Yes, it's Full of Absurdity, Over-the-Top Hospitality and Self-Help Jargon. Yet I Truly Cherish Meghan's Festive Episode.
No matter the time of year, it's constantly hunting season for scrutiny on the Duchess of Sussex's televisual offering, With Love, Meghan. Critics, from seasoned journalists to online pundits, have hardly ever agreed so completely as when eagerly tearing the series' first and second seasons apart. The general consensus seemed to be a more egregious regal scandal had hardly ever taken place than the notorious pretzel-bagging incident.
Now, like a merry renegade master, she has returned for another round with a "Christmas Special" (aka a Christmas special). However on this occasion, the dynamic has changed. The usual elements we've come to expect – vague self-help platitudes, overzealous entertaining – remain, but within the context of a holiday show, it all clicks into place. The elements have slid perfectly; it's a perfect snow storm.
At this stage, Meghan has become the eccentric aunt at most festive family gatherings – dispensing unasked-for guidance, 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 an interesting figure, but her company is customary and oddly reassuring. And she looks happy enough; she's not doing a bit of damage.
She is aware her every micro expression, utterance and look will be picked apart and scrutinized, but nonetheless looks relaxed and too blessed to be stressed.
It could be this is the only time in history where that clichéd phrase – "Don't listen, it's pure jealousy" – could actually be true. Since, you know what?, each element in Meghan's Holiday Celebration truly is delightful. Granted, it's all awkwardly over-the-top, silliness and flamboyant – but isn't that precisely what the holiday season is for? And the talk she's talking might be ridiculous, but the walk she's walking appears to be beautifully curated.
Anything she turns her beautifully manicured, diamond-adorned hand to, she executes with flair. Her culinary efforts looks tasty, the holiday arrangement she makes is breathtaking, her presents are practically too exquisite to tear into. Not a single thing is average or ugly – including the way she ties her kitchen garment is stylish and elegant. She doesn't toss a meal in the oven, it "goes for a spin", and she folds wrapping paper like an paper-folding expert. She also seems to be genuinely relishing herself throughout. How could any hate-watcher not be charmed, bursting with festive joy and left with a powerful yearning for handmade crackers or a vegetable display where greens is organized in the shape of a festive circle?
Meghan was once an actress for a living, of course, but nonetheless, after the degree of scrutiny she has faced from the moment she met Prince Harry, even a hypothetical offspring of acting royalty would have difficulty behaving this naturally. Her refusal to modify or even moderate her shtick, even though it being so relentlessly, internationally ridiculed, is weirdly comforting. In our volatile world, here is something we can rely on: Meghan will be like this, whatever happens. We will consistently know our position with her.
If you're still not buying what she's selling, a point that will certainly come as a comfort: you don't have to. We don't have national service anymore, and were it to return, it would be doubtful to include streaming With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration. If, on the other hand, you decide to tune in and are consumed by longing about her flawless Christmas, there is hope either. Be you a duchess or a office worker, few children completely grasps the dedication and labor their mother does in the holiday season. So you can take heart by picturing the young royals' faces when they unfold a handwritten message that says, 'I love you because you are brave,' from a homemade Advent calendar, instead of a chocolate.
