Indeed, it's Packed with Absurdity, Extreme Hosting and Psychobabble. But I Do Love Meghan's Festive Episode.
No concerned with the season, it's constantly hunting season for criticism on the Duchess of Sussex's televisual offering, With Love, Meghan. Critics, expert and amateur alike, have seldom found such common ground as when gleefully ripping the series' initial installments to shreds. The prevailing view held that a bigger monarchy-related faux pas had never been witnessed than the notorious pretzel re-packaging incident.
Now, like a merry renegade master, she is back once again with a "Christmas Special" (aka a yuletide episode). But this time, things have shifted. The standard components audiences anticipate – meaningless jargon salads, intense hospitality – remain, but within the context of a yuletide episode, the purpose becomes clear. The puzzle has come perfectly; it's a ideal seasonal storm.
By this point, Meghan has become the oddball family member at Christmas celebrations everywhere – providing unasked-for guidance, 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 an interesting figure, but her company is customary and strangely comforting. And she looks content; she's causing a bit of damage.
She knows her each tiny facial movement, utterance and look will be analyzed and scrutinized, but still appears carefree and remarkably at ease.
It could be this is the only time in history where that old chestnut – "Pay no mind, it's only envy" – might be true. Since, in all honesty, each element in Meghan's Holiday Celebration truly is lovely. Yes, it's all cringily ultra-extra, silliness and extravagant – but doesn't that represent exactly what the holiday season is all about? And the talk she's talking might be laughable, but the walk she's walking seems authentically impeccably styled.
Anything she turns her beautifully manicured, diamond-adorned hand to, she pulls off with panache. Her recipes looks scrumptious, the wreath she makes is stunning, her gifts are almost too pretty to tear into. Not a single thing is ordinary or aesthetically displeasing – including the way she secures her apron is creative and fashionable. She doesn't throw a dish in the oven, it "goes for a spin", and she wraps wrapping paper like an paper-folding expert. She also seems to be completely savoring herself throughout. How could any cynical observer not be charmed, overcome by seasonal cheer and left with a intense desire for handmade crackers or a crudites platter where greens is positioned in the form of a festive circle?
Meghan had a career in acting for a living, naturally, but nonetheless, after the degree of scrutiny she has weathered from the moment she started dating Prince Harry, a theoretical combination of Meryl Streep and Judi Dench would find it hard to appear this authentically. Her decision to change or even tone down her routine, even though it being so persistently, widely parodied, is weirdly comforting. In our volatile world, here is something we can count on: Meghan will stay true to form, come what may. We will consistently know where we are with her.
If you're remaining skeptical of her brand, a thought that will undoubtedly come as a relief: you don't have to. We don't have mandatory conscription these days, and if there were, it would be doubtful to include streaming With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration. If, conversely, you willingly check it out and are overcome with envy about her picture-perfect Christmas, all is not lost either. Be you a duchess or a everyday person, hardly any child truly appreciates the effort and hard work their mum expends in December. So you can take heart by imagining the young royals' faces when they open a calligraphy note that says, 'I love you because you are brave,' from a DIY festive calendar, in place of a candy.
