Indeed, it's Brimming with Nonsense, Extreme Hosting and Self-Help Jargon. However, I Honestly Adore Meghan's Holiday Special.
No considering the season, it's always open season for commentary on the Duchess of Sussex's televisual offering, With Love, Meghan. Reviewers, both professional and armchair, have seldom found such common ground as when gleefully ripping the lifestyle show's initial installments to shreds. The general consensus seemed to be a more egregious regal scandal had seldom occurred than the notorious pretzel-bagging incident.
Presently, as a festive rebel, she has returned for another round with a "Festive Special" (also known as a holiday episode). Yet now, it's different. The familiar ingredients we've come to expect – psychobabble word salads, overzealous entertaining – remain, but within the context of a Christmas special, it all clicks into place. The pieces have fallen into place; it's a ideal seasonal storm.
At this stage, Meghan resembles the eccentric aunt at the typical holiday get-together – providing unasked-for guidance, and delivering the periodic peculiar declaration. ("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 seems content; she's inflicting any harm.
She is aware her every micro expression, syllable and look will be dissected and judged, but still appears relaxed and remarkably at ease.
It could be this is the only time in history where that well-worn saying – "Don't listen, it's pure jealousy" – may well be true. Since, you know what?, everything in Meghan's Holiday Celebration honestly feels charming. Admittedly, it's all painfully excessive, silliness and extravagant – but doesn't that represent precisely what Yuletide is about? And the advice she gives might be absurd, but the example she sets genuinely looks shop-bought.
Whatever she turns her beautifully manicured, diamond-adorned hand to, she accomplishes with flair. Her cooking looks delicious, the festive decoration she crafts is breathtaking, her presents are nearly too beautiful to open. Not a single thing is mediocre or visually unappealing – even the way she fastens her apron is creative and fashionable. She doesn't bung a dish in the microwave, it "takes a twirl", and she wraps wrapping paper like an paper-folding expert. She also seems to be completely savoring herself from start to finish. How could any hate-watcher not be won over, bursting with holiday spirit and left with a deep longing for handmade crackers or a vegetable display where greens is arranged in the shape of a festive circle?
Meghan used to pretend for a living, naturally, but nonetheless, after the degree of scrutiny she has faced since she started dating Prince Harry, the love child of Meryl Streep and Judi Dench would have difficulty behaving this genuinely. Her unwillingness to alter or even tone down her routine, even though it being so relentlessly, globally mocked, is weirdly comforting. In our uncertain world, here is something we can rely on: Meghan will stay true to form, no matter what. We will consistently know what to expect with her.
If you're not yet convinced by what she's selling, a point that will surely come as a reassurance: you aren't required to. There isn't national service these days, and should it be reinstated, it would be doubtful to include watching With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration. If, conversely, you decide to tune in and are overcome with envy about her flawless Christmas, you can take solace either. Be you a duchess or a data administrator, no kid completely grasps the time and energy their mother expends in the holiday season. So you can console yourself by picturing her children's faces when they open a calligraphy note that says, 'I love you because you are brave,' from a handcrafted holiday countdown, rather than a sweet treat.
