Yes, it's Full of Gibberish, Over-the-Top Hospitality and Psychobabble. Yet I Truly Cherish 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, both professional and armchair, have seldom found such common ground as when eagerly tearing the series' first and second seasons apart. The common opinion held that a more egregious regal scandal had never been witnessed than the now-infamous pretzel re-packaging incident.
Presently, in the spirit of a holiday maverick, she makes a comeback with a new offering with a "Christmas Special" (aka a holiday episode). Yet now, the dynamic has changed. The familiar ingredients viewers are accustomed to – vague self-help platitudes, extreme hosting – remain, but framed of a yuletide episode, suddenly it all makes sense. The pieces have fallen together; it's a flawless festive blizzard.
By this point, Meghan is like the eccentric aunt at most festive family gatherings – providing random tips, and supplying 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 content; she's inflicting a bit of damage.
She knows her every micro expression, syllable and look will be picked apart and scrutinized, but nonetheless looks unburdened and serenely untroubled.
Perhaps this is the only time in history where that clichéd phrase – "Ignore them, they're just jealous" – could actually be true. Because, you know what?, everything in Meghan's Holiday Celebration honestly feels lovely. Granted, it's all painfully excessive, silliness and over the top – but isn't that precisely what Christmas is about? And the talk she's talking might be laughable, but the walk she's walking appears to be shop-bought.
Whatever she attempts, she accomplishes with panache. Her culinary efforts looks scrumptious, the holiday arrangement she creates is stunning, her presents are nearly too beautiful to open. Not a single thing is average or ugly – even the way she secures her kitchen garment is artful and chic. She doesn't toss a meal in the oven, it "takes a twirl", and she wraps wrapping paper like an paper-folding expert. She also seems to be genuinely relishing herself the entire time. How could any cynical observer not be convinced, bursting with seasonal cheer and left with a powerful yearning for handmade crackers or a vegetable display where broccoli is positioned in the likeness of a wreath?
Meghan was once an actress for a living, of course, but despite that, after the level of attention she has faced 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 unwillingness to alter or even tone down her persona, regardless of it being so relentlessly, internationally ridiculed, is oddly heartening. In our volatile world, here is something we can count on: Meghan will be like this, no matter what. We will always know where we are with her.
If you're not yet convinced by her brand, a point that will certainly come as a relief: you don't have to. We don't have the draft these days, and if there were, it would be unlikely to include streaming With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration. If, on the other hand, you decide to tune in and are gripped with jealousy about her flawless Christmas, you can take solace either. Be you a duchess or a office worker, no kid fully understands the dedication and labor their parent expends in the holiday season. So you can find comfort by imagining 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.
