recipes looks tasty, the wreath she crafts is breathtaking, her presents are nearly too beautiful to tear into. Not a single thing is ordinary or aesthetically displeasing – including the way she fastens her apron is creative and fashionable. She doesn't throw a meal in the microwave, it "has a moment", and she wraps gift paper like an origami guru. She also seems to be thoroughly enjoying herself throughout. How could any skeptical viewer not be charmed, bursting with seasonal cheer and left with a deep longing for crafted festive snaps or a vegetable display where broccoli is arranged in the likeness of a Christmas ring?
Meghan used to pretend for a living, of course, but even so, after the level of examination she has endured from the moment she started dating Prince Harry, a theoretical combination of Meryl Streep and Judi Dench would have difficulty behaving this naturally. Her decision to change or even tone down her shtick, even though it being so persistently, internationally ridiculed, is strangely reassuring. In our unpredictable world, here is one thing we can depend on: Meghan will remain herself, whatever happens. We will consistently know our position with her.
If you're not yet convinced by her brand, a reminder that will certainly come as a relief: you don't have to. There isn't mandatory conscription these days, and if there were, it would be doubtful to include watching With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration. If, conversely, you choose to watch and are overcome with jealousy about her flawless Christmas, all is not lost either. Whether you're a duchess or a data administrator, no kid fully understands the effort and hard work their parent expends in the holiday season. So you can take heart by picturing the young royals' faces when they reveal a beautifully scripted letter that says, 'I love you because you are brave,' from a homemade Advent calendar, rather than a chocolate.
