Indeed, it's Full of Absurdity, Over-the-Top Hospitality and Psychobabble. However, I Honestly Love Meghan's Holiday Special.
No considering the time of year, it's constantly open season for criticism on the Duchess of Sussex's televisual offering, With Love, Meghan. Commentators, expert and amateur alike, have seldom found such common ground as when gleefully ripping the series' first and second seasons apart. The common opinion seemed to be a more egregious regal scandal had hardly ever taken place than the notorious snack re-labeling incident.
Presently, like a merry renegade master, she has returned once again with a "Christmas Special" (also known as a holiday episode). However on this occasion, things have shifted. The familiar ingredients we've come to expect – psychobabble word salads, overzealous entertaining – are still present, but within the context of a Christmas special, it all clicks into place. The pieces have fallen together; it's a perfect snow storm.
At this stage, Meghan is like the oddball family member at the typical holiday get-together – dispensing unasked-for guidance, and supplying 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 company is customary and oddly reassuring. And she seems pleased; she's inflicting the slightest hurt.
She knows her every micro expression, word and gaze will be analyzed and criticised, but still appears relaxed and remarkably at ease.
Perhaps this is the only time in history where that old chestnut – "Ignore them, they're just jealous" – might be true. Since, you know what?, all aspects in Meghan's Holiday Celebration is lovely. Yes, it's all cringily ultra-extra, foolishness and extravagant – but is that not just what Yuletide is about? And the words she speaks might be absurd, but the walk she's walking seems authentically beautifully curated.
Whatever she attempts, she executes with style. Her cooking looks scrumptious, the festive decoration she creates is gorgeous, her presents are almost too pretty to open. Not a single thing is ordinary or visually unappealing – including the way she fastens her kitchen garment is stylish and elegant. She doesn't bung a meal in the oven, it "goes for a spin", and she folds wrapping paper like an craft master. She also seems to be genuinely relishing herself from start to finish. How could any cynical observer not be charmed, bursting with holiday spirit and left with a intense desire for crafted festive snaps or a crudites platter where greens is organized in the shape of a wreath?
Meghan had a career in acting for a living, naturally, but even so, after the degree of scrutiny she has endured from the moment she became involved with Prince Harry, even a hypothetical offspring of Meryl Streep and Judi Dench would find it hard to appear this genuinely. Her decision to modify or even soften her shtick, regardless of it being so constantly, internationally ridiculed, is strangely reassuring. In our volatile world, here is something we can rely on: Meghan will remain herself, come what may. We will consistently know our position with her.
If you're still not buying what she's selling, a point that will undoubtedly come as a reassurance: you don't have to. The UK has abolished national service in this country, 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 overcome with envy about her picture-perfect Christmas, there is hope either. Whether you're a duchess or a everyday person, few children fully understands the effort and hard work their parent expends in the holiday season. So you can console yourself by imagining the young royals' faces when they open a beautifully scripted letter that says, 'I love you because you are brave,' from a handcrafted holiday countdown, rather than a sweet treat.
