Admittedly, it's Packed with Absurdity, Over-the-Top Hospitality and Psychobabble. Yet I Truly Cherish Meghan's Holiday Special.
No matter the season, it's always fair game for scrutiny on the Duchess of Sussex's televisual offering, With Love, Meghan. Reviewers, both professional and armchair, have seldom found such common ground as when gleefully ripping the series' first and second seasons apart. The common opinion seemed to be a bigger monarchy-related faux pas had never been witnessed than the much-discussed pretzel-bagging incident.
Currently, like a merry renegade master, she has returned with a new offering with a "Festive Special" (also known as a yuletide episode). But this time, things have shifted. The usual elements we've come to expect – psychobabble word salads, overzealous entertaining – remain, but set of a Christmas special, suddenly it all makes sense. The pieces have fallen into place; it's a flawless festive blizzard.
Now, Meghan is like the oddball family member at Christmas celebrations everywhere – dispensing unsolicited, unnecessary advice, and supplying 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 quite a personality, but her company is customary and unexpectedly soothing. And she appears pleased; she's not doing a bit of damage.
She understands her each tiny facial movement, utterance and glance 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 well-worn saying – "Pay no mind, it's only envy" – could actually be true. The reason is, in all honesty, everything in Meghan's Holiday Celebration truly is charming. Granted, it's all cringily ultra-extra, foolishness and extravagant – but isn't that exactly what Yuletide is all about? And the words she speaks might be laughable, but the walk she's walking genuinely looks shop-bought.
Anything she sets her mind to, she accomplishes with style. Her culinary efforts looks scrumptious, the holiday arrangement she crafts is breathtaking, her presents are almost too pretty to open. Nothing is average or ugly – even the way she secures her apron is creative and fashionable. She doesn't toss a meal in the oven, it "takes a twirl", and she creases wrapping paper like an paper-folding expert. She also seems to be genuinely relishing herself the entire time. How could any hate-watcher not be convinced, overcome by seasonal cheer and left with a intense desire for crafted festive snaps or a crudites platter where greens is positioned in the likeness of a Christmas ring?
Meghan was once an actress for a living, naturally, but despite that, after the intensity of scrutiny she has endured ever since she started dating Prince Harry, the love child of Meryl Streep and Judi Dench would struggle to act this naturally. Her refusal to modify or even moderate her shtick, even though it being so constantly, internationally ridiculed, is strangely reassuring. In our volatile world, here is one thing we can count on: Meghan will remain herself, come what may. We will always know what to expect with her.
If you're not yet convinced by what she's selling, a thought that will certainly come as a relief: you are not obligated to. There isn't national service these days, and if there were, it would be improbable to include streaming With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration. If, on the other hand, you choose to watch and are consumed by envy about her idyllic Christmas, all is not lost either. Be you a royal or a data administrator, hardly any child truly appreciates the dedication and labor their mother puts in in December. So you can take heart by envisioning her children's faces when they open a beautifully scripted letter that says, 'I love you because you are brave,' from a DIY festive calendar, rather than a chocolate.
