Indeed, it's Full of Absurdity, Over-the-Top Hospitality and Self-Help Jargon. Yet I Truly Adore Meghan's Festive Episode.
No considering the season, it's perpetually open season for commentary on the Duchess of Sussex's Netflix series, With Love, Meghan. Reviewers, expert and amateur alike, have seldom found such common ground as when gleefully ripping the lifestyle show's initial installments to pieces. The common opinion was that a bigger monarchy-related faux pas had never been witnessed than the now-infamous pretzel re-packaging incident.
Currently, as a festive rebel, she makes a comeback once again with a "Christmas Special" (aka a yuletide episode). Yet now, things have shifted. The usual elements viewers are accustomed to – vague self-help platitudes, intense hospitality – persist, but set of a holiday show, it all clicks into place. The pieces have fallen into place; it's a ideal seasonal storm.
By this point, Meghan resembles the oddball family member at Christmas celebrations everywhere – providing unsolicited, unnecessary advice, and delivering 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 an interesting figure, but her company is customary and oddly reassuring. And she appears content; she's causing any harm.
She understands her each tiny facial movement, utterance and gaze will be analyzed and criticised, but manages to seem carefree and remarkably at ease.
Maybe this is the only time in history where that clichéd phrase – "Pay no mind, it's only envy" – might be true. The reason is, you know what?, all aspects in Meghan's Holiday Celebration honestly feels charming. Yes, it's all cringily ultra-extra, foolishness and extravagant – but doesn't that represent exactly what Christmas is for? And the advice she gives might be absurd, but the example she sets genuinely looks impeccably styled.
Whatever she turns her beautifully manicured, diamond-adorned hand to, she executes with style. Her recipes looks delicious, the holiday arrangement she makes is gorgeous, her presents are practically too exquisite to tear into. Nothing is mediocre or visually unappealing – even the way she ties her kitchen garment is stylish and elegant. She doesn't bung a dish in the oven, it "has a moment", and she creases gift paper like an paper-folding expert. She also seems to be genuinely relishing herself throughout. How could any cynical observer not be charmed, overcome by seasonal cheer and left with a deep longing for personalized Christmas crackers or a crudites platter where greens is positioned in the shape of a festive circle?
Meghan had a career in acting for a living, naturally, but nonetheless, after the degree of examination she has weathered since she started dating Prince Harry, the love child of Meryl Streep and Judi Dench would struggle to act this authentically. Her refusal to change or even tone down her routine, even though it being so relentlessly, internationally ridiculed, is oddly heartening. In our unpredictable world, here is something we can depend on: Meghan will remain herself, whatever happens. We will consistently know what to expect with her.
If you're not yet convinced by her brand, a point that will undoubtedly come as a comfort: you are not obligated to. There isn't the draft anymore, and if there were, it would be doubtful to include viewing With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration. If, on the other hand, you willingly check it out and are overcome with jealousy about her idyllic Christmas, all is not lost either. Be you a royal or a office worker, few children fully understands the effort and hard work their mother expends in December. So you can find comfort by envisioning the young royals' faces when they reveal a handwritten message that says, 'I love you because you are brave,' from a homemade Advent calendar, in place of a sweet treat.
