Indeed, it's Brimming with Gibberish, Extreme Hosting and Psychobabble. Yet I Truly Love Meghan's Festive Episode.
No matter the season, it's constantly open season for scrutiny on the Meghan Markle's Netflix series, With Love, Meghan. Critics, both professional and armchair, have rarely been so united as when gleefully ripping the lifestyle show's first and second seasons to pieces. The prevailing view held that a more egregious regal scandal had hardly ever taken place than the now-infamous pretzel-bagging incident.
Now, as a festive rebel, she is back with a new offering with a "Holiday Celebration" (also known as a Christmas special). But this time, things have shifted. The standard components we've come to expect – vague self-help platitudes, extreme hosting – persist, but set of a Christmas special, it all clicks into place. The puzzle has come perfectly; it's a flawless festive blizzard.
At this stage, Meghan has become the quirky relative at Christmas celebrations everywhere – dispensing unsolicited, unnecessary advice, and delivering 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 company is customary and oddly reassuring. And she seems content; she's inflicting any harm.
She knows her all subtle gestures, utterance and gaze will be analyzed and criticised, but nonetheless looks relaxed and too blessed to be stressed.
Perhaps this is the first occasion in history where that old chestnut – "Ignore them, they're just jealous" – might be true. Because, you know what?, everything in Meghan's Holiday Celebration truly is lovely. Granted, it's all cringily ultra-extra, foolishness and flamboyant – but isn't that exactly what the holiday season is for? And the words she speaks might be absurd, but the example she sets appears to be shop-bought.
Anything she turns her beautifully manicured, diamond-adorned hand to, she pulls off with flair. Her cooking looks tasty, the wreath she makes is breathtaking, her presents are almost too pretty to open. Nothing is mediocre or aesthetically displeasing – including the way she secures her kitchen garment is stylish and elegant. She doesn't bung a dish in the microwave, it "has a moment", and she creases wrapping paper like an origami guru. She also seems to be genuinely relishing herself the entire time. How could any skeptical viewer not be convinced, overcome by holiday spirit and left with a deep longing for handmade crackers or a crudites platter where greens is positioned in the likeness of a festive circle?
Meghan used to pretend for a living, naturally, but nonetheless, after the intensity of attention she has endured from the moment she became involved with Prince Harry, the love child of two legendary actresses would struggle to act this naturally. Her refusal to alter or even soften her shtick, even though it being so relentlessly, globally mocked, is weirdly comforting. In our volatile world, here is something we can count on: Meghan will remain herself, come what may. We will forever know our position with her.
If you're still not buying her brand, a point that will certainly come as a comfort: you don't have to. There isn't mandatory conscription anymore, and if there were, it would be doubtful to include watching With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration. If, on the other hand, you willingly check it out and are gripped with envy about her picture-perfect Christmas, all is not lost either. Be you a duchess or a data administrator, hardly any child fully understands the effort and hard work their mum expends in the holiday season. So you can find comfort by envisioning her children's faces when they open a beautifully scripted letter that says, 'I love you because you are brave,' from a homemade Advent calendar, in place of a candy.
