Admittedly, it's Packed with Absurdity, Over-the-Top Hospitality and Self-Help Jargon. Yet I Truly Adore Meghan's Holiday Special.
No concerned with the time of year, it's perpetually open season for scrutiny on the Meghan Markle's televisual offering, With Love, Meghan. Reviewers, from seasoned journalists to online pundits, have hardly ever agreed so completely as when gleefully ripping the program's initial installments to pieces. The common opinion held that a bigger monarchy-related faux pas had hardly ever taken place than the now-infamous pretzel re-packaging incident.
Now, like a merry renegade master, she makes a comeback with a new offering with a "Festive Special" (or a Christmas special). Yet now, it's different. The familiar ingredients viewers are accustomed to – psychobabble word salads, extreme hosting – persist, but set of a Christmas special, it all clicks into place. The elements have slid together; it's a perfect snow storm.
By this point, Meghan resembles the quirky relative at most festive family gatherings – dispensing unsolicited, unnecessary advice, and delivering 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 oddly reassuring. And she seems happy enough; she's inflicting the slightest hurt.
She understands her all subtle gestures, utterance and gaze will be picked apart and criticised, but still appears unburdened and too blessed to be stressed.
Maybe this is the initial instance in history where that old chestnut – "Don't listen, it's pure jealousy" – might be true. Since, you know what?, each element in Meghan's Holiday Celebration honestly feels lovely. Admittedly, it's all painfully excessive, foolishness and over the top – but is that not exactly what the holiday season is all about? And the talk she's talking might be laughable, but the example she sets appears to be beautifully curated.
Anything she attempts, she accomplishes with style. Her culinary efforts looks delicious, the festive decoration she makes is gorgeous, her gifts are nearly too beautiful to tear into. Not a single thing is average or ugly – even the way she ties her apron is stylish and elegant. She doesn't bung a dish in the microwave, it "has a moment", and she wraps gift paper like an craft master. She also seems to be genuinely relishing herself from start to finish. How could any hate-watcher not be charmed, overcome by holiday spirit and left with a intense desire for handmade crackers or a crudites platter where greens is arranged in the likeness of a festive circle?
Meghan had a career in acting for a living, naturally, but even so, after the degree of scrutiny she has faced from the moment she met Prince Harry, a theoretical combination of acting royalty would have difficulty behaving this naturally. Her unwillingness to change or even moderate her routine, regardless of it being so persistently, globally mocked, is weirdly comforting. In our unpredictable world, here is something we can rely on: Meghan will remain herself, no matter what. We will consistently know our position with her.
If you're remaining skeptical of what she's selling, a point that will certainly come as a relief: you don't have to. The UK has abolished mandatory conscription in this country, and should it be reinstated, it would be improbable to include viewing With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration. If, on the other hand, you willingly check it out and are overcome with envy about her idyllic Christmas, there is hope either. Whether you're a royal or a data administrator, hardly any child truly appreciates the effort and hard work their parent does in the holiday season. So you can console yourself by imagining Archie and Lilibet's faces when they unfold a handwritten message that says, 'I love you because you are brave,' from a handcrafted holiday countdown, rather than a chocolate.
