Admittedly, it's Full of Gibberish, Over-the-Top Hospitality and Psychobabble. However, I Honestly Love Meghan's Festive Episode.
No matter the season, it's perpetually hunting season for commentary on the Duchess of Sussex's TV show, With Love, Meghan. Critics, from seasoned journalists to online pundits, have rarely been so united as when enthusiastically shredding the series' initial installments to pieces. The common opinion held that a greater royal outrage had hardly ever taken place than the notorious pretzel re-packaging incident.
Presently, as a festive rebel, she makes a comeback for another round with a "Festive Special" (aka a holiday episode). Yet now, it's different. The usual elements audiences anticipate – vague self-help platitudes, intense hospitality – persist, but framed of a Christmas special, it all clicks into place. The pieces have fallen together; it's a ideal seasonal storm.
By this point, Meghan has become the oddball family member at most festive family gatherings – providing unasked-for guidance, 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 an interesting figure, but her aura is known and strangely comforting. And she looks happy enough; she's inflicting any harm.
She understands her every micro expression, syllable and gaze will be analyzed and criticised, but manages to seem unburdened and too blessed to be stressed.
It could be this is the first occasion in history where that clichéd phrase – "Pay no mind, it's only envy" – could actually be true. Because, let's face it, all aspects in Meghan's Holiday Celebration truly is delightful. Granted, it's all painfully excessive, nonsense and over the top – but doesn't that represent exactly what Christmas is all about? And the words she speaks might be ridiculous, but the life she leads seems authentically shop-bought.
Whatever she sets her mind to, she accomplishes with flair. Her cooking looks scrumptious, the wreath she makes is gorgeous, her presents are nearly too beautiful to tear into. Nothing is ordinary or visually unappealing – including the way she fastens her kitchen garment is creative and fashionable. She doesn't toss a dish in the microwave, it "takes a twirl", and she creases gift paper like an origami guru. She also seems to be genuinely relishing herself the entire time. How could any skeptical viewer not be charmed, overcome by festive joy and left with a deep longing for handmade 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 despite that, after the level of examination she has endured since she met Prince Harry, even a hypothetical offspring of Meryl Streep and Judi Dench would struggle to act this naturally. Her decision to change or even moderate her persona, even though it being so relentlessly, globally mocked, is weirdly comforting. In our volatile world, here is one thing we can rely on: Meghan will remain herself, come what may. We will consistently know our position with her.
If you're remaining skeptical of her brand, a reminder that will surely come as a reassurance: you don't have to. There isn't mandatory conscription anymore, and were it to return, it would be doubtful to include watching With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration. If, conversely, you choose to watch and are gripped with envy about her idyllic Christmas, all is not lost either. Be you a duchess or a everyday person, few children truly appreciates the dedication and labor their mother does in December. So you can find comfort by picturing Archie and Lilibet's faces when they unfold a calligraphy note that says, 'I love you because you are brave,' from a DIY festive calendar, instead of a chocolate.
