Indeed, it's Brimming with Absurdity, Extreme Hosting and Psychobabble. However, I Honestly Cherish Meghan's Holiday Special.
No concerned with the season, it's constantly open season for scrutiny on the Meghan Markle's Netflix series, With Love, Meghan. Commentators, expert and amateur alike, have hardly ever agreed so completely as when gleefully ripping the series' initial installments apart. The common opinion held that a greater royal outrage had never been witnessed than the much-discussed pretzel re-packaging incident.
Now, like a merry renegade master, she is back for another round with a "Christmas Special" (aka a holiday episode). However on this occasion, it's different. The familiar ingredients viewers are accustomed to – vague self-help platitudes, extreme hosting – are still present, but framed of a Christmas special, the purpose becomes clear. The puzzle has come together; it's a ideal seasonal storm.
Now, Meghan is like 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 quite a personality, but her presence is familiar and unexpectedly soothing. And she seems happy enough; she's inflicting a bit of damage.
She is aware her each tiny facial movement, syllable and look will be dissected and criticised, but nonetheless looks unburdened and serenely untroubled.
Perhaps this is the first occasion in history where that clichéd phrase – "Ignore them, they're just jealous" – might be true. Since, you know what?, all aspects in Meghan's Holiday Celebration honestly feels lovely. Granted, it's all painfully excessive, foolishness and over the top – but isn't that exactly what Yuletide is all about? And the talk she's talking might be absurd, but the life she leads appears to be impeccably styled.
Whatever she turns her beautifully manicured, diamond-adorned hand to, she pulls off with panache. Her recipes looks delicious, the holiday arrangement she makes is stunning, her gifts are practically too exquisite to tear into. Nothing is ordinary or ugly – including the way she ties her apron is creative and fashionable. She doesn't toss a dish in the microwave, it "has a moment", and she folds wrapping paper like an paper-folding expert. She also seems to be genuinely relishing herself throughout. How could any hate-watcher not be convinced, bursting with festive joy and left with a powerful yearning for personalized Christmas crackers or a crudites platter where greens is arranged in the form of a wreath?
Meghan used to pretend for a living, of course, but nonetheless, after the intensity of scrutiny she has faced from the moment she started dating Prince Harry, a theoretical combination of Meryl Streep and Judi Dench would have difficulty behaving this naturally. Her unwillingness to change or even moderate her shtick, regardless of it being so persistently, internationally ridiculed, is strangely reassuring. In our volatile world, here is one thing we can depend on: Meghan will remain herself, come what may. We will consistently know our position with her.
If you're still not buying her message, a reminder that will undoubtedly come as a relief: you aren't required to. There isn't national service anymore, and if there were, it would be unlikely to include viewing With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration. If, conversely, you choose to watch and are gripped with jealousy about her flawless Christmas, all is not lost either. If you are a duchess or a everyday person, no kid fully understands the time and energy their mum expends in the holiday season. So you can console yourself by imagining Archie and Lilibet's faces when they reveal a handwritten message that says, 'I love you because you are brave,' from a DIY festive calendar, in place of a candy.
