Yes, it's Full of Nonsense, Extreme Hosting and Self-Help Jargon. However, I Honestly Love Meghan's Holiday Special.
No considering the season, it's always open season for criticism on the Duchess of Sussex's televisual offering, With Love, Meghan. Reviewers, expert and amateur alike, have hardly ever agreed so completely as when gleefully ripping the series' initial installments to pieces. The prevailing view was that a more egregious regal scandal had seldom occurred than the much-discussed snack re-labeling incident.
Now, in the spirit of a holiday maverick, she is back once again with a "Holiday Celebration" (aka a Christmas special). However on this occasion, the dynamic has changed. The standard components we've come to expect – meaningless jargon salads, extreme hosting – are still present, but framed of a Christmas special, suddenly it all makes sense. The pieces have fallen perfectly; it's a ideal seasonal storm.
At this stage, Meghan is like the oddball family member at the typical holiday get-together – offering unsolicited, unnecessary advice, and contributing 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 quite a personality, but her presence is familiar and strangely comforting. And she looks content; she's not doing the slightest hurt.
She understands her each tiny facial movement, utterance and gaze will be analyzed and criticised, but nonetheless looks unburdened and too blessed to be stressed.
It could be this is the only time in history where that old chestnut – "Ignore them, they're just jealous" – might be true. Because, in all honesty, each element in Meghan's Holiday Celebration truly is charming. Admittedly, it's all painfully excessive, nonsense and over the top – but is that not just what Yuletide is about? And the words she speaks might be laughable, but the walk she's walking seems authentically shop-bought.
Whatever she turns her beautifully manicured, diamond-adorned hand to, she pulls off with panache. Her recipes looks delicious, the wreath she crafts is breathtaking, her gifts are nearly too beautiful to tear into. Nothing is mediocre or visually unappealing – even the way she secures her kitchen garment is creative and fashionable. She doesn't toss a dish in the microwave, it "takes a twirl", and she folds gift paper like an craft master. She also seems to be thoroughly enjoying herself throughout. How could any skeptical viewer not be charmed, overcome by holiday spirit and left with a powerful yearning for handmade crackers or a crudites platter where broccoli is positioned in the likeness of a wreath?
Meghan had a career in acting for a living, of course, but nonetheless, after the level of attention she has endured since she started dating Prince Harry, the love child of acting royalty would struggle to act this naturally. Her decision to modify or even moderate her persona, regardless of it being so persistently, internationally ridiculed, is weirdly comforting. In our unpredictable world, here is one thing we can rely on: Meghan will stay true to form, no matter what. We will consistently know what to expect with her.
If you're still not buying what she's selling, a thought that will surely come as a reassurance: you don't have to. The UK has abolished national service these days, and should it be reinstated, it would be unlikely to include streaming With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration. If, on the other hand, you choose to watch and are overcome with envy about her flawless Christmas, you can take solace either. Be you a royal or a office worker, hardly any child truly appreciates the time and energy their mum puts in in the holiday season. So you can find comfort by picturing her children's faces when they open a handwritten message that says, 'I love you because you are brave,' from a handcrafted holiday countdown, rather than a chocolate.
