Yes, it's Full of Absurdity, Extreme Hosting and Self-Help Jargon. But I Do Love Meghan's Christmas Special.
No concerned with the season, it's perpetually fair game for criticism on the Meghan Markle's Netflix series, With Love, Meghan. Commentators, expert and amateur alike, have hardly ever agreed so completely as when gleefully ripping the lifestyle show's initial installments to pieces. The prevailing view was that a more egregious regal scandal had seldom occurred than the notorious pretzel re-packaging incident.
Presently, as a festive rebel, she makes a comeback with a new offering with a "Festive Special" (also known as a holiday episode). Yet now, things have shifted. The usual elements viewers are accustomed to – psychobabble word salads, overzealous entertaining – remain, but set of a Christmas special, the purpose becomes clear. The pieces have fallen together; it's a flawless festive blizzard.
Now, Meghan is like the quirky relative at the typical holiday get-together – offering random tips, and contributing 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 presence is familiar and strangely comforting. And she looks content; she's inflicting the slightest hurt.
She understands her all subtle gestures, utterance and look will be dissected and scrutinized, but nonetheless looks unburdened and remarkably at ease.
It could be this is the first occasion in history where that old chestnut – "Pay no mind, it's only envy" – could actually be true. Because, let's face it, everything in Meghan's Holiday Celebration is charming. Granted, it's all painfully excessive, nonsense and extravagant – but is that not exactly what Christmas is all about? And the talk she's talking might be absurd, but the example she sets appears to be beautifully curated.
Anything she attempts, she accomplishes with flair. Her cooking looks tasty, the wreath she creates is gorgeous, her presents are nearly too beautiful to open. Not a single thing is ordinary or ugly – including the way she ties her kitchen garment is artful and chic. She doesn't toss a dish in the microwave, it "goes for a spin", and she wraps wrapping paper like an paper-folding expert. She also seems to be completely savoring herself the entire time. How could any skeptical viewer not be charmed, bursting with holiday spirit and left with a deep longing for personalized Christmas crackers or a vegetable display where broccoli is organized in the form of a Christmas ring?
Meghan was once an actress for a living, naturally, but nonetheless, after the degree of examination she has weathered from the moment she became involved with Prince Harry, a theoretical combination of acting royalty would have difficulty behaving this naturally. Her unwillingness to change or even soften her routine, despite it being so persistently, widely parodied, is weirdly comforting. In our volatile world, here is something we can rely on: Meghan will stay true to form, come what may. We will consistently know where we are with her.
If you're still not buying her message, a thought that will undoubtedly come as a reassurance: you don't have to. The UK has abolished mandatory conscription in this country, 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 overcome with envy about her idyllic Christmas, all is not lost either. Whether you're a duchess or a office worker, no kid fully understands the effort and hard work their mum puts in in December. So you can take heart by picturing Archie and Lilibet's faces when they open a handwritten message that says, 'I love you because you are brave,' from a handcrafted holiday countdown, in place of a sweet treat.
