Indeed, it's Full of Absurdity, Over-the-Top Hospitality and Self-Help Jargon. However, I Honestly Adore Meghan's Christmas Special.
No concerned with the time of year, it's constantly hunting season for scrutiny on the Meghan Markle's televisual offering, With Love, Meghan. Reviewers, both professional and armchair, have hardly ever agreed so completely as when enthusiastically shredding the program's earlier episodes to shreds. The common opinion seemed to be a greater royal outrage had seldom occurred than the notorious pretzel-bagging incident.
Currently, like a merry renegade master, she has returned once again with a "Festive Special" (aka a holiday episode). But this time, things have shifted. The standard components viewers are accustomed to – psychobabble word salads, extreme hosting – persist, but set of a holiday show, it all clicks into place. The elements have slid together; it's a ideal seasonal storm.
At this stage, Meghan has become the eccentric aunt at Christmas celebrations everywhere – offering random tips, and supplying the odd random outburst. ("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 seems content; she's inflicting any harm.
She understands her all subtle gestures, word and glance will be dissected and scrutinized, but manages to seem unburdened and serenely untroubled.
Perhaps this is the initial instance in history where that old chestnut – "Ignore them, they're just jealous" – might be true. Since, let's face it, everything in Meghan's Holiday Celebration is charming. Yes, it's all awkwardly over-the-top, nonsense and over the top – but is that not just what the holiday season is about? And the words she speaks might be absurd, but the example she sets seems authentically impeccably styled.
Anything she turns her beautifully manicured, diamond-adorned hand to, she pulls off with panache. Her culinary efforts looks delicious, the festive decoration she crafts is breathtaking, her gifts are nearly too beautiful to unwrap. Nothing is mediocre or aesthetically displeasing – even the way she secures her kitchen garment is artful and chic. She doesn't toss a meal in the microwave, it "takes a twirl", and she folds wrapping paper like an craft master. She also seems to be thoroughly enjoying herself from start to finish. How could any hate-watcher not be convinced, bursting with festive joy and left with a deep longing for crafted festive snaps or a crudites platter where greens is positioned in the shape of a Christmas ring?
Meghan was once an actress for a living, obviously, but nonetheless, after the intensity of attention she has weathered from the moment she became involved with Prince Harry, a theoretical combination of two legendary actresses would find it hard to appear this naturally. Her decision to modify 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 rely on: Meghan will stay true to form, no matter what. We will forever know where we are with her.
If you're not yet convinced by her brand, a thought that will surely come as a reassurance: you are not obligated to. We don't have the draft in this country, and were it to return, it would be unlikely to include viewing With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration. If, on the other hand, you choose to watch and are consumed by envy about her picture-perfect Christmas, there is hope either. If you are a duchess or a office worker, no kid truly appreciates the dedication and labor their parent puts in in December. So you can console yourself by picturing Archie and Lilibet's faces when they open a beautifully scripted letter that says, 'I love you because you are brave,' from a DIY festive calendar, instead of a sweet treat.
